All About Tone

Lorin Tone

The sounds are often subconsciously noticed but they are an evident part of installations. In any virtual environment, the audio ambience plays a large role in establishing the feeling of the area. The same scene can appear romantic, spooky or funny with different sounds. Lorin Tone for years now is am important part of the Madpea team and gives builds the fitting ambience. He joined Second Life 6 years ago and dedicated his virtual life to his RL passion, the audio ambiance  Lorin is convinced that he did a good job when the visitors did not really notice the sound, because they experience it as the fitting addition to the scene. To the MadPea Carneval he added environmental sounds. For the current Enchanted Frost Hunt he provided natural sounds and soft wind chimes. Did you ever realized how snow sounds? Lorin does and he added to the Frost Hunt: “The sounds sometimes need to be subtle and silence enhances them.”

We wondered from where he gets all them: “I've been collecting sound effects for over 30 years, but I make my own as well.  I got a pretty big library now. In the past 5 years, I collected mainly for SL related projects for musical collaborations, special orders and MadPea always needs something....hehehe. Kiana is demanding. That is why I like her. She cares. If it ain't right, fix it. And that's why I love Madpea. It is fun to work with....great people.”

Lorin is currently very busy. He just opened his installation "Of Sound Mind" at LEA, a collaboration with many artists: “It's a project meant to demonstrate the many ways sound  and music can be used in interactive manners in SL and other virtual worlds. Numerous builders, scripters, musicians and composers have worked on this, I could not have done this myself! The object here is a bit subtle I guess.....walk around and hear how the ambiance change as you move. The environment will interact with your avatar.” The participating artists are Glyph Graves, Madcow Cosmos, Meriadne Merlin, Marcus Parrott, Inventor Alchemi, P4ndor4 Quintessa, Judi Newall and marleeoneal Resident.

Madcow Cosmos has left SL and this is one of the few chances to see some of his great works. Lorin: “Madcow's presence is all over the place of course. We have 3 areas of Madcow's work. 2 in the air....the Castle of Airs, which you can take a tour of.  The Fortress of Beat, which is our performance area.  And the area on the ground that you'll find easily enough.” Madcow Cosmos has left SL, but Lorin hopes that he will come back, they are still in contact. “He and I have collaborated in SL for over 3 years, I have a lot of his stuff, he has a lot of mine.”

The Castle of Airs was one component in a large full-sim build created by Madcow Cosmos and Lorin Tone. Sit on "the tour" for a ride through this soundscape and an explanation of how it works. The ride ends at the top tower of the Castle, where you can play a loop-based inworld musical instrument known as the "Deluxe Galactic Noise Spewer".

  

The team plans to held many events around sounds,  seminars and discussion all regarding sound and virtual collaborations. The weekly schedule will be posted in the upcoming events sign.

Visiting the sim is highly recommended and Lorin is convinced that experiencing is the key point: here “The builds should speak for themselves in the end.  If they don't tell you a story, or give you entertainment, they have failed.” There are beaches, streams, a swamp, various forests and meadows, a cave, a musical desert ambiance and are waiting to be explored with your ears.

The photos are taken at the installation "Of Sound Mind". Have fun exploring the world of sounds, pay attention of what you hear and get sound freebies for your own builds. Don't forget to turn on sounds while exploring...

Taxi to "Of Sound Mind":   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA19/123/187/21