Ash Murphy with More Music + Music Producers, 2022

Performance-based installation, Clocking In, combined the sights and sounds of manufacturing and industry with live electronic recording.

Under the curation of Ash Murphy and More Music, music producers working in genres from hip hop to jazz each had one hour in front of a live audience to create a brand-new piece of music all starting with the same stimulus: a sample pack of machines, factories and folly recorded at manufacturers in Lancashire.

As a precursor to the 2022 Festival weekend, Murphy directed a group of emerging talent from More Media Collective to visit manufacturing facilities and capture sound. The processing machinery of Cardboard Box Company to the switching technology at Cookson and Clegg – each provided unique beats and tempo. Access to historical recordings and interviews from the North West Sound Archive melded industrial heritage with modern manufacturing in this eclectic mix.

Invited producers scheduled throughout the weekend were challenged to use these sounds to create brand new pieces of music with added instrumental and vocal recordings. Taking place in a live studio at 29 Northgate, each producer had the same starting point and ‘desk’ but brought additional equipment – creating tracks as unique as each of their specialisms.

Ash Murphy and More Music

Ash Murphy is a producer, DJ and projection artist working as a Project Manager and Music Leader with More Music –  a community music and education charity based in the West End of Morecambe, working throughout Lancashire, the North West and internationally. Their year round programme covers a breadth of music making activity involving people of all ages and all backgrounds. More Music has a history of over 25 years of national and international projects that demonstrate flexibility, belief, imagination, partnership and connection.

Music Producers

Shunya

Semay

Paddy Steer

Guerrilla Biscuits (collaborating with Paddy Steer)

OneDa

IORA

Manufacturers

Sounds for this project came from a number of sources.

Sound collection by More Media Collective at Cardboard Box Company and Cookson & Clegg

Sound recorded by Sarah Hardacre at Surface Print as part of her Art in Manufacturing residency

Sound material collected by Manoli Moriaty and Nicola Ellis as part of ‘Incidental Rendition‘, captured at Ritherdon & Co.

Historical recordings and interviews from the North West Sound Archive