Page 76 of The Examiner

I’d prepared a breakdown of costings to assure them a time-tunnel installation could be achieved within their budget. That was supposed to be all I said. Now if I’m given a limitation, I push beyond it. That’s just me. So I presented my own idea to RD8.

The most breathtaking ASMR sound is recorded binaurally – in three-dimensions. It feels like the source is a moving, living entity that plays with your sense of space, time and self. You think someone is whispering in your ear, breathing down your neck, and what they say cuts right to your core. It picks up the rhythm of your heartbeat, the flow of blood in your veins. It permeates your entire life system. Binaural recording isn’t simply a nice way to experience music, or a gimmick for horror films. It’s a technology that literally hacks into your brain. It is the future.

But to appreciate ASMR, you need headphones, and apparently Gela agreed with Ludya that headphones were not in the spirit of the installation. She said that RD8 wanted to reflect the ability of their technology to bring people together and that headphones would do the opposite.

I disagreed.

So I explained to RD8 how the tunnel would reflect the history the company is so proud of, while my idea – a binaural ASMR soundscape, playing literally in their ears – would ensure they felt that connection. That link between the earth, the body, humanity and the unseeable mysteries of space and time that radio waves are … Then once RD8’s guests emerge from the tunnel they arrive in the future, as our centrepiece reveals itself to be a human head, a show-stopping replica (in clay) of a binaural microphone. Science finally meets and melds with humanity. I finished my pitch and waited for the response.

Everyone in the room was silent. Gela exhaled. Jonathan cleared his throat. Then one of the marketing ladies spoke. She said what a great idea, but could we do it within budget? I said yes. With clay, papier-mâché and any salvaged hardware we laid hands on, we could create my idea cheaply and easily. I’d costed it out and it was more than doable.

Did we achieve our aims?

The whole project would’ve been different if I’d gone to Somerset. What went on there? All I know is that something came back with them and haunted us all from that moment on. Was it the radio? What we heard that afternoon in the studio? Even now, I’m not sure. But it started long before that meeting. It began the moment we arrived in the Media Arts Department in September. And if I manage to submit this exam paper safely, then it’s going on even as you, the examiner, read this essay.

WhatsApp chat between Hannah O’Donnell and Ben Sketcher on 30 May 2024:

Ben

Is this Hannah O’Donnell, who works in admin for the Media Arts Department?

Hannah

Who is this?

Ben

Ben Sketcher. External Examiner for the MA in Multimedia Art.

Hannah

I can only apologise. How on earth did she get your number?

Ben

Sorry, who?

Hannah

Jemisha Badhuri. Has she contacted you about her grade? I know she wants to.

Ben

She hasn’t, but send me her number and I’ll be sure not to answer if she calls.

Hannah

Good idea. I’ll forward it. Is there anything I can help you with?

Ben

I have a question about the Multimedia Art MA. Did anything strange happen on that course?

Ben

Hannah?

Hannah