Turning the Maker Faire Into Music

At a time of so much hype over digital creations — ahem, Facebook IPO — the Maker movement has built momentum around the bold and fun idea that there are still people inventing real, physical things. Things made of metal and wood, cogs and gears. And things that are made out of the vibrating air molecules that bump into each other to create sound.

From our colleagues at Youth Radio, comes a crowd-sampled remix of this weekend’s Maker Faire soundscape. Throughout the day, youth producers attending the fair as Makers recorded ambient sounds from the San Mateo, Calif. fairground, then edited them on the spot into electronic music and beats.

Earlier this month, Youth Radio remixed Marvin Gaye’s legendary What’s Going On Concert at the Kennedy Center. And it’s their second time rearranging the Maker Faire’s hubbub. Today, they put a new spin on their 2009 production by adding a DJ on turntables. Gosh, that was a bad pun. But there’s nothing that’s bad about the music — listen to it in the above video.

The team of youth remixers included Meles Gebru, Jaylyn Burns, and Christian Hernandez, with production help from Ben Frost, Dave Hunter and James Rowlands. Video produced by Denise Tejada and Chaz Hubbard.