044 REPORT
FATHOM
Company: Martin Audio Location: Plymouth, UK
Fathom is a new sonic artwork by Plymouth University media arts specialists Jane Grant and Dr John Matthias. In an attempt to bring one of the England’s most diverse waterways into sharp focus they used new generation technology to create an artificial surface six foot above the floor of a 17th Century Royal Navy victualing yard. Anyone that understands the challenge in creating two distinct sonic expe- riences in the same space will know this is no small feat, and it is Martin Audio’s award-winning technology that has made this possible. The company’s multi-cellular loudspeaker array (MLA), supplied by RG Jones, with lighting and staging by Pyramid AV, was used to transmit a combination of live and recorded sounds, enabling visitors to walk around and hear the sounds below the surface of the estuary. They were also able to lift their heads above the Fathom to hear the sounds above the water. This commission was the centrepiece of a public event to launch It’s All About the River, a year-long project to celebrate the historical, cultural and industrial impor- tance of the River Tamar, which forms the border between Devon and Cornwall. This site-specific art work, utilising the confluence of the River Tamar and immers- ing the Old Factory Cooperage at Royal William Yard in sound, formed part of the two week long Ocean City Festival. Producer of the event and masterminding the audio production was experienced Sound Engineer Simon Honywill, who has lectured for many years at the nearby Deep Blue Sound and has been a strong advocate of Martin Audio’s breakthrough technology since it was launched. Underwater sound recording technology was provided by Thomas Gordon at VP Marine. Speaking of his involvement in the project, Simon said: “Of all the challenges I have had in my career - and there have been many - it is fitting that my home town of Plymouth should come up with the most intriguing, demanding and wholly satisfy- ing piece of work I can remember. “The city rests between two estuaries, the Plym and the Tamar, and despite the fact that the Plym gave up its name to the city, it is the seemingly bottomless Tamar that is the major waterway, dividing Devon from Cornwall. It is now, whilst still a busy waterway, a common thread for a wide group of artists of many kinds, and it is art that unexpectedly brought the Tamar and Martin Audio’s MLA system together,” he continued. The challenge took him on an empirical journey into the unknown, as recordings were made out on the river by the two artists. “Some were familiar sonic events,
some less so… but how many get to hear them below the waves?” he asked rhetorically. The recordings were complemented with live input from a pair of hydrophones, electrical instruments for detecting or monitoring sound under water, which delivered a constant picture of the activity down in the deep throughout an entire weekend. “The key element of Fathom that John and Jane wanted to convey was the divide between water and air, and Jane’s concept was to create a boundary at one fath- om (six foot, six inches) from the floor where visitors to the piece could climb steps and emerge from the sonic water into the very different atmosphere above. It was up to me to find a way of achieving this convincingly,” said Simon. He immediately knew that the answer lay in the ground-breaking Martin Audio MLA, designed to accurately place sound where it is required, and keep it away from where it is not. “It was the only way I could even start to generate the kind of sharp cut-off that this unique project demanded, and the only system I am aware of that can be programmed to make deep holes in its coverage,” he continued. The underwater experience would consist of eight stacks of five MLA in a space 30-metres by 15-metres and the air experience is a ring of six Martin Audio DD6 differential dispersion speakers on tall stands in the centre of the space, where listeners climb up steps into a stereo soundscape generated by a pair of DPA 2011 microphones rigged over the water where the live hydrophones are placed. Simon admitted he had no idea how well this would work. “I was asking the system to cover no more than about seven metres, tail off rapidly and create a hole in the coverage at six foot six inches from the floor. It was really pushing the envelope, audio quality was not necessarily high priority but the software said it was possible. “I must have tried about 10 different configurations in Display 2 [Martin Audio’s proprietary software] before settling on the final one that got rigged. I only had one chance to get it right too, as budget constraints meant that I had crew for four hours and that was it. “Fortunately this approach was successful, as there was no way I could re-rig 40 MLA enclosures on my own.” Andy Davies, Martin Audio Application Support, concluded: “With our advanced multi-cellular systems we have introduced a new way of controlling sound systems. With a desire to push the boundaries and advance the art and science of sound reinforcement it was a great honour for Martin Audio to be involved in this project.”
www.martin-audio.com
www.mondodr.com
Image courtesy of Nic Black
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144