Extended drops

Audio trace of the Maastricht "computerized" version recorded by Patrick Delges :

Vidéo trace of the Koln "uncomputerized"version :

Pierre Berthet : Extended Loudspeakers and Extended Drops for a Walled Church Garden from Séan O’Sharp on Vimeo.

3 other sound examples during the first try-out session in the sistern of the Prenzlauerberg water castle (Singuhr gallery), Berlin here

In this installation appear again special self-built loudspeakers which I refer to as “extended loudspeakers”. These are loudspeaker chassis without a membrane with steel wires attached to them. The loudspeaker’s reverberations are transmitted via the wires to resonating bodies made of tin cans. The resonating bodies are linked in such a way that temporally as well as audially differentiated sounds are projected into the space. In “Extended Drops”, I use the driping principle that i use since mid-eighties : drops fall on suspended tin cans from +- 2m high. photo : Maertz

but in this installation the sounds of water droplets emit impulses and sounds for the network of resonators branched in the space.

Before hiting the suspended small tin-cans, the drops (water + a little bit of acid) pass through the cut electric cables that go from the amp to the extended loudspeakers and trig input sine waves A highly variable, spatial percussion and string instrument results, especially when the speed of the drops are modulated by a computer controling the overture of valves.

Although it sounds and looks very different, extended drops was inspired by a description of Arno Fabre’s "conte pour radios et robinets"

Another method to "extend" the drops is to sent their resulting percussive sounds picked up with contact-micr. to extended loudspeakers Drops sound can also trigger other sound sources (sine waves for example)

The first version of extended drops was presented at the Singuhr- Hoergalerie in Berlin. It was helped by the resonance european sound art network, then in Maastricht (Intro) and Kortrijk (klinkende stad) You can hear a recording of the Maastricht version here :

extended drops

It benefited from a "SMart" grant, help from WBI and also from the technical, artistic and friendly help of Patrick Delges (crfmw)

More info and listen to some more examples : resonance european sound art network. those were recorded during try outs in the prenzlauerberg water reservoir, Berlin 2010. This work was produced as part of the RESONANCE network, a European collaboration that focuses on the production, the presentation, the documentation and exchange of experience in the field of contemporary sound art. Resonance is suported by :

Interview and photos : here

Photos : R.Maertz

Here is a text by Georg Dietzler (in german) about a "simpler" version that took place in Koln during the fall of 2011 :

video