Griffenholm — Immersive Sound Design for the Magical Forest Experience

 

Project: Griffenholm at the Middelaldercentret, Nykøbing Falster
Role: Sound Designer & Audio Technician
Date: 2021
Tools / Format: Multispeaker immersive installation, procedural audio design, interactive triggers, motion-controlled sound playback, ambisonic mixing

Project Overview

Griffenholm is a permanent interactive attraction at the Middelaldercentret in southern Denmark — a place where myth, science, and magic converge. Visitors step into a world of medieval fantasy, guided by Professor Julius Abraham Griffenholm and his assistants as they uncover the existence of mythical creatures and mysterious phenomena.
griffenholm.net

The experience takes place both indoors and outdoors, with a focus on immersion through light, sound, and performance. My task was to design the soundscape of the magical forest — the living heart of Griffenholm — bringing its mythical inhabitants to life through hidden speakers and intelligent audio systems.

My Contributions

For Griffenholm, my role was to design and implement the entire soundscape of the enchanted forest—a living, breathing world filled with fairytale creatures and unseen presences.

I created an immersive multispeaker environment where every sound felt organic and alive, blending nature and mythology into one cohesive auditory illusion. From the soft hum of fairies hidden among the trees, to the heavy steps of trolls beneath the bridges, the distant roar of griffins circling overhead, and the chilling howls of werewolves under the moonlight, the forest was designed to feel truly inhabited.

The sound design combined procedural audio and trigger-based systems, allowing the environment to react dynamically to both actors and visitors moving through the space.

  • Actor triggers: Performers carried hidden transmitters that activated creature sounds and spatial ambiences as they moved through specific zones.

  • Motion sensors: Concealed detectors tracked audience movement, seamlessly triggering audio cues that made it seem as if unseen beings were following or observing them.

  • Procedural layering: Natural ambiences—wind, creaking branches, distant calls—shifted and evolved over time, ensuring the soundscape never felt repetitive or static.

Every speaker was weatherproofed, concealed, and carefully positioned to preserve the illusion that the sounds were emerging naturally from the forest itself. This invisible design approach allowed visitors to fully suspend disbelief, feeling as if they had truly stepped into a magical world teeming with life just beyond sight.

Key Creative Challenges

  • Creating believable magic: The greatest challenge was balancing realism with fantasy — crafting sounds that felt natural within the forest environment, yet hinted at a supernatural presence.

  • Dynamic interaction: The forest needed to react differently depending on who was moving through it. This meant designing triggers that responded gracefully to both actors’ cues and unpredictable audience movement.

  • Environmental integration: The system had to perform reliably outdoors, year-round. Every speaker and sensor was weatherproofed and concealed, maintaining immersion while surviving Danish weather conditions.

  • Acoustic invisibility: Speaker placement was critical. Sound sources had to be impossible to locate, enhancing the illusion that creatures were moving unseen through the landscape.

Outcome & Impact

The soundscape transformed the forest into a living narrative — an acoustic world that responded to presence, motion, and story.
Visitors described feeling “watched by something unseen,” “surrounded by whispers,” and “completely lost in the magic of it.”
Actors noted how the reactive audio deepened their own performances, giving them a responsive environment that felt alive and unpredictable.

The result is a sound design that doesn’t just accompany the experience — it is the experience.

Technical Overview

  • Audio format: Multichannel immersive playback, combining ambient loops with procedurally generated layers.

  • Playback system: Distributed network of weatherproof speakers, powered by localized amplifiers and connected via a custom control interface.

  • Triggers: Actor transmitters, motion sensors, and timed procedural elements working in unison through OSC/MIDI integration.

  • Software tools: Pro Tools, Reaper (for procedural layering and spatial design), Max/MSP for live control logic, and Smaart for calibration.

  • Field recordings: Custom Foley and ambient sessions including wood creaks, wind, animal vocalizations, and mythic creature composites built from layered organic sources.

What This Project Highlights for My Expertise

  • Advanced spatial and environmental sound design for immersive installations

  • Integration of procedural and reactive audio systems

  • Experience designing technically robust outdoor sound environments

  • Narrative-driven sound design for themed attractions and live performance spaces

Let’s Work Together

TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR PROJECT

If you are working on a project and need a Sound Designer you can trust to deliver the best audio, and be a team player all the way from idea to final delivery, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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