A fragment of bark – evidence of the bark beetles’s passage traced to a drawing. Using software, the drawing was then turned into audio, a process called image sonification.

This is The Compositor Composing:

In my first attempts I used stylized drawings of bark beetle galleries from my notebook. The result was disappointing: it was rather bland, and lacked definition. Only when I used the traced pattern, an accurate copy of a fragment of engraved bark, the audio became a lament; a collaborative composition.

The software uses the y-axis for pitch, and x-axis for speed. The drawing below is the driver for the audio: more lines, for instance, mean more notes.

The audiofile was made into a limited edition vinyl record, The Compositor / Composing (edition of 12 + 2 HC, on 180 grams vinyl, 33rpm/45rpm, 2020). One side is playable on a record player, the other side is engraved with the bark beetle pattern pictured above.