Seeing the Musical Forest for the Trees

If a tree could make music, what would it play? That was the question artist Bartholomaus Traubeck asked himself. The answer lay in technology.

Traubeck’s record Years consists of tracks made by slicing various Austrian trees into vinyl-like slabs. He sampled Oak, Maple, Walnut and Beech trees among others. Instead of just dropping a needle on the record, Traubeck used the Playstation Eye Camera and a stepper motor to relay the image of the tree rings back to a program called Ableton Live.

The music is based on the rings, but not the actual grooves. As the record gets closer to its centre — and to the tree’s youth — the music picks up the pace to reflect that younger life.

Via The Mind Unleashed.

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