Layering the musical result back into the site required technical pragmatism as the previous installation “Subliminal Throwback”: instead of a high-density loudspeaker array, the installation is played over eight all-weather loudspeakers, allowing only a 3rd order 2D ambisonics space, and the special prototype loudspeaker that directs beams of sound toward the surrounding surfaces.
The simplest way to hear the work now it has been removed from the site is a stereo mix that I made for home listening. This mix includes a little of the original background sound to set the scene and features on the Reconfiguring the Landscape CD release, along with stereo mixes of some of the other installations:
https://natashabarrett.bandcamp.com/album/reconfiguring-the-landscape
More interesting for this documentation is to show an onsite video-audio recording made on the evening of the 16th September and at noon on the 1st November 2022. For the September recording the weather was fine and it was possible to record the audio with the MhAcoustics EM32 microphone placed in the centre of the courtyard, which you can see on the video. For the November recording there was heavy rain, and the audio was simply that recorded on my phone with the video.
Despite this relatively 'low' resolution spatial playback, the combined result of real and added elements seemed to function well. Many people, including school parties, contemporary music festival delegates, and ordinary individuals, listened for extended periods. In a questionnaire accessible to visitors via a QR code, over two-thirds stood in the cold for more than 20 minutes and reported that it changed their experience of the normal soundscape.
