Light Loops by Alex Huang and Lily Campbell
Fall 2023
Light loops is a collaborative project that encompasses color theory, silkscreen printing, custom RGB LED circuitry, and a hacked tape player to create an audio visual experience that couples light and sound through analog audio and CMYK silkscreen printing techniques.
The artists drew inspiration from the Samoiloff Effect, a theatrical and artistic lighting technique that allows an image to completely transform its appearance when illuminated by different colors of light.
A Mobius strip motif exists across the project from the screen printed CMYK mobius strip J-Card, to the mobius strip tape loop inside the cassette.
As the audio plays over a custom mobius strip tape loop, a hacked Panasonic Tape player couples the speed of the audio to an arduino board that transmits a looping pattern of light via a RGB LED strip. As this light shifts a Samoiloff Effect appears on the screen printed mobius strip J-card giving the illusion of movement that is synced to the tape loop audio.
Light Loops by Alex Huang and Lily Campbell - Detail view of full package with bound outer sleeve and buttoned mobius strip exterior
Light Loops by Alex Huang and Lily Campbell - Detail view of package with unfurled outer sleeve and removed mobius strip exterior
Light Loops by Alex Huang and Lily Campbell - Detail view of full package with bound outer sleeve and removed mobius strip exterior
Light Loops by Alex Huang and Lily Campbell - Detail view of packaging with removed outer sleeve and removed mobius strip exterior
Light Loops by Alex Huang and Lily Campbell - Detail view of full package with cassette tape loop and removed and unfolded mobius strip exterior
Light Loops by Alex Huang and Lily Campbell - Detail view of J-Card Design
The Media of Sound is a course designed and taught by Ross Wightman at Yale University that examines the material, technological, and cultural frameworks through which sound is recorded, produced, and circulated. The course focuses on the design of both sonic works and the physical and digital media that contain them, emphasizing experimental and conceptual approaches to recording technology.
Through hands-on projects, students create sonic and audiovisual works that subvert, reconfigure, or hybridize conventions of music production. These projects are contextualized through the study of historical and contemporary sound art and recording practices, considered both as industry norms and as critical departures from them.
The course explores how sound is transmitted and received across media such as tape, vinyl, and digital formats, alongside the affordances and limitations of recording hardware and software from antiquated multi-track devices to contemporary DAWs. Topics include recording and editing sound, formatting and designing artwork for sound releases, collaborative production workflows, and the creation of both digital and physical media.