Wednesday, March 18, 2015

When Trees Sing








When You Put Tree Rings on a 

Record Player, The Sound Is 

Unexpectedly Beautiful


Have you ever wondered what the sound of trees would 
be like? ME either. We all know that rings on a tree 
represent plenty of useful information about the life of 
the tree itself. It can indicate the environmental 
conditions regarding rain levels, disease, and how 
quickly the tree grew. Each ring has its specific 
story to tell. Tree-ring dating or “Dendrochronology” 
is a horizontal cross section cut through the trunk of a 
tree.

Years
What if the sounds of trees could actually be translated? 
Bartholomäus Traubeck has created something unique 
that would translate tree rings into music by playing them 
on a record player. Instead of using a needle to play the 
record, “sensors work together to gather information about 
the wood’s color and texture and then uses an algorithm 
that translates variations into piano notes.

“The cool thing is that each individual tree results in a 
different sound. The album un-coincidentally is titled, 
“Years,” and features spruce, ash, oak, maple, alder, 
walnut, and beech trees. It is available to download now, 
and will be available to purchase on vinyl in August.
If you thought this was pretty cool, make sure to give it 
a share before you go. (H/T IFLS)


A record player that plays slices of wood.
Modified record player, wood, sleeves. 2011
Thanks to: Pro-ject Audio, Karla Spiluttini,
Ivo Francx, Rohol
UPDATE:
Years is out as MP3.Download the digital release: traubeck.bandcamp.com/album/years
To get the 12" vinyl release please go to
ordia-muszc.com/shop/

No comments:

Post a Comment