Cutty Sark Soundscape

Immersive site-specific audio

Cutty Sark Soundscape is a new digital experience that immerses you in the sounds of sailing on a tea clipper 150 years ago. Powered by Smartify, the experience lets you hear wind, waves, and creaking wood along with specially commissioned music by Colin Riley and Nic Pendlebury.

Different soundscapes are automatically triggered by Bluetooth beacons, with bespoke music and sound effects for each deck. The experience covers the Dry Berth (‘Underwater’), Lower Hold, Tween Deck and Main Deck. In-app choices made by the listener also simulate different weather conditions from Calm to Near Gale.

Sonic Collaborations and Royal Museums Greenwich launched Cutty Sark Soundscape in November 2024 with a live performance at Cutty Sark Dry Berth. This featured Lottie P of Goat Girl, who has contributed vocals to the project.

“A sensory journey… Composers Riley and Pendlebury crafted music that enhanced the ship’s narrative. Their work created an atmosphere that feels alive and responsive to the ship’s history.”

Manuel Charr, MuseumNext
Musician Nic Pendlebury playing the electric viola at the Cutty Sark Soundscape launch event.
Musician Colin Riley playing the keyboard at the Cutty Sark Soundscape launch event.
A view of the musicians on stage in front of Cutty Sark, performing site-specific immersive audio.

Images from soundcheck at the November 2024 launch event for ‘Cutty Sark Soundscape’. We invited guests to explore the soundscape before watching a live performance by the artists.

All the music for the installation has no clearly defined sections, and we’re aiming for [an] ever-changing kaleidoscopic nature. We used a lot of loops, but all of different lengths so that there’s continuous overlapping. All the elements fit with each other and are used in as many combinations as possible to create the overall sense of onward motion and the idea of long distances.

Colin riley, composer