Museum Folk
To launch the Sounding the Collection sample pack from Powerhouse and Ableton, Salamanda, Jonnine and SOLLYY were commissioned to demonstrate how these sounds can be reimagined into music.
Salamanda is a Seoul-based electronic music Produce/DJ duo comprised of Uman (Sala and Tetsuby (Manda). Influence by 20th century minimalism, Salamanda's music is characterised by distinctive patterns and harmonies.
‘I thought it was a project that is similar with our slogan – every sound and noise can become music. So, while I usually choose samples for music production intuitively, this time I focused on listening to and selecting samples with small details.’
Interview
‘I used ‘The Speaking Picture Book’ sample. It kind of sounded like a toy or very cute, and I used it as a background for vocals and percussion. So, I used this sample in two different ways and I think that was one of the fun parts I had during making this track. ’
‘Samples with texture, like bird cage mechanical, were interesting as they were sharp. I created rhythm using warping and panning.’
‘We mostly put every sample into sampler. For this track I made a lot of percussion elements, so I put them in samplers and then gave them delays and reverb. The Toy Drummer Bear sample I used sounded kind of like a glass sound, like a clinking sound. I really love turning samples into that kind of percussion sound.’
The song uses the theme of the Cerberus, which was a half-sunken ship near where I grew up, and I wanted to write a whimsical pop song. The genre would be under underwater pop.
‘My first thought was to preserve this melody line while working on the track. But in the end, I decided to chop this sample and put it into a sampler. Then we composed our own melody. When I listen to the sample as a whole it makes me to take a trip to the past. But when I chopped it up and listened it makes me feel mysterious, which led me to develop it into a folk-inspired melody and chord progression.’
‘The sample music box felt mysterious and exotic, like a simple folk song.’
Museum Folk – Salamanda
Used Samples
In their track Museum Folk, Salamanda used samples from eight objects in the Powerhouse collection. Here are the remainder, not listed above:
Artist
Salamanda is a Seoul-based electronic music Produce/DJ duo comprised of Uman (Sala and Tetsuby (Manda). Influence by 20th century minimalism, Salamanda's music is characterised by distinctive patterns and harmonies.
Sample Pack
Download
Sounding the Collection sample pack from Ableton for free and read more about the Ableton Project.
Creative Commons
Non-commercial with Attribution and Attribution Share-Alike licenses. Both require attribution and have limited restrictions. Attribution should be given as Powerhouse.
Sounding the Collection
From an automaton bird cage and an art deco clock to toy robots, tuning forks and steam engines, Sounding the Collection is a sonic archive from Powerhouse that brings objects sitting silent in the collection to audition.
The archive hosts more than 100 recordings designed to be shared publicly, inviting artistic interpretation and collaboration. These recordings allow musicians, researchers, and sound designers globally to repurpose and interpret them via a ‘sample pack’ —– potentially finding their way into sonic identities, movie soundtracks, foley, pop songs and sound installations.
Powerhouse is working to fold sonic archives and sonic interpretation of the Collection’s material culture. In addition to Sounding the Collection, the museum is host to a range of projects that activate and listen closely to its objects. This includes the Oscillations podcast series, collaborations with Research Fellows and performances with collection instruments.
Powerhouse Collection
Powerhouse is custodian to more than half a million objects of national and international significance and is considered one of the finest and most diverse collections in Australia.
Research Scholars
Powerhouse Museum operates an annual program to support research of the collection, museum practice, learning and public outcomes.