So the whole acoustic approach to the festival came about after time spent thinking about festival structures - the stage, the speakers, the mixing desks, and where people need to stand to both hear and be heard. Last year I tried to play about a little bit with the tech, to try and create something more intimate, so that the audience could feel closer to the performers and performances. So we moved the stage, made it lower, tried to reduce the size (though not quality) of speakers. It sort of worked, but I came to realise that if I really wanted to get away from an established festival format - of performers on stages with massive sounds systems - then I was going to have to do something more radical. The idea of no fixed stage and no fixed position for the audience suddenly seemed a freeing prospect. As did the idea of trying to bring people together in a moment of intense and concentrated listening, where they are totally focussed on the sounds being made directly in front of them. David Toop was particularly encouraging of this approach. David is an extraordinarily prolific and knowledgeable musician and knows so much about the history of music and sound performance. He’s interested in the sound of literally everything and talks eloquently on the importance of silence. I could literally listen to him talking all day long. Here is talking about making sound. Click to go to Vimeo, here. 

Tags: wysingpolyphonic |  davidtoop |