Trinity’s DUDJ society and Engineering Society are spearheading a project to build a sound system in collaboration with Trinity Arts Workshop. They plan to build a hi-fi sound system to be completed by mid-April, in time for T-ball. The sound system is to be built from scratch with student volunteers doing the work all the way from planning to constructing.
Jack Joseph, a third year engineering student and the social media officer for DUDJ, made his first speaker over the summer and explained how the construction and creation of sound systems presented a combination of creative arts and engineering. On the nature of this project, Joseph said it was the first time DUDJ was undertaking such a project and hoped it would help them springboard into constructing their own equipment: “[DJS] use synthesisers and stuff and that’s what we hope to go into in the future, building our own synthesizers, building our own sound modulation.” He added that these features would be a part of the upcoming sound system build saying “that’s what we’re going to build into this one as well, is customizable sound.”
The build is being aided by Toby Hatchet of Hatchet Sound based in West Cork who works on the construction of high-fidelity sound systems for audiophile bars around Dublin including in Fidelity and the Big Romance. With regards to Hatchet’s work: “He’s helping us out, he’s giving us discounted prices on some of his drivers and his whole set up, which is massive.” Other subsidised material was also sourced from the DJ society of UCD: “We’ve gotten really powerful equipment for really good [prices],” which speaks to the initial successes of the project.
The initial timeline for the project hopes to have a functioning product out before T-ball “because there’s a lot of tuning that you have to do.” However, the hope is to have “something that sounds unreal” which may not be possible by T-ball but “next semester is when [they] will continue with synthesizers and tuning.”
Trinity Arts Workshop spoke on their involvement with the project saying they were “delighted to be included as a society.” They added, “Our goal is to give our members as many practical avenues to express their creativity as we can.”
They are currently seeking student volunteers to work on woodworking. A dedicated Instagram page has been created to provide updates for and fundraise for the build. In the coming weeks, the chosen driver, as well as speaker crossover designs, and other research reports are set to be published on Instagram.
