Field of Sounds is a pioneering audio technology designed by London-based studio Kai Lab. It is a wireless multichannel sound system that allows spatialised and perfectly synchronous audio playback. The unique system presents an enormous range of compositional and curatorial possibilities for sound designers, allowing for the presentation of three-dimensional sound works in any setting, including remote outdoor locations and architecturally sensitive spaces. The system is also wearable; each wireless channel can be fitted with a shoulder strap and weighs only 900g, meaning that listeners can carry channels of sound as part of the performance.
Field of Sounds is modular and scalable, supporting 40+ channels. Each channel is a self-contained module that includes a Minirig speaker, custom playback unit and a radio receiver. They are easily rechargeable and have a battery life of approximately 10 hours. The system has been designed to maintain high fidelity audio, while achieving perfect playback synchronisation between modules. It is controlled via a web app that allows the user to upload audio, monitor the system, start/stop/pause and control the master volume.
“The Field of Sounds diffusion system is an incredible new wireless technology that allows for the zero latency distribution of 40 channel sound works in literally any environment. This flexible new technology presents radical possibilities to composers of new electroacoustic sound works…”
Robin Fox
“Typically multi-speaker diffusion networks such as this are fixed in nature, in configurations dictated by convention and infrastructure. ‘Field of Sounds’ will subvert this notion and create a unique audience experience as well as fascinating opportunities for site-responsive, subversive sound art.”
Tilman Robinson
“This important work will give rise to innovation in sound art and provide entirely new experiences for listening that engage a wide audience and animate public space in new ways.”
Nick Ryan
Kai Lab is a London-based arts and design practice that creates electronic, mechanical and sonic artworks. All with backgrounds in the physical sciences, its founders place a heavy emphasis on research and development. Kai’s projects are driven by the desire to capture the core components of intriguing, complex and beautiful natural phenomena. Each of their pieces aims to make tangible the intangible, and invites the audience to use all their senses to experience a new perception of the environment. Kai’s experimental approach often leads to the development of novel electrical and mechanical technologies that they use to power their own pieces as well as those of collaborators across a number of fields and industries.
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