KC FringeFest 2024 premiered an immersive audio experience this week with “The Sound Mandala.”
A sound mandala, much like the colorful circular geometric mandalas in art, showcases patterns and movement through sounds.
The Black Box Theater in the Olsen Performing Center was fitted with 80 loudspeakers surrounding the audience. There was no stage to look at during the performance, and the lights were dimmed.
Once the performance started, sound swirled around the room. Individual speakers played pieces of a song before swapping to another speaker. This created a feeling of movement around the audience.
Songs were split into instruments or notes, sent to different speakers, and played simultaneously for an out-loud mixing experience.
With this technology, musical scales sounded like they were thrown around the room. Notes started behind, soared overhead, and ended in front. Sometimes the sound circled around the room. Low notes came from the floor, and high notes came from above.
It is the closest one could get to listening to music from the inside.
One song was full of sounds from iconic video games like Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. The sounds created imagery of Pac-Man running around the theater and munching on points. It was like being inside an arcade machine.
Another number was Celtic-inspired and dreamlike, transporting the audience to a serene Irish countryside.
“Immersed in a symphony of orchestrated sounds emanating from different locations, altered my perception of size and space, evoking smells, memories, and vivid visuals,” said KC Fringe Festival Executive Director Aubrey Crabtree.
The Sound Mandala show was created by Tom Mardikes and Jon Robertson. Mardikes, a professor of sound design at the UMKC Conservatory.
“The challenge of moving sound through space was very clunky before we developed our Sound Mandala technology,” said Mardikes.
Mardikes has been working on the Sound Mandala project as early as 1997, with the first movement tests in 2014. Mardikes first came across inspiration while working in theater sound design.
“The biggest test for us has been whether or not people will sit in near darkness with no visual stimulation for 50 minutes,” said Mardikes. “The answer has been a resounding yes!”
Mardikes and his team hope to continue their work and research on the Sound Mandala technology and continue sharing it with the public.
The Sound Mandala show for KC FringeFest runs through July 28.
For more information on the upcoming shows, click here.
