Discovery Dock: Mixed Reality 3D Sound Experience

In three sentences

The Discovery Dock is one of Hamburg’s most innovative attractions. Here, visitors explore the port of Hamburg in completely new ways via VR technology, projections and live simulations – in places they would usually have no access to. In close cooperation with the lead agency Demodern, we created a complex, yet immersive 3D sound experience for the tourist adventure.

We spent weeks roaming around Hamburg harbour with our 3D microphone array: we miked up hydraulic risers, climbed aboard container cranes and even teased the sheep on the dykes. All to record characteristic sounds of the harbour. Together with a series of musical motifs, these sounds form the golden thread of the exhibition.

The entrance area of the Discovery Dock lies at the centre of Hafen City, right opposite Steinway & Sons and alongside the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. As a tribute to these classical surroundings, visitors are greeted by Telemann’s Water Music in a special new arrangement for this setting. Recorded by a string quartet made up of musicians from various ensembles and interwoven with an elaborate 3D sound design, this aural experience takes visitors on a journey from the Landungsbrücken [landing piers] of St Pauli to the world of the exhibition: the harbour of today and the future.

One very special factor is the compositional algorithm we developed for the sound system in the space, an algorithm which constantly reinterprets the motifs and sounds anew – depending on shipping movements, tidal flow and visitor behaviour. Thus, every tour has its own acoustic fingerprint which makes the visit unique. The 50-channel 3D loudspeaker system creates an overwhelming soundscape – visitors have the feeling they are standing in a dry dock, the nature reserves or on one of the harbour’s container bridges.