Soundprints, 2024 – Sound visualisations from laser cymatics triggered during live improvised sound performances with a MIDI wind synthesizer – using a 405nm wavelength (near UV) laser, on photosensitive cyanotype paper – the resulting visualisations are prints of the tracings of complex harmonic motions, known as Lissajous figures.

Based on a Lissajous Apparatus, a beam of near UV spectrum light is bounced off a mirror attached to the surface of a diaphragm stretched across a cylinder, which houses a small speaker amplifying these improvised performances. The movement of the diaphragm in response to the airflow produced by the speaker, triggers movement of the mirror – visualising the sound’s harmonic frequencies, via the laser’s reflection from its surface, onto the photosensitive cyanotype paper, and recording them there.