Studio Visit: KLING KLANG KLONG

PROCESS

FELIPE SÁNCHEZ LUNA We see ourselves as a studio for sound experiences and acoustic scenography. We all come from musical backgrounds: we are fi lm composers, sound designers, musicologists, creative technologists and sound artists. We like to bring all of this together in physical spaces, where we combine concept, technology and emotion. Often, we go beyond the brief to create something we truly resonate with.

FERNANDO KNOF We work across very different fields – from sound scenography for museums and exhibitions to experimental art with sound, light and kinetic sculptures. This lets us explore exciting questions about how sound creates experiences.

APPRECIATION

FSL Sound is often only considered at the final stage of a project, and its enormous emotional impact when integrated from the very beginning is often underestimated. The beauty is that as soon as someone is open to it, something happens immediately. Suddenly, a new narrative level appears, where sound is not just background noise but becomes a storyteller.

FK In recent decades, the perception of sound has changed dramatically, because almost everyone now owns good headphones or speakers. This makes it easier to start conversations and raise awareness about quality. As a studio, we’re also a product of this shift. Everyone here brings their own background, and through our work we give that back to society.

NATURE

FSL Nature and science are major sources of inspiration for us – from black holes to the behaviour of fireflies. We’re fascinated by nature, physics and research in general, and this fascination fuels our curiosity. Maybe it also has to do with our generation: we grew up with climate change as a constant issue, and we want to support projects with a clear message.

FK Themes from nature also contain patterns and phenomena that we can translate into sound – sometimes poetic, sometimes data-driven. These can be abstract feelings or even music generated directly from numbers. But whether poetic or analytical, we transform complex subjects into a language that is not rational, but emotional.

SOMETHING TO MOVE THROUGH

FK We build worlds with sound – in every form. We create physical spaces, but also narrative spaces that emerge in people’s minds as they listen. One example is the Luxembourg Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. There, visitors literally walked through the composition. Several musical pieces overlapped spatially, immersing you in an abstract world of sound.

FSL In Dubai, we had five different compositions with different themes, arranged so it never became chaotic or arrhythmic – no matter how you moved. For us, sound is a three-dimensional medium. You move, and the sound changes. That’s what makes it special: you experience sound in space, and your movement itself becomes part of the composition.

SOUND, TONE, MUSIC

FK Everything that can be heard is sound. For me, music is composed sound with a higher degree of complexity. Both can have structures and rhythms that are deliberately designed. Other cultures define this very diff erently, which is why there is no universal definition.

FSL Internally, we say: if something has harmony and rhythm, it is music – everything else is sound design. This distinction is also practical, for things like pricing and effort. Still, many of our projects deliberately blur the boundaries.

DIGITAL

FSL We work digitally from the very beginning, because it allows us to create complex soundscapes without large recording studios. We combine classical orchestral recordings with digital layers and spatial soundscapes. AI is not yet on the same level as image and text – especially in our fi eld, where sound can be immersive, interactive and multi-channel.

FK We also compose partly through code, which opens up entirely new artistic spaces – even the instruments themselves are programmed. On top of that, we create hybrid projects where we program and use software instruments. For me, it’s like the difference between custom work and mass production.