www.simonwhetham.co.uk
Double Deck projects
Double Deck is a repurposed mechanism that was originally a double cassette player/recorder from a HiFi system salvaged from the streets of Marseille, France.
The name is a reference to the two flywheels that are now exposed on the rear of the mechanism that (with some imagination) resemble the twin record decks used by DJs. Because of this, I added various styluses fashioned from different gauge guitar strings that make contact with the spinning wheels. However all moving parts are explored for the sounds generated.
Edited documentation of the project development carried at at Atelier Expérimental, Clans, France
Project Development
September-November 2020
During with my residency at Atelier Expérimental in Clans, France I experimented with the mechanism by playing amplified water sounds through the motors to activate and power them. This gives the device an element of unpredictability as I didn't know which sounds would cause the motors to run, which would not and how they would run - constantly or erratically.
The project page can be viewed here
I continued to work on the project following the residency, recording only the acoustic sounds of the device in the recording studio at l'École des beaux-arts de Marseille, Luminy, Marseille in order to compose a documental sound work of the development.
I also continued to explore what is possible using the device as a live performance tool (see photo) for a performance at Data in Marseille alongside Hervé Boghossian, which has been postponed indefinitely.
September 2020
A further composition of sounds from the Double Deck device, also using Arduino programming, is released on cassette by the Alcôve label based in Paris, France, alongside a track by ớt called 'Solanaceae'.
May 2020
The first explorations of Double Deck using Arduino programming were featured on the 'Interiorities' radio show curated by artist Kate Carr.
Double Deck performance rehearsal in Marseille, France, November 2020
Photograph by Jeff Rollings
