ECHOES is a digital tool for makers, storytellers and explorers working with geolocated audio (sound triggered by a listener's location and physical movement) and Audio AR (augmented reality). It is free and simple to use. By the end of this workshop, you will be able to make your own audio production using ECHOES. This session will be led by Barra Collins and ECHOES founder, Josh Kopeček.
This event is part of a collaborative project by Neverthere and Bath Spa Productions - a programme of skills workshops, conversations and events for early career creatives and established artists looking to develop their practice. These sessions are designed to support engagement with digital platforms and immersive technologies, and to connect the wider artistic, business and academic community. Neverthere and Bath Spa Productions are working closely together with the shared purpose of stimulating partnerships and encouraging dialogue and knowledge exchange to enable a creative, innovative and artistic digital performance landscape.
What is geolocated sound?
A sound (or multiple sounds) contained within shapes on the map, which create geofenced areas. These will trigger content when listeners physically walk inside, by using GPS to determine their location. Layer sounds in subtle or rich ways, guide your audience, surprise, and entertain — a completely different way to experience our physical environment.
What is Audio AR (augmented reality)?
Sound that layers and enriches the physical world without sucking you into your screen. Stay present, appreciate your surroundings in all its richness while experiencing the additional reality layer. Oh and no clunky, expensive hardware: just the audience member’s phone and headphones.
Tell stories about the history of the city, allow statues to speak and tell their tales, describe the natural environment for visually impaired audiences, get lost in a treasure hunt, spooked by a horror experience, or devise a narrative led running experience to get people active during lockdown. The possibilities are endless.
Josh KopečekJosh is founder of ECHOES, a platform for making and publishing locative audio experiences. He has worked with award-winning artists to create immersive listening experiences around the world, utilising the latest in audio and location technology. As well as being an accomplished composer and performer, he is also a programmer and technologist across mobile and web platforms. His expertise across music, sound and location allows him a unique perspective on the burgeoning genre of locative audio. Josh holds a PhD in music composition. He is also a board member of Walk|Listen|Create, the home for walking artists and Sound Walk September.
Barra CollinsBarra will lead the ECHOES workshop, briefly touching on his experience of using ECHOES to create Home: London. An online, community project that explored how our homes, and where we come from, shape the way we view the world: the things that comfort us, the things that make us feel out of shape. In a year where we have spent more time than we could have ever anticipated in our households – Home: London worked with young artists to reflect on what home means to them. Home: London was created with support from the Ragdoll Foundation.
Click here for information about Home: London.