Nastro Azzurro: The sound brewery project

The Sound Brewery is a conceptual machine for generating music from the ingredients used in the Nastro Azzurro brewing process. Water, Hops, Barley and Corn were manipulated in a unique method to create an audio looping system based on organic input. Water was piped through 8 km of tubing and 1800 custom valves to create a water based touchscreen. The DJ’s finger movement was tracked using Leap Motion, this information was used to control 2 custom designed turntables. The turntables consisted of Interchangeable vinyl-style palettes, these were held in place by neodymium magnets that were attached to custom designed speakers on a rotating mechanism. Audio was generated by interpreting data from a high-spec laser (accurate to 0.001mm) that was used to read the characteristics of the ingredients. The DJ manipulated the sound by: moving and changing the ingredients, changing the rotation speed of the turntables and adjusting the position of the laser arm. The solid ingredients were placed on a specially designed Chladni-style plate that was developed for the machine, namely a circle in favour of the common square design. The corn, hops and barleys contour and arrangement generated the drum track and synth lines as they interacted with the laser and DJ. Water was poured onto flat pressed vinyl palettes, creating a liquid record. Audio frequencies were fed into the rotating liquid records to generate a unique visual and audio effect from the surface of the liquid. A four track EP has been released from Awhyl, the young producers’ crew involved in the project.