Sonde
Sonde, a linguistic play on the word sound and the French and German word for probe, is a procedural audio work that is driven by real-time analysis of the electromagnetic environment in its immediate vicinity. It consists of two wide-band receivers, a quadrophonic speaker array, and custom-built software for signal processing and generative audio response. It is intended to create an immersive, quasi-musical, fictional sound environment that renders tangible the imperceptible flow and energetic pulse of what designers Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby have dubbed “Hertzian Space,” a term which describes the electromagnetic climate created by all electronic devices, communication devices, x-rays, gamma rays, radio and television signals, etc..
While only the discrete “object-ness” of our communication devices are visible, they are in fact nodes in a wider network of the invisible electromagnetic flows surrounding us. Sonde harnesses the energy of these flows to generate a sound composition that places the listener into an ambient, fictional space that employs sound-iconographies ranging from communication interference to undersea exploration.
