The teams compete to create original musical instruments-one stringed and one percussive-for Off White Noise, a local band. The instruments are put to the test when Off White Noise rocks out at the Middle East nightclub.
- 1) The Challenge (4:54)
Watch the Show
Bonus Footage
Blue Team's Process
Red Team's Process
- 1) The Challenge (4:54)
- 2) Brainstorm (1:36)
- 3) Design (5:26)
- 4) Build (3:43)
- 5) Test (6;35)
- 6) Judging (5:02)
- 1) Nate and Deanne Sing (00:47)
- 2) Kim Getting Cast (01:17)
- 3) What Giselle Learned (00:32)
- 4) Krishana Wants to Win (00:15)
- 5) Red Team Loses its Mind (00:29)
- 6) Swing Dance! (01:02)
- How do you build two original instruments for a concert? The blue team figured out that, "music is all about vibration." So everyone tapped and pounded different items in the workshop to see which materials make the best sounds.
- When an object vibrates it pushes the surrounding air molecules into one another. When these waves strike your ear drum, it vibrates too and your brain recognizes it as sound.
- The Parp: A small 8-stringed harp. They used a piece of pipe bent into a U-shape, added a piece of angle iron, then attached strings and tuning pegs.
- The Drumaca: A cross between a drum and a maraca. They used PVC pipes filled with different things like nuts and glass, then strung them on a wooden frame.
- They thought the parp needed to be louder so they added a contact pickup that converted the vibrations generated in the guitar strings into electrical signals to be played on an amplifier.
- They found that the different pipes sounded too similar. So they experimented with more materials and also added a piece of curled sheet metal to provide a different surface to drum on.
- The parp was easy to tune, produced a full range of sounds, and could amplify its sound. The Drumaca was played with drumsticks, and was easily carried to the concert. Good designs, Blue Team!
- How do you build two original instruments for a concert? The red team researched the science behind sound waves by pounding containers and PVC pipes.
- Stringhenge: like a stool with long strings. This large sit-on instrument is made of wooden circles, smaller posts, guitar strings, and tuning pegs.
- PVC Playground: pipes galore. They used five pipes of different widths and lengths, which made different sounds when they hit the ends with a foam mallet.
- When you hit the end of the pipe a sound wave travels through it. In a shorter pipe it takes less time for a wave to go up and down, so the vibration is faster, producing a higher pitch.
- Stringhenge was a little too big to be comfortable and the strings were not very stable or easy to tune. Even after "press fitting" the strings in place, it was still hard to make the strings play different notes.
- The client felt that PVC Playground could have been more original. He compared it to a Blue Man Group instrument. But the team decided not to change it this time around.
- Stringhenge didn't make the final cut but PVC Playground was used in the concert because it produced distinctive sounds and could be amplified. Rock on!
What's it like to design Nerf toys for a living? Watch this.
Make your own string instrument! Write a song, add a beat, and play it back.