Delve into Darkfields: Séance
Glen Neath, co-Artistic Director of Darkfields, writes about the process and inspiration behind Séance, and how the project evolved.
David Rosenberg and Glen Neath have been working together for about 12 years, seven of them as Darkfield, and have used binaural sound and darkness in all of their work together.
Binaural is just a particular way of recording that uses two microphones in a dummy head to approximate the real life experience we all have when we hear something. In effect it creates a 360 degree world of sound, around a listener, that feels very real when it is listened back to through headphones. So, if you can imagine this idea of a 360 degree world created through sound and then imagine it played back to you through headphones in the dark, you can begin to imagine how we can play with people’s perception of what is really happening in the space they are sitting in. We then create a fictional version of the space where the story is happening, and in that fictional space other audience members seemingly engage with characters who have entered into the recorded space. Binaural sound is very effective in enabling us to blur that boundary between what seems to be real and what is not real. If you can introduce doubt you can keep the listener active in the experience, as they wonder if and how they will be expected to join in.
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