Soundtrack for a machine room

'Kamermuziek' is a piece commissioned by Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, for the event 'Hear It! #2', at Trouw, Amsterdam. The theme of the evening was 'Let the building sing', and I was asked to make a work for the (still working) machine room.

The base of the song lies in the field recordings I had made in the machine room. The drones of the machines were used to 'distill' frequencies from, and in combination with sine tones, these were used to create a seven minute piece that forms a duet with the excisting machine sounds when walking through the room.

Visitors were giving headphones with my piece on an mp3 player. The headphones helped to make it a more intimate, personal experience, being more isolated from the other visitors, while the room sounds were still coming through, and the position of the listener influenced the interaction between the sounds.

"The combination of the silent, mysterious machines and the quiet glimmers and hisses of the headphone soundtrack produced a deliciously eerie sensation, and transformed the functional industrial units into monumental sculptures." Nathan Thomas, Fluid Radio

Hear It!

Download the original Kamermuziek piece
Watch a (low quality) video impression