2025
A custom instrument I built for sound artist Calum Perrin and the Paraorchestra for their project “Phone Piece” which simulates being caught in the never-ending automated phone systems of trying to access benefits. When picking up the phone you are presented with options through the earpiece, and placed on hold after choosing one – the phone plays hold music from four speakers surrounding it, increasing in tension and complexity as the experience progresses. I built the phone player by connecting various components to an analogue telephone, and creating a system for Calum to define the voiceovers and soundtracks that would play at the different moments.
Xavier was fantastic to collaborate with - he really understood, and was excited about, not just the technical requirements but also the creative concept behind the piece. One of the most rewarding things about working with Xavier is his enthusiasm for figuring out how to do things he’s never done before. Most importantly, Xavier is a genuinely lovely person to work with—enthusiastic, thoughtful, and collaborative. He brought a friendly, disarming energy to this process, which was especially valuable when I’m out of my depth working with unfamiliar technology.
As the Creative Technologist, I helped Calum achieve their goal by:
☎️ Meeting with the artist to understand their creative aims, and using this to create an outline for the technical implementation that would best serve them.
☎️ Assembling the device using an Arduino controller and a specialised audio player that can handle sending sounds to multiple speakers without having to go through a mixing desk.
☎️ Creating an early playable prototype to get feedback from the artist on ease of use and intended features.
☎️ Devising a workflow where the artist could use tools they already used (Google Docs, Reaper, Audacity) to update the sounds, rather than making them learn new ones.
Building the phone player was a great exercise in Instrument Design – it was an an unconventional brief I really enjoyed working on! My sensitivity to interactive sound works from my creative practice definitely helped me make the tool work for Calum.
