SYMPHONY OF NOISE

We wanted to find music in the sounds that surround us every day, with no instruments, just the world itself.

Symphony of Noise is an interactive VR experience conceived with Jamie Balliu and funded in the first batch of CreativeXR, the Arts Council England and BFI's immersive content fund. Loosely based on Matthew Herbert's book The Music, it takes listeners on a journey through inner and outer dimensions of the human being: from the first heartbeat, through the natural world and the man-made, into the supernatural. There are no musical instruments; the entire soundscape is built from everyday noises. Visual cues invite participation throughout: conscious breathing, talking, singing, and hand movements each trigger something unique in the digital worlds, leaving a personal auditory fingerprint. Built in Unity3D with Max MSP handling the audio, it mixes a partially pre-composed soundscape with the listener's real-time input, generating new, unpredictable symphonies every time. The prototype we developed became the foundation for the project's continued life in Germany, where composer Phivos-Angelos Kollias joined and it toured major festivals including IDFA DocLab, Reeperbahn, and VRHAM!, winning Award of Excellence in Sound Design at FIVARS 2020 and named one of Forbes' Top 35 XR Installations of 2019.

FIVARS 2020: Award of Excellence in Sound Design · Forbes: Top 35 XR Installations of 2019 · IDFA DocLab 2019: Nominated, Immersive Non-Fiction Competition · VR NOW Awards 2021: Nominated · Reeperbahn Festival 2019 · VRHAM! Virtual Reality & Arts Festival 2019 · Geneva International Film Festival 2020