Elevator Music 38:
Bioni Samp — Digital Beehive

Digital Beehive is an installation by British experimental sound artist and beekeeper Bioni Samp. As an electronic music producer and seasonal beekeeper, Samp has researched bees and bee frequencies, and performs and creates multimedia installations to raise awareness about bees and their increasingly fragile ecosystem. Digital Beehive is both an audio journey through the sounds and frequencies inside honey bee hives, and a visual journey through a non-linear history of beehives, featuring beehives around the world, Samp’s ‘Hive Synthesiser’ (an ever expanding, DIY modular synthesizer made from recycled electrical components), glimpses of Saint Ambrose, the patron saint of beekeepers, and more. Samp created the sound in Digital Beehive using several instruments that he made himself, including a Hive Synthesiser, Electronic Beesmoker, Binaural Beeframe EMF Detector, Baby Bee Synth, Hex Controller and Honey Viscosity Synth, Hive Tool Resonance Detector, and Allen & Heath mixer.