360Photography

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

We already know what kind of music trees make when left to their own devices, and now we can make them sound the way we want. After developing a method for converting digital files into 3D printable records, designer Amanda Ghassaei has laser-cut records onto pieces of wood. While vinyl may be cheaper and provide sharper sound, it’s hard to deny that these hand-crafted records are works of beauty.

Ghassaei created digital wavelength forms of songs by Radiohead and Joy Division, converted them into PDFs and used an Epilog 120 Watt Legend EXT laser cutter to etch about three minutes of sound onto each side of a slice of wood. The resulting wood records, which are twice as thick as vinyl, can be played on an ordinary turntable.

“With this project I wanted to try to extend the idea of digitally fabricated records to use relatively common and affordable machines and materials so that (hopefully) more people can participate, experiment, and actually use all this documentation I’ve been writing,” says Ghassaei.

Ghassaei has also cut audio onto acrylic and paper. Music with good midtones tend to sound best with this technique. Listen to more samples and get more details about the project at Instructables.

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