What does Times Square sound like? What about Oslo Central Station? Digital technology makes it easy to find and explore landmarks around the world, to walk the streets and read about points of interest. But until recently, virtual tourists had only visual orientation to guide the adventure.
The Sound City Project brings a sonic dimension to urban exploration online. The recording project and accompanying website captures audio ambiances of landmarks at 6 world cities. It places pleasant, serendipitous sidewalk clamor into digital capsules visitors can explore street by street.
The idea is charming, the execution is extraordinary. A (very talented) group of friends embarked on a hobby project that ultimately included 3D printing a recording apparatus resembling a 4-eared compass and building a very modern website inspired by old jazz albums and art deco posters.
The project both looks ahead, to an urban environment we better understand through advanced technology, and appreciates the past, nostalgically championing the unexpected noises of a city sidewalk and the aesthetics of eras ruled by live and analog music.
David Vale took time to answer questions about the project and his work with co-creators Rick Van Mook and Caco Teixeira.
How did you get the idea for Sound City? Why this project?
I love to travel (like pretty much everyone else) and when I’m hunting for places to go, I spend a great amount of time checking out photos, videos and even using Google street-view to get a better sense of the places. I always felt that I would get a good “visual” sense of the places, but the actual feeling of being there, on just a regular day, wasn’t really coming through. Ok, I see the images, I see that is very crowded there, but is it quiet? Is there somebody playing jazz off in the distance? What languages are the people speaking? These kind of thoughts were always in my head.
That’s when I had the idea of creating the Sound City Project. I wanted to create a tool where people could choose specific places in the world and get a better feeling of how it sounds, with no “super production” value, but just showing the reality of it. I wanted to make the sound experience as real as possible, as if you could close your eyes and imagine yourself into that place—something you can only achieve with 3D sound.
This is a personal project I created in collaboration with two really talented friends. I’m funding the project and Rick and Caco bring their knowledge and experience. So far there is no company or brand behind it, just our own desire to create something great.
How do you and your collaborators know each other?
Rick and I work at Firstborn, a digital agency based in NY. We have done many great projects together and I felt he would be a great fit to work on this project. As things started to get complicated, we needed a third person with a lot of audio experience/knowledge. That’s when I contacted Caco, a really talented sound designer that I used to work back in Brazil.
Did you get any help with your international recordings?
This was more like a side project that we would work on during the weekends and I would make the recordings whenever I traveled to different countries on my vacation time.
Do you imagine this being a project that could lend itself to crowdsourcing?
We have a ton of different thoughts about making this bigger: opening it up for collaborations, live streaming, creating a downloadable kit with the “soundhead,” expanding to mobile, etc. We want the project to go mainstream, but at the same time we want to make sure the quality is still there and that’s a big task. But for now, we are happy with how people are reacting to it, posting about their favorite tracks and places and sending us emails asking about the project. It’s really inspiring!
Sound City has impressive design strength both in the physical recording apparatus and the website layout. What was your design process?
Thanks!
We took about a year to get the project done. It took a lot of experimenting, discovering, and prototyping, so I had a fair amount of time to think about the design. I always had in mind that is “all about the sound”, so I decided to design a minimal, but sophisticated, interface where the 3D sound experience was the main priority.
It took 2 days to lay out the first design. I just focused on the main features of the site and then created a quick demo video explaining the user experience. Rick got the idea, and started to work on his prototypes.
From that point I focused my attention on creating the “soundhead”. There is no blueprint for the things that we were trying to achieve and I wanted to make sure we would have a working prototype before anything else.
The first prototype was made with a big piece of styrofoam shaped into this oval format with 4 really cheap mics positioned on a 90º angle. The second was a simple 3D printed model, with silicone ears and the some seriously upgraded microphones. The final “soundhead” was designed to be very portable, had the correct dimensions and was printed at a legit shop using a stronger but lighter material.
You can check out photos the process at: http://instagram.com/soundcityproject
With both soundhead model and the site prototype done, I focused my attention back to the final UI/UX. I had a good idea of the direction I would take and took me 3 weekends - and a few long weeknights - to finish. I wanted it to look a bit different from other websites that are popular right now. I got inspired by some old jazz albums and some art deco posters, and ended up on what you see now.
How did the design of the site and the recording apparatus influence each other?
I wanted to create a strong brand for the Sound City Project. As the website has a unique look & feel, the “soundhead” was designed to be functional (portable and to capture the best 3D sound possible) and be visually connected to the brand. It has fine details, printed on white and colored on black, with the Sound City Project logo embossed on top.
What would you like site visitors to get out of the experience? How does your design help achieve that goal?
The main experience revolves around the 3D sound. When you get to the site, you are prompted with a panoramic view of Broadway in NYC and as you move the image from left to right, we manipulate the volume of the individual channels for the left and right ear.That gives you an immersive 3D experience where you can listen to the ambient sound based on the direction you are looking.
All the panoramic images, the UX elements and the motion were carefully crafted to help tell the story. “It’s all about the sound” and the user shouldn’t be distracted by forms or really colorful images that can take them away from the sound experience.
