Projects
Thenix Sound Foundation
Thenix Sound Foundation
THENIX SOUND FOUNDATION is a new loose artistic collective formed by writer Nick Vivian and producer Nick Sweeting. We believe that music and sound design are often considered too late in the creation of live theatre, so we are approaching our work sound first.
Joined by musicians / composers Gazelle Twin (Elizabeth Bernholz) and Kat Pegler, we have teamed up with d&b audiotechnik to use their Soundscape system, exploring the possibilities of fusing ambisonic field recordings with musical composition to create an intense, immersive world of sound.
Experiment
£20,000
Aims of the Project
Our prototyping is experimenting with using spatial audio to capture twisted sonic pictures of specific events (a plane crashing into the Thames, snarling traffic, a joyous street party spiralling into something darker) but also to create more abstract and dense ambient pieces that capture the essence of JG Ballard’s world of violence, beauty and transformation.
To enhance our “sound first” approach, we are prototyping a listening experience that uses low light levels and some aroma diffusion that encourages the listener to switch their eyes off and be led by the other senses, firing the imagination in an experience that is closer to guided meditation or sound bath rather than traditional live theatre.
Meet the artists
Nick Sweeting – Thenix Sound Foundation
Lead artist / Producer
he/him
Thenix Sound Foundation is a new collective creating live dramatic work that imagines sound first.
Highly experienced producer, writer, director and composer come together for the first time to explore the narrative possibilities of encircling an audience inside a dub sound system and creating a whole world through ambience, ambisonics and extreme sound pressure.
Nick Sweeting is an independent producer with 35 years of experience. He has worked with a wide range of creative collectives over that time including Improbable, 59 Productions, dreamthinkspeak, Javaad Alipoor and Limbic Cinema.
Nick Vivian
Co-creator / Lead Creative / Writer
he/him
NICK VIVIAN is an Oscar and BAFTA nominated screenwriter. He is also co-creator of Cotton Panic! for the Manchester International Festival 2017: the site-specific piece used live performance, dance, film and modern Industrial (electronic) music to tell the historic Industrial story of the Cotton Famine in Lancashire in the 1850s.
Gazelle Twin
Co-Creator / Composer / Musician
Elizabeth Bernholz
Gazelle Twin is a musician and producer whose work ranges from electronic music to soundtracks for film, TV and installation.
Her previous experience with making Spatial Audio work includes the theatre production Robin/Red/Breast (Manchester Aviva Studios, 2024) and the installation “We wax. We Shall Not Wane” for The Horror Show! at Somerset House (2022).
Kat Pegler
Artist
she/her
Kat Pegler is an experimental artist, composer & musician exploring future folklore & flow-state. Her practice brings together spatial sound, immersive technology and field recordings to create new ways of experiencing stories, places and the natural world.
Kat was recently awarded an Artist Residency Commission by SOUND/IMAGE Research to develop new spatial sound works, including Spring Brain, which premiered at Woolwich Works in 2026. She has also received a DYCP award in immersive sound and was Lead Artist on the Horizon Europe-funded VOICE project, exploring neurodivergence, climate and nature connection through sound.
