Coded | Decoded

Coded | Decoded

Duration: 11:48

Instrumentation: Violin with pedal effects, Fixed Electronics

Technical Specifications: .wav 48kHz stereo audio, HD 1080p video

Year: 2020

Coded | De(c)oded, originally came out of a question. What would 1980s cassette data tapes sound like if played on a regular audio playback device?

The discovery that data was stored through analogue sound-waves encoded in magnetic tape led me to begin exploring the spectral possibilities found in encoded visual data from early 1980s video games. Through spectral-imaging software I extracted audio samples from a number of well-known video games from the era, including: Pac-Man, and The Legend of Zelda.

The idea that machine and human are unable to communicate through the same auditory language led to the decision to structure the piece around a dialogue. An attempt to understand one another through pure sound without the means to decode the information.