MALLEABLE(planes)
MALLEABLE(planes) (2018) is a solid matter audio feedback object I’ve designed. The fundamental design consists of a polyhedral frame with thin, polygon- shaped sheets of various materials suspended within the faces of the frame via mixed elastic materials. Strings made from various materials and densities are attached to and suspended between the polygonal surfaces at different tensions. Transducers are attached to any number of the polygonal surfaces, some of which are wired as contact microphones whose audio signals are fed into an audio mixing console and power amplifier. Each amplified audio signal is fed into one of many transducers wired as sound exciters, with the subsequent flow of acoustic and electric energy resulting in audible audio feedback loops propagated by a combination of acoustic energy passing through solid matter and amplified audio signal. MALLEABLE(planes) can be played by physical manipulation of any of the solid elements of the object or by analog or digital manipulation of the audio signal. I ask that the transducers be moved between each interaction to allow for different sonic environments and to prohibit the development of specific, predictable technique when interacting with the object. The distinct acoustic properties of the variable materials used and many available feedback paths result in simultaneous soundings of varying tones, timbres, and amplitudes. MALLEABLE(planes) is part of a greater series of MALLEABLE objects, all of which involve solid matter feedback as a core element of their sonic identity.
I’ve designed MALLEABLE(planes) so that any manipulation of the solid elements of the object will result in a change in the sound produced such that it is often uncontrollable in any specific manner, frequently generating new sounds on its own. It is my hope that this lack of controllability, which ideally prohibits the development of exact technique, will allow for a new relationship to be developed with the object during each interaction, making interaction an individual, accessible, and visceral experience as opposed to a studied, technical one.