I exhale. In the corner is a pile of cardboard boxes that I had just opened up. Stretched across the floor are many carefully measured lines of white duct tape. On the computer are countless browser tabs - from waves articles to small forums - telling me how to set up my new speakers. Equidistant triangles and other exact angles. All that is left to do is calibrate the volume so that each speaker reaches me equally. You see, I had decided to jump into surround sound. The thought of having a little personal cinema in my apartment to play with was not possible to pass on. I remember then sitting down in front of my digital audio workstation, with speakers surrounding me, and thinking.... Nowwhat?

I had no idea what to do with it, what sound was supposed to go where, whether it should move or be still. I experimented with many surround things, never reaching a definite answer. I would go to the cinema to listen to other films - for research - but most of the time the sound never filled the room or left the screen, it is the spatial element of which I was mostly keen. What a waste.

In the pursuit of discovering what surround means to me, the intimacy it can bring to a room; why mainstream films use it shyly, or don't use it at all.

I discovered a rabbit hole.