Variable 4

Variable 4 Website

8-channel outdoor weather-driven sound installation as Jones/Bulley
With Daniel Jones as Jones/Bulley.

b-side Festival, Portland Bill, Dorset
(5–14 September 2014)

Elizabeth Castle, Jersey
(22–25 September 2011)

Snape Maltings, Suffolk
(28–29 May 2011)

Dungeness, Kent
(22–23 May 2010)

Variable 4 is an 8-speaker outdoor sound installation which translates weather conditions into musical patterns in real time. Using meteorological sensors connected to a custom software environment, the weather itself acts as conductor, navigating through a map of 24 specifically-written movements.

Every aspect of the piece, from broad harmonic progressions down to individual notes and timbres, is influenced by changes in the environment: wind speed, rainfall, solar radiation, humidity, tropospheric variance, temperature, and more.