A mobile sound design structure.
Foley-Bus is a mobile sound design structure that invites people to make sounds, learn and play together. It is a tool for activating public space.
The cart carries sound-making objects on a resonant birch top. A string instrument, a kalimba, a washboard and a hairbrush are shown as examples; the final selection will follow acoustic research. Piezo microphones pick up the vibrations of the objects and of the wood itself, and a mixer and sampler process the sound live. It is inspired by Foley, the handmade sound craft of film production.
A cart can reach the places where people already are. It rolls into public spaces in the city and opens wherever it stops: the flap folds out into a table for the mixer and sampler, and people gather around the sound-making objects. It serves open sessions where visitors try the objects themselves, and live performances with a cinematic quality.
The gear travels inside the cart and comes out to play.
Switch between its parts to see how each one works.
Birch, the playing surface. It carries interchangeable sound-making objects, shown here with a string instrument, a kalimba, a washboard and a hairbrush as examples. A hinged flap opens as a side table, and the whole top slides off for maintenance.
Every cable on the resonant top: the mics and preamps sit under it, the signal comes up through two holes, and the mixer and sampler loop on the open flap.
Foley-Bus builds on an earlier sound box, performed live in Milan in 2025.
The box is an old wine case that serves as the acoustic body and holds the piezo microphones. Springs and metal parts, such as pieces from a head massager, are mounted on it and played. Its way of making and processing sound is very similar to Foley-Bus: the microphones pick up the vibrations, and the sound is processed live.
Performance with the earlier sound box · Milan, 2025
Performance and sound: Planül (my sound artist name). · Planül on Bandcamp ↗
Piezo microphones pick up the vibrations of a resonant body, and the sound is processed live.
Objects mounted on a resonant body are activated to make sound.
A birch resonant top that slides off for maintenance, a storage box for the gear, and wheels so it can travel.
The cart is wheeled into a public space, its flap is folded out for the mixer and sampler, and people gather around to make sounds with it.
The cart is still under construction. These images are representative and were produced with AI.
The project moves in four stages: a business plan, a 3D model, woodworking, and a first prototype.
Plan and presentation for the cart as a product.
The cart designed and visualised in 3D.
An 80-hour woodworking course, completed in June 2026.
First physical cart, tuned by ear.
The next steps run from the carpentry workshop to the first interactive sessions in January 2027.
Building the prototype of the sound cart in the carpentry workshop.
Checking how the cart sounds and rehearsing with it.
My first live performance with the sound cart.
Open sessions where visitors try the cart, make sounds, learn and play together.
While the prototype is built, I apply to relevant open calls to raise a budget, and I continue to develop the idea and make other types of wooden, unconventional instruments.
