Music

Re: Sound Bottle remixes everyday noises into a song

Re: Sound Bottle remixes everyday noises into a song
Re: Sound Bottle is able to record, remix, and play back everyday noises as a musical number
Re: Sound Bottle is able to record, remix, and play back everyday noises as a musical number
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Re: Sound Bottle as viewed from close-up
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Re: Sound Bottle as viewed from close-up
Re: Sound Bottle is able to record, remix, and play back everyday noises as a musical number
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Re: Sound Bottle is able to record, remix, and play back everyday noises as a musical number
Re: Sound Bottle in profile, with the cork about to be removed to set the recorded song playing
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Re: Sound Bottle in profile, with the cork about to be removed to set the recorded song playing
Re: Sound Bottle – recording a hand clap
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Re: Sound Bottle – recording a hand clap
Re: Sound Bottle – recording a female singing
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Re: Sound Bottle – recording a female singing
Re: Sound Bottle – recording a twig being snapped
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Re: Sound Bottle – recording a twig being snapped
Re: Sound Bottle's internal components being prepared for fitting
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Re: Sound Bottle's internal components being prepared for fitting
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The idea of catching a sound in a bottle in order to listen to it later is one that many of us have toyed with, especially as kids. Unfortunately it isn't possible in the real world, at least not with a real bottle and nothing but a real bottle. However, Re: Sound Bottle is more than what it first appears to be, and its internal components means this particular bottle is capable of recording, remixing, and playing back sounds captured from all manner of different sources.

Re: Sound Bottle is the work of Jun Fujiwara from the Tama Art University in Japan. It won Fujiwara the Naoki Sakai Prize, a special judge's prize, at the Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Awards 2012.

The underlying idea is that on the surface Re: Sound Bottle looks and feels just like a normal bottle. In one mode it's set to record a small sample of whatever noise is made next it while the cork is off, in another it's set to play back a musical composition of all the sounds recently recorded, again while the cork is removed.

Re: Sound Bottle's internal components being prepared for fitting
Re: Sound Bottle's internal components being prepared for fitting

This makes it look like a very simple device, but in reality the sounds are collected and added to an audio database which is then plundered in order to create a unique song. Fujiwara has yet to reveal the exact hardware and software used in Re: Sound Bottle, but a similar system could be achieved with any number of platforms and the technical know-how to go with it.

It's currently just a one-off, although some people are suggesting Fujiwara should take Re: Sound Bottle to the masses via Kickstarter ... and I suspect this combination of art and engineering would find a wider audience, just like the BeetBox which turns a root veg into a musical instrument.

The video embedded below shows Re: Sound Bottle in action, with everyday noises captured and turned into a musical composition – not always one that's pleasing to the ear, perhaps, but a musical composition nonetheless.

Source: Vimeo via This Is Colossal

Re: Sound Bottle

View gallery - 7 images
2 comments
2 comments
EET Maj
That's a pretty impressive device. From what I observed in the video and what we have been told, it appears that it works by collecting small sound fragments and then rearranging them into a few different simple preset beats with open slots for the sounds. It's possible that it has certain requirements, such as a low frequency, that must be filled for a sound to be placed in a specific slot. All-in-all, I like it. This is an interesting concept that has brought forth an amazing device. It could do very well in the market should it be put out for public purchase.
ralph.dratman
I think it would be more interesting without the pre-made beat patterns. Rhythm could be constructed using information extracted from the sound samples.