Amplified Aluminium Foil

This experiment was partly inspired by noticing that our cats would do a runner as soon as got the tin foil out in the kitchen (I wonder if this is common reaction?). This started me thinking about the sound making properties of foil, not, I must add, with the intention of torturing animals. Rustling a sheet aluminium foil produces almost a white noise effect, not particularly loud but very bright and metallic (maybe a frequency range cats don't like? Like a cats hiss). This suggests maybe an acoustic performance piece for multiple performers with sheets of foil in similar vein to the action with balloons. I also tried amplifying the sheet with a contact mic which revealed these subtle metallic clonks and creaking noises. However being metal, handing the foil prevented the contact mic from working properly, this lead to automating the foil using travel fans.

Visually I find it interesting, the chaotic fluttering and the usual twisting loops they get into. They can produce some very rhythmic sounds as well an agitated percussive cluster. Without their visual context it is quite difficult to workout what the sound is which is a quality I like. I decided to use this setup at the performance for MoSI and have four sent to four separate speakers.