SET UP A SOUNDCAMP
Quickstart
Find a site
Check permissions, access, network
Invite / -volve others
Plan your stream – see the how to
Let us know you will take part
Set up a webpage for your soundcamp / stream from soundtent.org [coming soon]
Plan transport, water, food, power
Start
The dawn chorus loops the earth every 24 hours along the line of first light. Birds and other organisms create a wave of sound at a time when humans may be relatively quiet. They are accompanied by weather and machines.
A sound camp is a temporary gathering, probably outdoors, involving from 1 to maybe 100 people. It is a way to be out among sounds and share them.
Each sound camp includes a transmission point, or open microphone, sending lives sounds of the location to the internet, where they are available on the Locus Sonus soundmap.
Sound camps are linked by the Reveil 24+1 hour radio broadcast that picks up live streams as the sun reaches each location. The broadcast happens on Wave Farm, Resonance, Tsonami and 20+ participating stations. It appears as a radio event at soundtent.org/reveil.
A sound camp usually also has a listening point, which could be as simple as a phone with headphones, or quite elaborate (see PITCH). This is a way to listen to the Reveil broadcast.
In 2014 there was one sound camp. In 2023 there were 30. Together they form a light network of listening points at scattered places of acoustic / ecological interest.
To join the Reveil broadcast in 2024, please propose a stream.
Where
Soundcamps have happened in dense urban and 'deep rural' areas, and in between.
Consider a place with:
good ground for sleeping on
maybe away from busy roads - check maps
with a water supply; or plan to take water with you
mains power; or take batteries
an internet connection (check ethernet, wifi or mobile coverage)
You could camp in your back yard or on the roof (maybe)?
When
The Reveil broadcast will run from 5AM London time (UTC+1) on Saturday 4 May until 6AM (UTC+1) on Sunday 5 May 2024. It travels West just before the sunrise, relaying streams at civil twilight local time. We will pick up streams in the Western hemisphere on Saturday 4th, and streams in the Eastern hemisphere on Sunday 5th.
Stream
For how to stream with a phone, laptop or Raspberry Pi streambox, see soundtent.org/stream.
Make a Raspberry Pi streambox from a kit or from scratch.
Detailed streambox workshop notes (includes making microphones).
Set up a listening point to follow the broadcast
It could be as simple as a phone with a portable speaker.
A tent provides a useful sonically porous listening space.
Keep amplification low near the streaming microphone.
Tune in over FM, WiFi or 3 or 4G (via a router or phone).
You can listen at Wave Farm, Resonance, a local station. Check the Broadcast page at soundtent.org for a list of stations.
And / or follow the whole event at soundtent.org/reveil.
Pass the time
Cooking, eating, drinking
Exploring the site
Listening, perhaps at daybreak
Other activities
Connect
soundtent.org
contact@soundtent.org
@soundtent
@sound_camp
#Reveil10
Soundcamp 2014–2024
For a list of soundcamps over 10 years, please see the Archive pages at soundtent.org
About
Soundcamp are an arts cooperative based at Stave Hill Ecological Park in South London. We work on transmission ecologies from DIY broadcasting devices to large scale public projects. As part of the Acoustic Commons network, we coordinate the long-form radio broadcast Reveil (2014 –), and a series of sound and ecology events (soundcamps) on Dawn Chorus day each year. Our work appears as workshops, devices, broadcasts and events. Research includes participatory tech, and live sound transmission for art and ecoacoustic projects.
Recent projects include: Radio With Palestine, a series of live transmissions from demonstrations and actions (2023–); Spree ~ Channelsea Radio Group between rivers in E London and Berlin; l a g – experiments with ecological radio: residency with Kate Donovan for the Sonic Acts Inner Ear(th) programme (2022); Design, concept, network for Acoustic Commons (Creative Europe 2020-2022); As if radio.. (AIR): An experiment in ecological activist radio at COP26 Glasgow (2021).
Our work has been supported by Arts Council England, Southwark Local Authority, North Southwark Environment Trust, The British Council, Cultural Bridge, the Creative Europe Programme of the EU and individual supporters.
soundtent.org
acousticommons.net
Image
Skeps. Image from Ludwig Armbruster: Der Bienenstand als völkerkundliches Denkmal. Neumünster in Holstein: Karl Wachholtz 1926. In Lapper, Ellen and Aladin Borioli: Ruches/ Hives, 2400 A.E,C. – 1852 E.C. RVB Books, Belgium 2022. p200.