Musician

About

The work of Melbourne practitioner Byron Scullin explores the technological representation and amplification of sound as well as its properties as a physical presence. Operating in an ambiguous space where sound transitions into noise, Scullin’s sonic environments offer an experience of mass and multiplicity, often representing attempts to hear the unhearable. Along with artists Hannah Fox and Thomas Supple he created Bass Bath, an installation for 22 subwoofers and Siren Song a citywide audio piece that projects the sound of female voices using 500 speakers spread across building rooftops along with a helicopter equipped with a sound system used for earthquake and tsunami notification. These works have been shown at Dark Mofo, Perth Festival and Spill Festival, Ipswich UK. Siren Song will also be presented at the Theatre de Welt festival in Dusseldorf Germany in 2021.

After an interest in synthesis at a young age, Scullin was mentored by producer and composer Francois Tetaz. He has since been involved in almost all aspects of audio in his twenty year career, contributing sound to feature films such as Wolf Creek, contemporary dance productions by Lucy Guerin, Gideon Obarzanek, and Lee Serle, and theatre works by Arena Theatre Co. and Chamber Made Opera. He has created installations for museums, galleries and public spaces - including Creation Cinema as part of First Peoples at the Melbourne Museum, Wonderland at ACMI, Devanha: The First Day at The Shrine of Remembrance and Jem for Southbank Brisbane, as well as numerous productions for Melbourne Planetarium at Scienceworks. Byron has also realised sound for numerous advertising campaigns including the highly awarded Meet Graham for TAC with Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. He has also produced, engineered and mastered numerous Australian and international recordings. He has also worked as a educator in sound at RMIT and Melbourne University

Along with artist Robin Fox, Byron founded MESS, the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio. This not-for-profit organisation oversees one of the largest synthesiser collections in the world and makes it available for use by the general public. It also functions as a centre for the preservation, maintenance and development of electronic sound and music culture both locally and internationally. A prolific collaborator, Scullin has worked closely with video artist Daniel Crooks, as well as Australian composers Anthony Pateras, Marco Fusinato, and Oren Ambarchi. He’s also helped realise sound for notable international artists including Bernard Parmegiani, Tony Conrad, and Steven O’Malley (Sunn-0)))).