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Podcasts Off-Ramp
Sonos Gallery in Los Angeles makes art out of bottle noises with 'Bottle Tones'
Off-Ramp with John Rabe Hero Image
(
Dan Carino
)
Aug 16, 2012
Listen • 4:51
Sonos Gallery in Los Angeles makes art out of bottle noises with 'Bottle Tones'
Remember the first time you blew into a bottle as a kid? KPCC’s Peter Stenshoel does, so he checked out Bottle Tones, the new installation at Sonos Studio.
Air is pumped from the hand pump through the tube to make sound, as if you were blowing on the top of the bottle yourself. Then the sound is caught by a microphone and and played through Sonos players.
Air is pumped from the hand pump through the tube to make sound, as if you were blowing on the top of the bottle yourself. Then the sound is caught by a microphone and and played through Sonos players.
(
Ashley Myers-Turner/KPCC
)
Additional bottles line the studio, ready to be used in Luke Rothschild and Bennett Barbakow's "Bottle Tones" at the Sonos Studio.
Additional bottles line the studio, ready to be used in Luke Rothschild and Bennett Barbakow's "Bottle Tones" at the Sonos Studio.
(
Ashley Myers-Turner/KPCC
)
Anthony Dalesandro visits Sonos Studio and explores the Bottle Tones exhibit.
Anthony Dalesandro visits Sonos Studio and explores the Bottle Tones exhibit.
(
Ashley Myers-Turner/KPCC
)
Sonos Studio's exhibit, Bottle Tones, by Luke Rothschild and Bennett Barbakow, takes simple sound vibrations from air pumps and empty bottles, captures the sound using mirophones, and enhances the sound quality with Sonos players.
Sonos Studio's exhibit, Bottle Tones, by Luke Rothschild and Bennett Barbakow, takes simple sound vibrations from air pumps and empty bottles, captures the sound using mirophones, and enhances the sound quality with Sonos players.
(
Ashley Myers-Turner/KPCC
)
This Apothecary Elixer Bottle from Brattleboro, Vermont, circa 1903, has an A pitch at 229 Hz and carries 11 fluid oz.
This Apothecary Elixer Bottle from Brattleboro, Vermont, circa 1903, has an A pitch at 229 Hz and carries 11 fluid oz.
(
Ashley Myers-Turner/KPCC
)

Remember the first time you blew into a bottle as a kid? KPCC’s Peter Stenshoel does, so he checked out Bottle Tones, the new installation at Sonos Studio.

Remember the first time you blew into a bottle as a kid? KPCC’s Peter Stenshoel does, and that’s what got him to check out Bottle Tones, the new installation at Sonos Studio--owned and operated by the electronics company of the same name.

Sonos Studio is a gallery--acoustically-designed--celebrating the art of listening. It hosts exhibitions, intimate concerts, and parties geared to tickle eardrums. The slanting walls and foam pyramids look cool, and make the room sound great. And from now until the end of August, the Bottle Tones installation by composers Luke Rothschild and Bennett Barbakow provides a playful introduction to the space.

"It’s something universal and simple as blowing into a bottle like I did when I was six years old" said Rothschild. "It seemed kind of magical."

It may be kid stuff, but Rothschild and Barbakow give bottle music a symphonic twist. Visitors use pumps to blow air into a collection of empty bottles to make different tones. Microphones capture sound the sound vibrations and electronic devices process them--sometimes it sounds like a bottle, sometimes like the soundtrack to a science fiction film.

Rothschild said he and Barbakow originally planned to use bike pumps to blow air over the bottles. But it wouldn't work. "Once we realized it was possible to take these marine pumps that are designed to inflate inflatable boats like a Zodiac, or whatever, and they move quite a bit of air."

Visitors use these foot pumps to activate the installation.

In a city with countless art galleries, we now have a sound gallery, Sonos Studio is at 145 N. La Brea and open to the public--Wednesday to Sunday--from noon to six.