The Shape of Sound: Chladni Plate Art & Microscopy at Aberdeen Music Hall
The Shape of Sound is a body of work born from a single question: what does music look like when you go beyond what the eye can see? Commissioned twice by Aberdeen Music Hall's prestigious LED screen programme - and with both concepts originated entirely by Bright Side Studios - this series approaches that question from two distinct and surprising angles.
Our Role
Concept & Creative Direction
Film Production
Augmented Reality
Cymatics & Prototyping
The Shape of Sound:
Under the Microscope
For the first commission, Bright Side Studios conceived an idea rooted in physical discovery. Working with Ascus Laboratories, instruments, scores and musical artefacts were placed under the microscope and filmed - revealing hidden ecosystems and microscopic landscapes invisible to the naked eye. Air samples were taken from within the music hall itself, spores cultured from that environment and brought into frame. Through film and augmented reality, this mysterious, rarely seen world was drawn from the very fabric of musical life and writ large across the screen.
The Shape of Sound: Cymatics
The second commission took the concept in a new direction — away from the physical and into the frequency. Bright Side Studios conceived and developed an exploration of Cymatics, the science of visualising sound, using a Chladni Plate to give audio frequencies visible form. Patterns shaped by sound, captured through a digital lens and meticulously crafted in post-production, transformed Aberdeen Music Hall's expansive LED screen into a dynamic abstract speaker - science and art rendered as one.
Credits
Client
New Media Scotland
Creative Technologists
Bright Side Studios
Video Artists
Bright Side Studios
Soundscape
Pippa Murphy
