Dr Manuella Blackburn - Overcoming Sonic Stalemates: representing cultural diversity in sample packs

Principal Investigator: Dr Manuella Blackburn (The Open University)
Project Partners: Milap, Loopmasters
Research Team: Hayley Suviste (Research Assistant, The Open University), Jonny Batchelor (Studio Technician, School of Electronic Music)
Project Website

This project takes the Instruments INDIA sound archive (established in 2013), with its five hours of sound recordings of 28 Indian musical instruments, as a central resource to engage others with diversity in sample pack creation and distribution. Working in partnership with Milap (the UK's leading Indian Arts Development Trust) and Loopmasters (a leading sample pack distributor and sound design record label), a sample pack has been created and distributed together with new guidance on sample pack content, labelling and representation. By creating a sample pack from this archive of sound material for use amongst the wider sample-based music community, recordings of Indian musical instruments will be accessed and applied in new creative works not limited to the scope of single genres, styles or functions. View the sample pack on Loopmasters.

Project Film

Watch the film about this project below, made by biggerhouse films. There are two versions: an audio-described version and a BSL (British Sign Language) version.

Please see full credit in the expandable section below.