Music From Sand

Many musicians perform with antique instruments -- a Stradivarius, a vintage Steinway or perhaps a ratty old Fender Strat. Diego Stocco puts them all to shame with his latest sound design experiment, an entire track of tuned sand noises.

He explains, "I had some sandbags in the backyard that I used in November during a rainy day. I was moving them to a different spot when I heard the noise of the sand. I thought that maybe I could try a new sound design technique so I bought some piezo film transducers and started to experiment with them.

The entire track is created only out of tuned sand tones. No additional sounds or waveforms. I emphasized the inner notes of the sand grains and mapped them on a sampler as a series of instruments. The grooves are all played live with various techniques, including taping two piezo films to my fingers.

I'd like to dedicate this work to Mike Oldfield. When I was a child I listened to his music and it opened my mind. That experience triggered my life passion to create the means to access sounds we've never heard before."

We're anxiously waiting to see if he continues the series -- Music From Molten Magma, perhaps?

The official Diego Stocco site
More of Diego's work [Behance Network]