(continued)
Swing is a machine for the realisation of sounds intended to heard through the medium of swinging loudspeakers. Swing is a live event that can last up to an hour. It can be repeated a number of times over a day or an evening.
The basis of the piece remains the same. Bare loudspeaker cones are suspended from the ceiling at a height of approx. 2.4m off the floor. Depending on the size of the building up to 20 speakers are used in installations. Each speaker is wired up to play discrete sounds run from separate sources and the sounds are mixed live during the performance, playing the speakers like a kind of carillon.
All of the loudspeakers are attached by ropes and pulleys to one end of the building where a team of 'bell-ringers' make the speakers swing to and fro over the heads of the audience creating a Doppler-like effect as the sounds rush past.
Swing has a powerful effect on an audience who initially duck and flinch as the speakers hurtle past their heads. Once they become accustomed to the fact that they are safe to wander freely and safely below the speakers their attention can shift to the compositional quality of the slowly shifting sampled and manipulated sounds from the specific site being used. The swinging action of the speakers conjures a sense of magic or religious ritual and also has a hypnotic effect on an audience.
© ray lee 2004