Sweet sounds of a Sugar Town : Raw to refined.

"Raw to Refined" was shot and recorded in local sugar mills. It is an experimental audio-visual exploration of the industrial context of sugar production, its light, heat, noise and fury. Sound was a primary factor in the development of this project; the soundscapes of the sugar mills are dense, vibrant and complex, a concatenation of hundreds of different processes that combine to create a vast shuddering drone. Interestingly, as sound recordings in the mills continued, it became evident that the drone of the sugar mills maintained a constant pitch, and would lend itself well to musical accompaniment. Raw to Refined” was shot and recorded in local sugar mills. It is an experimental audio-visual exploration of the industrial context of sugar production, its light, heat, noise and fury. Sound was a primary factor in the development of this project; the soundscapes of the sugar mills are dense, vibrant and complex, a concatenation of hundreds of different processes that combine to create a vast shuddering drone. Interestingly, as sound recordings in the mills continued, it became evident that the drone of the sugar mills maintained a constant pitch, and would lend itself well to musical accompaniment. At the same time as sounds were recorded, work began on composing music to fit with the sounds, and recording imagery to reflect the sonic environment. In this way, “Raw to Refined” emerged as a synthesis of audio and visual material that privileges neither form but rather lets each form influence and commingle with the other.