EXPO 2025 – OSAKA – PHILIPPINES
The sound design for the Philippine Pavilion moves between memory, ritual and place. Working closely with composer Mike Villegas and Manila-based HIT Productions, Resonate Audio shaped a sonic journey grounded in traditional instruments, layered vocals and raw field recordings. Each element was captured with care, with attention to phrasing, tuning and breath. Nothing synthetic. No filler. Just sound shaped by land, craft and culture.
The pavilion is a full-sensory experience built around themes of tradition, ecology and innovation. Visitors move through immersive spaces filled with colour, light and spatial sound. From the underwater coral cities of Mimaropa to the textures of Eastern Visayas kitchens, each area carries its own sonic identity. Voices of community, fragments of ritual and soundmarks of everyday life guide the journey. Tactile, rooted and alive.
Across the space, handcrafted textiles, natural materials and custom interactive moments fold into the audio design. At the centre is a kinetic installation that invites people to dance with nature. A custom-built sound engine reads live motion data and spatialises each gesture across an 18.2.6 system. Sound follows movement. The installation responds with precision.
This project is not about spectacle. It is about holding culture in the air and letting people hear what connection sounds like.
Kulintang gongs, lantuy flutes, layered vocal textures and hand-played percussion form the backbone of the pavilion’s sonic language. Each instrument was chosen for what it says, not just how it sounds. The kulintang speaks of ritual, the lantuy holds breath, the vocals carry lineage. Everything was recorded with care, in the right rooms, with the right players, then shaped to sit inside the space.
Each zone carries its own voice. Some move slow, like memory unfolding, grounded in ancestral rhythm. Others are louder, textured with the grit of landscape and daily life. Cooking, weaving, walking, working. These are not museum pieces. They are layered, active, living sounds. The system does not just play audio, it places it. Above, around, beside you. You do not hear a culture from the outside. You step into it.
DANCING WITH NATURE – AN ORGANIC INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE
Central to the pavilion is Dancing with Nature, an interactive visual and sonic installation inspired by vibrant Filipino street festivals. As regional music cycles across a panoramic visual canvas, dynamic digital characters emerge organically, formed from natural elements such as coral, flowers, and fish. A custom spatial audio system breathes life into these digital avatars by generating responsive sound textures in real time.
For this piece, Resonate built a custom audio engine that reads live motion tracking data and maps every sound in real space. Music and character sound effects are spatialised through an 18.2.6 speaker system using raw positional inputs. No fake panning, no presets, no shortcuts. The system reacts in real time, pushing each gesture, flicker and beat into the room with precision. Sound moves because something moved. The whole thing breathes like it’s alive.
PHOTOBOOTHS RECEIVED CUSTOM UI SOUND EFFECTS
Each of the three photobooths got its own set of custom UI sound effects, designed to match the visual theme and tone of the space. These weren’t generic clicks and beeps. Every interaction was shaped to feel tactile and alive, adding texture to the user experience and tying the moment back into the wider sonic world of the pavilion. Small details, big impact.
Resonate teamed up with Manila-based HIT Productions to record the core of the pavilion’s sound. They handled the sessions on site, capturing traditional instruments and vocal textures with depth and detail. We took those raw recordings and reshaped them into the full experience. Nothing library-based, nothing secondhand. This was a proper collaboration across continents that kept the sound honest and close to the source.
MANILLA MUSIC SESSIONS