Cloudscape: a Music Installation

It's surely cool to make some noise, but will it be even cooler to make some light as well?

I thus thought of trying this idea out, introducing Cloudscape, a device that helps you to maximize your coolness while vibing to your favorite grooves.

This work can be perceived both as a musical installation and a scaled-down spatial model. It utilizes the properties of light to materialize sound into visible forms. The physical component of the installation draws inspiration from the forms of cloud. Through an abstract interpretation of a cloud’s softness and floating quality, an organic spatial structure is created.

At the base of the installation, a speaker plays an original musical composition written by me (of course, you can also play your own songs). Covered with a layer of plastic wrap, the membrane vibrates in response to the rhythm of the music, reflecting light from a laser pointer onto the acrylic structure above. This interaction generates continuously shifting trajectories of light, animating the space with dynamic movement.

​Symbolizing spiritual freedom and flow, Cloudscape evokes a sense of tranquility and healing for people immersed in the interplay of sound and light.

This will cover the entire process of how I created this device. Without further ado, let's jump right in!

This project might seem intimidating at first. But the supplies you need are pretty simple.

1. A Speaker
2. An Audio Amplifier
3. A Metal Frame
4. Some Laser-Cutted Acrylic boards
5. A few Laser Pointers
6. Fishing Wires
7. Mirror papers
8. Shrink Wraps
9. Double Sided Tapes
10. Screws

Note: If you don't have a laser cutter at home, I will recommend you to find a trusted vendor to help you with your acrylic boards!

Initially, I thought of visualizing vibration of the sounds using the vibration of the sands. But since sand is hard to clean, I finally decided to use lights to represent the vibration of sounds.

In particular, I found that acrylic boards are perfect for lights to glow through due to their high transparency. To make the lighting more intricate and interesting, I've decided to arrange the acrylic boards with multiple layers, and eventually, they formed the shape of a cloud.

The final structure consists of an acrylic model of the cloud, a speaker that plays the music, a lighting system that generate the light, and a metal frame that locked everything in place.

Onto the clouds.

Below are the dxf files I designed for the clouds. They are in different slices. I used screws to connect them to get the final shape.

By using different slices, the final lighting will have more layerness, in my opinion, which makes the final product look better.

Important

Make sure to make the spacing between the layers even!

And of course, to make the cloud "float", proper supports are needed.

With that, I've designed a metal frame following the dimensions of 500mm X 500mm X 600mm. All the metal frames are joined using screws. With that, now we have a stable frame that can contain the cloud and other components of the device.

Of course, if you like, you can also find other alternatives (e.g., PVC). It is just for supporting purposes.

Now we need to attach the cloud to our metal frame.

For this part, I used fishing wires for assembly. They are thin and transparent, so under proper lighting, they will create the effect of the cloud floating.

To ensure maximum stability of the cloud, you can wrap a couple of more loops on the framework.

Where we are. The boys who actually make the noises.

The idea of this part is simple: we have an amplifier that allows the speaker to play the music from the computer, and the sound wave created by the speaker will vibrate the shrink wraps covered on it, eventually creating dynamic light patterns (which we will cover later).

Now we will cover the top of the speaker with the shrink wrap. To ensure extra security, I added some double-sided tape to stick the shrink wrap to the speaker. This will create a bouncy and firm membrane on top of the speaker that will vibrate with the music from the speaker.

This project won't be complete without the lights.

Here, I used three laser pointers. One with a linear pattern and two with a point pattern. Their lights will be reflected by the mirror paper covered in the next step onto the cloud model, creating the visual effect.

Of course, you can choose your own color and pattern.

Now we need to create the reflecting surface for the lights to shine.

I cut a square from the big mirror paper and put it on the top of the speaker membrane. Now it's ready to reflect the lights!

Now, put the speaker into the frame and tighten the laser pointers onto the beams. Make sure that light can be reflected sufficiently. If all is finished, you are good to go!

This is just a proof of concept for combining art and music, but perhaps more interesting patterns can be made. For example, instead of hooking it to a laptop, you can hook that to your electric guitar; maybe the result will look very different. There are simply a lot of possibilities in art you can try.

Anyway, enjoy building, and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys building them and testing them out!