Marine Remix

Inspired by four pieces of marine research SIOW Music, Turner Sims and British Science Festival are offering an exciting new music project leading to a performance at Stage Door on Friday 18 September 2026.

Here’s how you can get involved:

About the Research

This project is inspired by four pieces of marine research:

The life story of a fish in a tiny bone — Clive Trueman

Otoliths are small stony structures that detect sound in the ears of fish. Cutting through an otolith reveals growth rings (like the rings of a tree) which act as a record of the life of the fish and the oceans they live in. Clive studies these stone recordings to help us better understand the health of fish and the oceans they live in.

Mapping the feeding grounds of whales — Julie Mestre and Amy Feakes

Julie and Amy use underwater microphones to record the sounds of animals, humans, and the underwater environment in Antarctica. These sounds, along with location data, help us understand the lives of whales and their ecosystem, as well as the challenges they face from the noise of the humans sharing the ocean with them.

Deep time seafaring — Helen Farr

Using boats to travel across water is at least 65,000 years old, moving people across the world. Helen studies the stories of the people making those early journeys across unknown waters and uses them to help us understand the changes that happen to communities and the environment over thousands of years.

Coral skeletons — Jake Kleboe

Coral reefs are vital ecosystems that are under threat from changes in the ocean, including microplastics. Jake has developed new techniques to help us understand how microplastics impact the skeletons of coral aiming to reduce this impact in the future. 

Remix Pack

Created in partnership with Music Production Collective, the Marine Remix Pack has loops and one shots taken from research recordings kindly provided by the marine researchers. We’ve also included the research recordings if you want you to work with those.

What’s in the Remix Pack?

• Ship Noise Chords  1 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Ship Noise Chords 2 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Ship Noise Chords 3 - F - 72bpm.wav

We took the recordings of ship noise, and used resonant filters to tune the sound to specific notes. We then used these as samples in a granular synth to play chords. We added effects, including a rhythmic “ducking” effect, where the sound dips in volume. We picked this “ducking” effect to mirror the way whales in the ocean make less noise in response to human sound. Doing that to the ship noise resonated as a reverse effect to the one whales experience.

• GPS Data HH - 72bpm.wav

• GPS Data Kick - 72bpm.wav

• GPS Data Nare - One Shot.wav

• Sperm Whale Tag Data Riser - One Shot.wav

We took the rhythmic clicks of the GPS Data and processed it to create our own rhythmic patterns and sounds. The steady clicks reminded us immediately of a HH loop. When we started to speed up and slow down the rhythms, we found interesting rhythmic patterns, along with new pitches. We used these to create kicks and snares.

• Blue Whale 1 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Fin Whale Bass 1 - F- 72bpm.wav

• Fin Whale Bass 2 - F- 72bpm.wav

• OBS Synth 1 - F - 72bpm.wav

• OBS Synth 2 - F - 72bpm.wav

• OBS Synth 3 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Whale Call - One Shot.wav

• Whale Chop Loop - F - 72bpm.wav

• Whale Low Lead - F - 72bpm

• Whale Sound Chords 1 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Whale Sound Chords 2 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Whale Sound Chords 3 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Whale Sound Chords 4 - F - 72bpm.wav

We took the sound of whales and pitch-shifted them as well as using flex-pitch to match the sounds to notes of the scale. Inspired by the intervals of whale melodies, we create chords from those sounds.

• Ice Lead 1 - F - 72bpm.wav

• Ice Lead 2 - F - 72bpm.wav

We took the sound of ice crashing and distorted it heavily to create sounds that felt more like the mechanical human sounds from other recordings.