about the project

Doppler Study I is a kinetic sound art installation that premiered in the CalArts WaveCave on April 28th, 2024.

Its inception came from a simple question: "if traditional music composition constitutes continuously manipulating musical qualities over time, how can musical qualities be continuously manipulated over space?" Doppler Study I explores one answer to this question by manipulating pitch and volume over space using the Doppler effect.

Three "Doppler Spinners" are placed around the room. Each spinner is composed of a rotating arm with a small speaker cone affixed to the end. These spinning speakers each play a channel of my original multi-channel composition entitled that stillness grows even here. A digital processing plugin I created called Doppler Compensation manipulates the pitch and volume of the signal according to the spin rate and speaker speed. From a certain position in the room—the "focal point"—this digital effect counteracts the acoustic effects of the spinning, and the listener hears the composition in its original pitch and volume. From other positions in the room, the digital effect accentuates the acoustic effects of the spinning, adding exaggerated modulations in pitch and volume to the composition. Through (admittedly unintentional) inaccuracies in the plugin's spin rate tracking system, the "focal point" of each spinner slowly moves throughout the room, causing the degree of modulation in each speaker to continuously evolve over both space and time.

The project began as a sort of "lab coat piece"—I was merely interested in the physics of the acoustic phenomena. As I was completing fabrication and beginning to test the spinners, I began to consider what (if anything) the installation might mean. At some point during this phase I was listening to my favorite Lady Lamb album, Even in the Tremor. The titular song ends with the line "even in the tremor / I feel a stillness growing." This concept of a stillness that transcends chaos exactly matches the physical phenomenon of the spinners, and it became the cornerstone of the installation's aesthetic. I think my mentor, Celia Hollander, put it best: "It's the feeling of being in a busy airport with someone you love."

My endless thanks go to: Jayme Greene for decor and lighting, Kayla Alise for photography, Sharjya Bannerjee for design consultation and custom fittings, Misha Perinova for help with setup, Celia Hollander and Clay Chaplin for their mentorship, and Aly Spaltro (Lady Lamb) for unintentionally illuminating what these absurd spinning speakers might mean.