the leamon sound device

The Leamon Sound Device (LSD) does not sound like anything you are

likely to have heard in your lifetime, unless you have been lucky enough to

experience other "many-channel" sound implementations.

By definition, I cannot upload a stereo MP3 file that captures what the LSD

sounds like, as MP3 files normally contain only two channels and the LSD

plays back 24. Even if I could upload a 24-channel MP3, what would you play

it back on?

Nor can I create a 5.1-channel surround DVD for you; I'd have to produce

four of them, which you'd have to somehow play back in sync on four different

5.1 systems, to get to 24 channels.

Indeed, the only way to hear what the LSD truly sounds like is either to come

over and listen to the one I've built, or to build your own. Suffice it to say that

24 channels of simultaneous sound is a very different experience from that of

two or even 5.1 channels.

The main difference is the saturation by different sounds coming from different

directions. It is not overwhelmingly loud (with 24 speakers you don't have to play

them all very loudly to get full sound), but it is incredibly rich in sonic textures, depending

on what is being played. For instance, compositions in which 24 different things are

going on at once are strangely engaging -- that's a lot of aural stimulation!

The listening experience is further enhanced when you move slowly around the

room (as you are encouraged to do). The mental "sound map" of your perception

changes as you move. If each speaker is playing a completely different sound, as you

draw closer to one end of the room the "mix" inside your head changes as the

relative volumes change. This is hard to describe, but in effect, you mix the sound

inside your brain differently depending on your location in the room. This means

you can repeat the same audio program many times and hear it differently each time,

often discovering sounds and sonic relationships you hadn't heard before.

Another strange effect comes from offsetting duplicate sounds relative to each

other. One simple, very lo-fi piece consists of voice messages recorded from

my cell phone. This is, at best, AM radio-quality sound. The message is

duplicated over a number of tracks, with each duplication moving slightly "off-beat"

from the others. The result is a strangely echoey, dislocated rendering of the

messages, with sound events -- the plosives of the speaker's voice, for instance --

cascading around the room.

One of the simplest and most obvious uses of the LSD is to move sound

around the device. We are not used to sound moving smoothly from spot to spot

except in the real world. With 24 channels, the LSD is just "detailed" enough in

audio resolution to allow smooth movements of sound around the space. The effect

is quite beautiful and makes one wonder what astonishing things composers and

musicians might do with it.

Recording for the LSD is a universe unto itself -- currently I am limited to eight

live inputs but hope eventually to get to 24 (this is part of what your donation will

go towards). We are so used to the world of sound being reduced to two channels

that it boggles the mind to imagine live recordings that take in audio from 24 different

directions.

Suffice it to say that the LSD sounds amazingly vivid because we simply haven't heard

this many channels before.