The Concept
Every music venue carries an acoustic signature — shaped by its architecture, materials and history — that is as intrinsic to a scene's identity as the artists who performed there. It has rarely been documented, despite being one of the most defining qualities a space can have.
Acoustic Fingerprint treats that signature as a primary artistic material. We're recording the acoustic reverb, three-dimensional form, and history of significant English music venues, preserving them as a permanent archive for the culture they've shaped.
Each venue in this project remains active and open today. The work is proactive by design — building a lasting record of these spaces on our own terms, rather than reacting after the fact.
Technical Details
Working with renowned engineers, we record the acoustic impulse response of each venue and 3D scan the space using Matterport technology. The Matterport scan becomes a full VR walkthrough; the impulse response becomes a convolution reverb profile applied to newly commissioned music, producer tracks, or verified public domain recordings tied to that venue — so visitors hear the room as it truly sounds.
A hand-built, hand-painted physical 3D model is also produced for each venue. The completed VR experience is installed in a solar-powered converted shipping container, touring free to English city centres for small groups per session, with exterior screens showing the making-of process. A parallel website and app extend the archive nationally and internationally — including a feature letting visitors hear their own music through a venue's captured reverb.
Desired Outcomes
- A completed, working VR archive of every venue — installed in the container and live online.
- Genuine visitor engagement during the city installations, measured through session sign-ins and exit feedback.
- Measurable online reach through website and app analytics — visits, downloads, session length.
- Qualitative feedback from venue owners and visiting artists on whether the reproduction feels authentic to the space.
- A model proven ready to expand to further venues beyond this first run.