TRACES - between imprint and sound
TRACES - between imprint and sound is an artistic research project (KUV) carried out at SDMK in 2025-2026. The project explores how nature's graphic traces can be translated into musical parameters. Here you will find videos, sound examples, images and texts from the process.
Dragged Notations
This is where SPOR took shape.
The first experiments with wood drawings and sonification & visualization
Experiments with eco printing and an experiment with coal in the rain - sonification
Tree Song
Visualization and sonification of a spruce tree.
Traces of the Forest – A Print Becomes Music
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been exploring a process where movement, material, and sound intertwine. This video was created to document and share that work.
An acetate sheet was taped under a copper plate and dragged across the forest floor. The sound of the plate scraping and rattling through the terrain was recorded in real time. The physical marks left in the acetate were later used to create an intaglio print—a visual impression of the journey and the forest’s resistance.
Using a homemade pianoroll—built from plexiglass and transparent tape—I translated the lines in the print into musical notes and programmed them in Ableton Live. The music is shaped by friction, rhythm, and the unpredictability of this simple, performative gesture.
At the end of the video, you’ll see a series of prints made after several walks through the woods.
The Drawing as a Score
The other day, I continued working on my tree drawings – this time by translating the lines into musical notation. The tones that emerged from the meeting between tree and paper have been turned into music. In this short video, the process is shown through a series of photographs, and you can hear the result: a sonic interpretation of a visual gesture.
So I've been thinking about a way of sonifying the tree drawings with my new Orbita Sequencer - today I tried with 5 different colored pens hanging from my magnolia tree in the garden. Wherever a line crossed a circle I put one of the colored "notes" and created a melody.
I also came up with a way of creating textures using the "dragged mic" technique I invented years ago - mics dragged behind me on the ground - this way the mic is suspended from a branch, touching the grass below. The video shows the entire process.
On a morning dog walk, I passed a group of trees squeaking in the wind – it sounded like they were whispering to each other.
Later that day I returned with a Stille & Klang contact mic and a LOM Uši. I recorded inside the trunk and outside in the wind.
In post, I gently balanced the two channels – nothing added.
The first half of the track combines both recordings; the second half isolates the sound from within the trunk. The tree also made a drawing while I recorded the sounds...
Two new sound recordings are now available on SoundCloud.
The first was made using a pair of soil microphones built by David Stalling from Stille and Klang. It was recorded in a roadside verge near the forest, among blooming winter aconites and wood anemones.
The second is an evening recording from the local park. The tree branches moved in the wind, brushing against each other, birds were singing, and the church bell struck eight.
Both recordings are unedited, except for a slight gain adjustment.
Taxus
Wood drawing & Cromaplane
Experiment with wood drawings filmed from below while they were being created.
Long (25 minutes) film of a tree drawing - without sound
Translations of the eco print and the wood drawings into sound, melody, rhythms, etc.
Wavetables created from 9 different eco prints
Wavetables created from images of fermatated ink
Show reel
