Soundtrack for a Lost World

Performing with Kyma and a huge (but very soft) pipe organ, Franz Danksagmüller generated a live soundtrack for the silent film The Lost World (think silent-film Jurassic Park from the 1920s) on 25 May 2024 at the National Radio Symphony Concert Hall in Katowice Poland for an audience of 1600 people.

Franz Danksagmuller monitoring the VCS, the film, the Multigrid (on the iPad) and his pencil notes

The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice seats an audience of 1800 people

In a gravity-defying stunt, Danksagmüller placed two mics within the swell boxes of both Manual V and Manual III, at the apex of the organ pipes, so he could process the pipe organ through Kyma without danger of feedback. He and his sound engineer worked until 2:30 am fine-tuning the setup.

 

Poster for the film “The Lost World” (1925) * First National Pictures – Source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12690702

* Note that, according to Wikipedia, “This historical image is not a factually accurate dinosaur restoration. Reason: Pronated hands, real T. rex did not have more than two fingers (unlike in this image), outdated posture, tail dragging, lack of possible feathers”