Planetarium Soundscapade is a 40-minute immersive, multi-channel drone performance composed specifically for full-dome projection environments. Designed to induce expanded states of consciousness through sustained low-frequency sound, spatial dynamics, and visual synthesis, the piece explores the psychoacoustic potentials of slow-evolving textures and harmonic overtone layering to dissolve perceptual boundaries between the self and the cosmos.

Commissioned in 2015 for the inaugural—and to date, only—Sound Art Festival in Costa Rica, Planetarium Soundscapade was presented in one of the region’s few fully equipped digital planetariums. The work was conceived as an exploration of sound’s ability to reconfigure sensory and emotional thresholds within the body, drawing from traditions of deep listening, sound therapy, and meditative trance.

Set beneath a projection of the waxing moon and swirling visual fields echoing the aurora borealis, the audience was invited to recline and enter an altered perceptual state. The central figure of the analog star projector loomed as a symbolic intermediary between Earth and cosmos—its silhouette an ancient machine of dreaming.

In its live iteration, Planetarium Soundscapade combined quadraphonic diffusion and subtle live electronic modulation to guide the listener on an internal journey. The performance featured original field recordings from volcanic craters, rivers, and night forests across Mesoamerica, interwoven with synthesized drones tuned to 432 Hz to support nervous system regulation and induce a parasympathetic state.

Thematically, the piece meditates on inner space as planetary space—on how, through sonic immersion, one can access a vast inner field that mirrors the expanse of the cosmos. It aims to generate a space of listening that is not only auditory but somatic, encouraging the kind of presence that allows deep transformation, memory release, and expanded awareness.

Planetarium Soundscapade continues to evolve and has since been adapted for spatial sound domes and headphone-based environments. At its core, it remains an invitation to enter the vast, ever-shifting interior universe through the portal of sound.