Applause Meter Jacket

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This jacket has over 100 lights arranged in a grid of blue, green, gold, and red stripes. The lights respond to sound, in proportion to the decibel-level output of a handheld noise meter. For lower noise levels, the blue and green lights are lit. Louder noises trigger the gold and red lights, moving upward on the layout of the jacket. Overall, 10 stages of light bars are illuminated. Precise noise levels were read from the meter.

This applause meter jacket was used to judge a DJ competition at Club Utopia in Las Vegas, as shown in the photos below. Live trance artist Naif wore the jacket, and worked as MC.

This piece was made in 2001.  Today, a modern version would incorporate RGB LED pixels and a microcontroller with a built-in microphone.

video

The clip below shows a quick demo of the lights reacting to sound levels at the event.