Creator of the Month: Listen to the landscape with sound artist Dan Fox

Encounter the sounds of nature as you’ve never heard them before with Sound Interventions’ outdoor installations, the brainchild of sound artist and filmmaker Dan Fox.

Dan Fox has been crafting spectacles in nature since he was a kid. He grew up as part of a travelling theatre company, Welfare State International, and recalls being part of their shows as a young boy – once as “an angel on horseback wearing a large pair of goose wings and riding slowly through Burnley with a group of musicians on a frosty winter morning”. The company settled into showman’s caravans in Ulverston when Dan was 10. Since, Cumbria has become the home where he now takes his kids out on walks, bike rides and for swims. These natural places are so special to Dan, he made a film in homage to the River Crake using a mixture of visuals and field recordings of its environmental sounds – whether underwater “or the upland fells and ants’ nests or whistling viaducts” – to capture its essence.

Main image: A drum harp aeolian sound sculpture at Bowber Head Nature Reserve, Cumbria| Credit: Dan Fox

Cumbria is also the HQ of Sound Intervention, Dan’s team of makers, designers and riggers who work together to build light and sound artworks largely free for the public. They rarely work indoors, Dan says, adding, “I love it when people see how technology can be part of creating an immersive experience inspired by and connected to nature.”

Here, Dan talks to The Great Outdoors about why the natural landscape is an ideal canvas for sound design.

TGO: Can you recall your first experience of nature and being outdoors – and how did that impact you?

Dan: I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid. I grew up as part of a travelling theatre company called Welfare State International. From when I was very young until we moved to Ulverston in 1978 we lived in showman’s caravans. We created a lot of outdoor site specific shows. I can remember as a young child being the image of an angel on horseback wearing a large pair of goose wings and riding slowly through Burnley with a group of musicians on a frosty winter morning.

TGO: How do your local landscapes inspire you?

Dan: I moved here when I was 10. As I kid I spent most of my free time out on my bike. I used to ride round the fells on a Carlton 5 speed racing bike before mountain bikes were invented! I often go out recording and filming in the landscape. During covid I made a landscape timelapse film on the river Crake and I use recordings of environmental sounds as source material in my compositions. I record everything from underwater sounds to upland fells to close up sounds with contact mics like ants nests or whistling viaducts.

TGO: Nowadays, what brings you joy about being outdoors?

Dan: I like taking my kids out on walks, bike rides and swimming in lakes and rivers.

TGO: Can you describe the work you and the team at Sound Intervention creates, for those new to sound installations?

Dan: We are based in Ulverston but work nationally. We are a team of makers, designers and riggers. Over the past few years our busiest period is September to February. We have created several light and sound artworks that are installed at illuminated trails and and light festivals. We are very excited this year to be curating a new winter experience with National trust at Sizergh Castle near Kendal. We will be installing several of our installations, creating a couple of new ones and inviting artists whose work we love to bring their work to Sizergh too.

We regularly take out our BoomBikes – battery powered off grid sound and projection systems on electric tricycles that go to light festivals and project animated loops on buildings and interact with the audience. We have been commissioned by Mirador to build a new retro jukebox styled BoomBike with pixel mapped lighting for Light Up Lancaster. I will be composing new audio pieces to accompany installations on illuminated trails at Leonardslee Gardens, Dunham Massey and Sizergh Castle.

Some of our work is low tech, such as bamboo aeolian flutes, whilst some is high tech. Our Luminosi trees feature thousands of sound responsive pixel mapped lights and a multi-channel soundscape inspired by the Fibonacci sequence. We also make fun pieces such as Voices From The Hood which repurposes old 50s hood hairdryers as listening posts. Our work is very varied but all has sound at its core.

TGO: How important is it to you to have your work widely available to the public and what do you hope people will take away from witnessing your work?

Dan: It’s very important. I greatly value the publics feedback. We rarely work indoors and often the installations are free for the public. I love it when people see the connection between the elements and the sound or how technology can be part of creating an immersive experience inspired and connected to nature.

TGO: What about the natural landscape creates the perfect canvas for sound design and music?

Dan: The cadences created when an aeolian harp starts to sing in the wind could never be generated digitally. I spend a lot of time automating mixes in a digital audio workstation but I could never automate the crescendo or fade of an aeolian harp responding to the wind. I love the unpredictability of the weather and the challenge of designing and making modular installations that can survive for six weeks in the UK winter!

TGO: What are you working on for the future?

Dan: I’m very excited to be creating winter at Sizergh Castle with National Trust. There isn’t an illuminated outdoor experience in south Cumbria and hopefully lots of people will visit between the end of November until Christmas. I’m also proud of the set of aeolian sound sculptures we have built. There are over twenty of them and they went on a national tour with walk The Plank last year, during which they were installed at Bowberhead Nature reserve last autumn. Some of them will be at Ravenstonedale Festival this September, too.

I also enjoy designing sound systems and composing large scale landscape compositions to play them back on illuminated trails. Last year I got great feedback about my music for Leonardslee Illuminated which included six compositions spread through a valley.

Follow Dan’s work at www.danfox.net.