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LOCATION

Knoxville, TN


LENGTH

3 days, 2 years of festivals


PARTNERS

Big Ears

About Street Studios 


Street Studios take the basic elements of the music studio to a public place and make the process accessible to anyone in the surrounding area -- revealing a sort of sonic collective unconscious of a community. With a simple setup, musicians and producers begin a process of creating and recording music, while at the same time encouraging passersby to join in. Traffic, chatter, birds, stories, spontaneous songs are all incorporated into music composed on the spot. Often people will begin a musical idea only to have it finished by someone passing by an hour later. After the session, producers craft these recordings into cohesive pieces, attempting to capture the energy of the particular space. These finished songs and soundscapes are then shared with all who participated.

In late March 2014, a crew from Found Sound Nation traveled to Knoxville, TN to capture spontaneous music, sounds, and stories at the third annual Big Ears Festival. Tracks feature Big Ears founder Ashley Capps, Ceramic Dog bassist Shazhad Ismaily, musician and ethnographer Matt Kinman, Knoxville historian Jack Neely and more.

Public Works

Big Ears Street Studio

March 2014

United States



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