You’ve probably heard of basses and turntables made from motorcycles, and bicycle parts turned into DJ setups, ensembles, and even the The Nutcracker. But, Createdigitalmusic reports, The Car Music Project has gone even further, building two entire ensembles out a single car, first a sound designer’s old Honda Accord and, more recently, deconstructing a brand-new Ford Focus into a full instrumental ensemble in just five weeks.

Peter Kirn of  Createdigitalmusic recently talked to New York-based sound designer Bill Milbrodt, who led a 22-person team to build the instruments.  Bill describes to CDM the daunting task of going from Ford hatchback to chamber ensemble. It’s an incredible insight into instrument design and construction, whether your DIY instrument tastes tend in the acoustic or digital realms.

'You describe taking delivery of the car with one mile on its odometer, then immediately proceeding to deconstruct it. How much pre-planning was involved to figure out how to construct the instruments? How much was sort of improvised on the spot with the car?

[None of the construction] was really improvised on the spot. The car was dismantled completely, and the parts were sorted into boxes and around the workshop (door parts with door parts, etc.). I had previous experience making the Car Music Project instruments from my old Honda Accord, so that experience was applied. But, the basic process is one of putting together a puzzle.

We had requirements for wind, brass, percussion, and string instruments that could play the music that was presented to us. We were also required — for credibility and authenticity — to make instruments from intact car parts as much as possible (as opposed to making major or defining parts out of sheet metal from the body of the car). And most important, the instruments had to A) be able to play in tune according to traditional western standards, and B) they had to be physically close enough to traditional instruments to enable professional musicians to learn them quickly because they would only have one or two rehearsals before recording the music. Finally, they had to be visually attractive; call it compelling if you like. In other words, television is mainly a visual medium and they needed to look great.

::Createdigitalmusic

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