Video Spotlight: Computer game turns sonic art into auditory adventure

“The Way In” uses tracks recorded in a giant water tank to create an atmospheric experience for players.

 
Seven years ago, sound artist and his composing partner recorded their unique strain of sound composition in a giant empty water tank in Colorado, reclaimed as the .

Using a variety of field recordings from their sound library and electronically generated music, they set up multidirectional speakers to bounce their improvised performance off the powerfully resonant tank walls. 

Smallwood mixed the using an algorithm to provide multiple random versions of tracks, which now form the basis of a new computer game called  In choose-your-own-adventure fashion, players listen to music cues to find their way through a series of mazes and advance to the next level.