Motor MusicNov 2025
By repurposing an old industrial fan (which I originally bought during the summer), and attaching a spring from the hardware store, I am able to create a resonator and spring reverb with scrap parts.
I started by taking the front panel off, and removing the motor and and all screws, keeping the feet of the body intact. I had also mounted a transducer to the body so I could pass sound through it.
Passing sound through it was interesting, but I had done some sound recording for a friend using a defunct rotary phone, for which I rigged up a simple DC motor with a wire duct taped to the end. I used this motor, controlling the voltage with a power supply, to adjust the frequency of this “oscillator”. By mounting a contact mic to different parts of the fan, I was able to extract a variety of timbres and tones from the body.