This is my data sonification of “Monthly US female (20 years and over) unemployment figures / 10**3) from 1948-1981,” combined with “Monthly closings of the Dow-Jones industrial index, Aug. 1968 – Aug. 1981.” Both data series can be found on DataMarket.com.
Data Series Links:
Monthly U.S. female (20 years and over) unemployment figures (10**3) 1948-1981
Monthly closings of the Dow-Jones industrial index, Aug. 1968 – Aug. 1981
My file:
Unemployment and the Dow - Sonified!
I used the following ChucK file, which was given:
This following ChucK file was also given, but I modified it.
Original version: Duo.ck
My edited version: MyDuo.ck
To map data to sound, I modified the Duo.ck file, which uses the ChucK programming language with MiniAudicle, to interpret lists of data points over time (years) as different sound pitches over a much shorter amount of time (seconds). I incorporated two data series into one sound file. The method I used to determine which series plays when is to mute each series whenever it goes below the 20th percentile of its data range. As a result, all the lowest sounds of each series are cut off.
I also used variable reverb, such that the reverb would increase linearly as the pitch increases. I also made it so both data series last the same amount of time by sporking each shred at a different update rate. Lastly, I used two different oscillators in harmony to play the sounds. I used the same two for each data set.