Physicalizing the Spectrogram using Punchneedle Embroidery
One of the most heavily regulated creative industries, the music industry revolves around an intensely abstract and creative medium — sound. As digital technology rapidly evolved throughout the last twenty years, the responsibilities of record labels shifted from a focus on distribution and production to a venture capital structure.
Today, labels focus on amplifying and funneling artists' works by maximizing outreach to listeners – increasing streams on Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs) while engaging and growing social media presence.
Synesthetic Liberation pushes against a growing dissociative relationship with music. This project moves to liberate sound from its digital form, allowing people to touch and feel a spectrogram depiction of their music taste. In turn, it advocates for a new form of notation that bridges the digital and physical worlds.
The spectrogram allows the promotion of a new and dynamic notational system, bringing us closer to the shrouded and complex systems that define our digital personas.