Sound Through Surfaces
Ongoing · Soldering & Electronics Workshop
A soldering workshop where what you build is the instrument. The board is the speaker. Participants leave having learned to solder and holding something they will actually use.
The question the workshop starts from: what would make a soldering session worth attending twice? Simple enough that a first-time solderer completes it in two hours, but not so simple it ends up in a drawer the same evening.
The design draws on a classical 555-timer circuit, the same proven architecture behind early Atari sound hardware. All components are through-hole: visible, placeable by hand, legible to someone who has never held a soldering iron. The complexity is handled by the design. The participant handles the iron.
Instead of driving a conventional speaker, the board drives a contact transducer mounted directly on the PCB. The board itself becomes the speaker. Set it on a table and the table resonates. Hold it against a wall and the wall does. Every surface in the room sounds different.
That moment, when participants realise what they're holding, is usually when the session changes. The workshop runs as a series, available for schools, universities, maker spaces, and STEAM programmes. Everyone leaves with a working instrument and the skills to understand why it works.
Credits
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We design and deliver electronics workshops for all levels, from first-time solderers to experienced makers. Custom boards, facilitated sessions, residencies.