This piece is an exploration of the acoustics of external sounds transformed by a specific interior space. The space I used is an enormous abandoned grain silo on the outskirts of Montreal, which has been turned into an instrument of sorts. Two artists have rigged the interior of the silo with microphones and speakers, so that the public is able to play sounds into the silo from anywhere in the world via telephone or Internet. The resulting transformation is picked up on the microphones and relayed back to the originator through the project’s website (www.silophone.net). I have wanted to incorporate the Silophone into a sound piece for a long time, and felt this assignment was the perfect opportunity. The raw sounds I used were taken from recordings I made while traveling through Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as field recordings of springtime nocturnal nature sounds that I recorded this past week on my laptop. Each separate sample was fed into the Silophone, re-recorded, and then used to construct the final piece in Sony’s Acid Pro sound editing program.

I love the idea of utilizing and affecting something so big and so removed from my own daily life. I am able to “play” this huge structure that is hundreds of miles away, in a place I’ve never been. I am also interested in the concept of memory and abandon spaces. Old, derelict buildings have always fascinated me; the romance of their ghosts and the past that linger within them. The vast, eerie echoes that the Silophone creates are fitting for the spirit of the space, and in designing my sound piece, I took this into account. I filled the silo with my own memories of South East Asia, including sounds of nature, because nature plays a large part in the lives and religion of the people there. The temple prayer bells were intriguing because they consist primarily of reverb by their very nature, so it was interesting to hear what these samples sounded like through the further reverberation of the silo. I didn’t want to layer too many sounds since space is an important element throughout the project. This was a challenge with only 60 seconds, however I think the mood of memory and the Silophone is accurately presented in the final edit.