Barbican’s visitors Feel the Sound with d&b Soundscape.
Intro
The powerful d&b Soundscape plays a defining role in a new immersive sound exhibition at London’s Barbican Centre, in which visitors are invited to take a unique journey through a series of aural environments, experiencing sound in a variety of ways, other than mere listening...
Setting the scene
Feel the Sound is a series of installations, each created by leading sound artists from around the world, which aims to make visitors ‘sense’ sound in multiple ways – including physical and emotional stimuli.
With d&b audiotechnik as its official audio partner, this curated, multi-sensory journey combines the work of contributing artists – among them Miyu Hosoi, Evan Ifekoya, ILĀ and MONOM and Electronicos Fantasticos – all of whom in some way explore the new creative horizons offered by immersive sound technology.
Setting Objectives
Luke Kemp, Head of Creative Programme for Barbican Immersive, discusses the concept of the exhibit “We wanted sound to reach beyond just hearing, to hit the whole body. We also wanted to reach new audiences including a younger demographic.”
With this in mind, and to provide an over-arching link between the varied works, Barbican Immersive brought in Tom Slater from Call & Response Studios to serve as lead sound designer for the exhibition, working closely with curators, designers, and artists. He says, “My role was to design an overall sonic journey that could hold together ten artist commissions – each very different in tone, material, and intent – while still giving each work its own space to breathe.”
Slater was tasked with creating aural ‘cleansing zones’ between installations. He explains, “The brief for the cleansing zones was to create moments of transition – sonic interludes that would give the audience time to reset as they moved between works. These zones also functioned practically to separate sound spill from adjacent installations, but conceptually they were designed to act as emotional palate cleansers. They needed to feel immersive and atmospheric, without drawing focus away from the works themselves.”
The Solution
It was here that the d&b Soundscape, with its powerful central signal processor, the DS100, proved its worth. “I began working with the DS100 in my studio during pre-production,” says Slater. “Having that system in place allowed me to prototype and refine spatial designs well ahead of the install, which transformed the whole workflow.”
Discussing the benefits of d&b Soundscape for this project, he says, “I’ve worked with many spatial sound systems over the years, and d&b Soundscape has become a core part of my creative process. It offers a unique balance of precision and intuitiveness, making it ideal for exhibition and installation contexts where both control and adaptability are key.”
In designing these ‘palate cleansers’ Slater was guided by the individual character of the adjacent works. “Some were calming, others slightly disorienting or anticipatory,” he says. “The goal was to create sonic environments that felt open and expansive, but subtly shaped perceptions as the audience moved through them. Spatial movement was key – guiding rather than distracting.”
Slater was able to carry out full spatial pre-production in his studio, using the DS100 and a loudspeaker layout representing the Barbican’s Curve gallery.
Having been developed in the studio using a Reaper DAW, the finished Soundscape settings were then translated directly into the installation. Slater says, “We’re running Reaper sessions on site with OSC automation routed to the DS100 for real-time spatialization. Because the Soundscape design and mix were developed in the studio using the same setup, we could lift everything directly into the venue with minimal translation.”
On site, the DS100 handles routing, panning, and spatial rendering. “This allowed us to focus our install time on refining spatial perception in the space itself, rather than rebuilding what we had already composed,’ says Slater.
Here, another key part of the d&b Workflow comes into effect. “Importantly, most of the artworks in the show were on a d&b networked system, which meant I could use the R1 Remote control as a system-wide mixer – balancing levels and EQ across the entire show from a single position,” Slater explains. “This was essential, as I approached the sound design not just as a series of discrete works, but as one continuous spatial and emotional experience. The ability to fine-tune the entire system holistically, while still respecting the individuality of each artwork, was a huge advantage.”
As well as the cleansing zones, Slater also employed Soundscape for certain elements of the main installations. He details, “I collaborated on several of the artworks themselves, including Evan Ifekoya’s piece, which used Soundscape to spatialize an immersive ambient platform.”
He adds, “While Soundscape wasn’t used in every part of the exhibition, the spatial thinking it enabled extended across the whole experience.”
Conclusion
Reflecting on the exhibit, Slater says, “Having d&b as a partner was invaluable – not just for the hardware and technical support, but for the creative flexibility and trust they offered. Being able to use Soundscape from the earliest design stages through to final install changed the nature of the sound design – it allowed sound to become structural, not just decorative.
“The networked system gave me the ability to think about the entire show holistically, treating it as one evolving immersive composition rather than a sequence of isolated works. That kind of integrated spatial audio design simply wouldn’t have been possible without Soundscape and the wider d&b ecosystem.”
The result has been a positive experience, for all concerned – and there may well be more to come. “We see this as a model for future collaboration,” says Kemp.
