This project presented several interesting challenges from both the sound design and the compositional viewpoints. There are several sorts of sounds in the piece each with an integral role to play. At first, when there is no one interacting with the photo album, the sound world of the piece is intended to attract passersby. The ambient soundscapes stimulate interest and invite investigation. Once some sort of interaction has begun the audio clips provide important content. Some are linked specifically to the photographs in the book or the moving images of the video projections. Carefully selected spoken words or phrases may refer to an image directly but are most often chosen to put feelings and attitudes into relief. Other types of sound, the barking of dogs or the sound of a camel's steps in the sand for example, enliven the experience in the same way that a film soundtrack brings a film's action to life. The audio broadens the experience by involving the spacial dimension. Many different types of space are presented - from intimate whispers to oceanic distances. Other sounds help to support the concept holistically by defining the aural space within which the interaction takes place. I composed several sound collages which are used ambiently. Some are representational and evoke the atmosphere of a bazaar or a waterfront. Others are more abstract and contain highly processed vocal sounds mixed with other sound effects.

The sound design entailed a great deal of digital processing though most of it is used in subtle ways. Often is was only necessary to limit the dynamic range, otherwise soft sounds became too soft and loud ones seemed too loud. In some cases processing was used to "tune" voice samples in order to subtly change their emotional effect. Processing also allowed for the fine manipulation of the quality of space and distance. Compositionally the challenge was to create an interesting and yet unobtrusive soundscape. We used many layers of simple sounds to create the illusion of a coherent environment. For example the "markets" were assembled from individual voices, animal sounds, and various sound effects.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the piece is its non-linear nature. The many "soundfiles" comprising the total soundscape of the piece are stored on the computer's hard drive forming a "reservoir" of sorts which are drawn upon based on the choices made by the interacting participant. They will never be presented the same way twice. For this reason no attempt was made to precisely synchronize in time audio events with corresponding video events. The participant is left to their own devices to freely associate the multiple media together into an integrated experience.