LithoPhone Project

LithoPhone Project

Strata No. 1: Concrete

Duration: 5:36 min

Instrumentation: Amplified Stone Turntable

Date: 2024

The LithoPhone Project began out of a desire of mine to extend my practice to the art of instrument building and sound installations, attempting to create unique sonic textures through unusual and novel uses of existing technologies paired with creative instrument designs. The LithoPhone is a custom-built sound box, which combines an electrical motor, stylus, and amplification chamber to produce and enhance the natural resonances and harmonics found in stones. The box is amplified through use of a contact microphone, with the captured audio being processed through an Ableton Live patch.

Strata No. 1: Concrete is the first demonstration of the instrument, and explores the dull, scraping sound captured from amplified concrete. The concrete sphere, naturally molded on the shores of lake Ontario and sourced from Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto, Ontario, tells part of the construction story of the city I live in. A colonial city of steel, concrete, and glass emerging from the previously forested banks of these shores.