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Visitors To Versailles

How do you create a “you-are-there” audio experience, when the “there” in question is a palace in an entirely different century? Aurelia worked with the Met to create a binaural soundscape that took the museum audio guide to new levels.

 

CLIENT: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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DATE: [post_published]

The piece featured first-hand accounts from visitors to Versailles in the 17th century, dramatized by a cast of international actors and set within immersive 3D soundscapes. Museum visitors listened to these soundscapes whilst exploring the exhibition with each scene related to the room they were in. The journey took them on carriages, through palatial rooms and even the palace gardens and menagerie.

Aurelia undertook the entire audio production process including sound script development, casting, recording and binaural mix production. The project was delivered over 800 sets of headphones throughout this major exhibition at the Met.

SOUND DESIGNER’S SCOOP

“As far as binaural soundscape production goes this project was about as exciting as it gets. One of the key challenges was how to find a recording location with palatial room reverbs and no sound pollution from the modern world. As luck would have it we discovered Oldway Mansion – modelled to Versailles and standing empty in Devon. We undertook a meticulous sound design process by building sound installations throughout the Mansion and re-recording the actors in this ‘sonic set’. The result was a vivid and evolving binaural mix that really came alive”

CHRIS TIMPSON, SOUND DESIGNER & INSTALLATION ARTIST

The Metropolitan Museum of Art