iSAW online project | Jason Freeman: The Sound Microscope

by Jason Freeman and Mark Godfrey for iSAW
Sound Microscope by Jason Freeman and Mark Godfrey for iSAW

Composer Jason Freeman asks you:
What is sound made of?

Sound Microscope is free to use available through our website. But donations would be most appreciated. Hope you enjoy it and please, drop me a note to let us know how you like it.

To find it, simply click on the image above

“In the science classes I took growing up, we spent a lot of time learning about the complexities of the world that are not visible to the naked eye. We watched the powers of ten movie. We created chemical reactions. And we looked at all kinds of things under the microscope. But it wasn’t until many years later that I learned how the same thing is true for sound. There are all kinds of amazing structures within sounds that are hard for the naked ear to notice.” So when we asked Jason to come up with an interactive piece for our website to help people better understand sound, he came up with the idea of a Sound Microscope.

Sound Microscope is a simple interactive web application designed by Jason Freeman and Mark Godfrey for exploring the inner lives of sounds. A pan-and-zoom interface (similar to online map services) isolates small fragments of a sound file in time and frequency space, bringing structural subtleties and hidden details to the aural foreground. It is intended to help students (or anyone!) learn about the visual representation of a sound and its frequency components while encouraging them to listen in new ways and from new perspectives.

Jason Freeman will be uploading this project into our website during his upcoming residency at iSAW, September 26-29, 2008. Here is his schedule:

  1. 09-26-09 7:30-11:30AM: special guest lecturer: isaw’s sound studies classes, Design and Architecture Senior High School
  2. 09-27-09 10AM-4PM: sound microscope session / upload, isaw, 12355 NE 13 ave #206
  3. 09-28-09 2PM: featured artist: Living[room]Music, Light Box, 3000 Biscayne Boulevard

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links to coverage:

South Florida Classical Review,

LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW WITH JASON FREEMAN THAT APPEARED AUGUST in KADMUSARTS.COM