MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM, CALIFORNIA
In March 2021, a Robotic submarine descends deep into the waters of Monterey Bay. It sees the animals that go deeper than scuba divers could ever reach.
With each dive, the submarine tried to collect up to 15 animals- on a good day.
For the past four years, the Aquarium’s Applied Water Science department has created a complex support system for these animals, made up from pipes, pumps, vacuums and filters.
In the final stages of the scientific process, Earwax Productions and Douglas Morton were taken on board.
Doug started writing musical sketches for Into The Deep back in January 2021. Envisioning the visitors walking through the exhibition, Doug wanted the music to create a deep and ambient atmosphere. He experimented with tuning the pitch down on instruments such as the gamelan and using guitar pedals to play in the low registers. There were seven tracks that Doug wrote for including a video game in the exhibit. When walking around the whole Monterey Aquarium you will hear Doug’s music playing in almost all the other exhibitions.
Hydrothermal vents are their own unique ecosystem, with hundreds of unique species living around the vents. The vents piece was a great place to get creative with sound design. Emma Jackson took on the task of doing this piece. She used sounds of deflating balloons cut into half time to mimic the low rumblings of the deep sea. She also spent time reversing and detuning different sounds such as pouring water into a glass, chimes, and a fishing rod reel.
Jim then had the task to take all the stereo tracks and music and create a 7:1:2 mix. Firstly, Jim started mixing in the studio at Zoetrope before going down to Monterey Bay Aquarium to do the final mix in January 2022 at the exhibition. On location Jim was able to enhance the vision of creating a deep and ambient atmosphere.
The exhibition opened last week to members.
