instrument-a-day 21: blinky

One of my earliest memories is of lying on the carpet under the christmas tree watching the colored shadows change as the bulbs blinked on and off, and listening to the small tinkling sounds of the tiny metal thermostat timers inside each bulb.  For this instrument, I stuck contact microphones onto a bunch of blinky bulbs to magnify those sounds.

The sound in this video is in stereo.


Posted via email from moonmilk’s posterous

4 thoughts on “instrument-a-day 21: blinky

  1. What a beautiful noise.

    It reminds me of a favorite lightbulb-related sound I heard a while ago. There’s a place near Court Square in Queens called Brooks Restaurant. I walk past it on my daily commute. The restaurant has an outdoor sign with a ring of lightbulbs that go on and off one after another, creating sort of a ‘wave’ effect. If it’s quiet on the street, the sign makes a wonderful, very soothing sound. I’m not sure if it has something to do with the bulbs or if it’s (probably) just a fan. Anyway, this reminded me of it. Thanks.

  2. Pingback: Moveable and the Piano Monster « Audiokitten

Leave a Reply to pete Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *