Laws of Reflection  | 2018 Laws of Reflection is an active listening experience that explores new technology for the spatialization of sound by pairing pan / tilt controls with a small ensemble of hyperdirectional speakers, which create tightly-focused beams of sound. The resulting sound projection system allows sound to reflect off of objects within a given architectural space and illuminate different portions of the surrounding environment.

The sound for the piece is created using software written in the audio synthesis environment SuperCollider, running on the Bela ultra-low latency audio processing platform. Control data is sent wirelessly using the Open Sound Control protocol to ESP32 chips, each of which accompanies a pair of servo motors that activate reflective surfaces placed within the path of the hyperdirectional speakers’ beam of sound, creating spatial audio experiences that are impossible with traditional sound projection technologies.

This piece is the result of a 2018 New Works Artist Residency at Harvestworks in New York.

Pan / Tilt System Technical Lead: Shawn Wallace
Technical Advisors: John Driscoll, Joe Cantrell

Thanks to AS220 Industries for hosting this work in December 2018 for the purposes of obtaining documentation, to Matt Underwood for the help installing and testing, and to Carol Parkinson and the Harvestworks TEAM for the support and encouragement, without which this project would not have been possible.