Attack of the PANTs
2005.02.20
Type
Workshop
Keywords
diy, audio, contact mic, workshop
Entities
Lalya Gaye, Tobias Good
The workshop was something of an introduction to DIY audio electronics. Not necessarily to be informative, but to show how little electronics knowledge you actually need to build something interesting.
We created Personal Art Noise Things (PANTs): a contact microphone built from a piezo element, run through a cheap battery powered amplifier, out through speakers I picked up at a local market for about 3 SEK apiece, packaged in whatever the participants brought with them: ice creme boxes, coffee canisters, milk cartons.
The PANTs will amplify vibrations for the world to hear. Share the hidden sounds! Applications the participants came up with were: voice amplification by putting the piezo on your throat, feedback percussion by tapping the mic on the metal of the speaker or housing, whale sounds from feedback by putting the mic on the speaker membrane, guitar and keyharp amplification, and eavesdropping.
