When Cities Sound Better, People Feel Better:

Designing the Sonics of Place

音・街・人 | OTO MACHI HITO

Sound · City · People

MSCTY is a Tokyo-based creative studio and platform exploring how sound and listening shape the way we experience music, culture, place, and everyday life.

Founded by broadcaster, curator, and sound artist Nick Luscombe, MSCTY is led by a core team in Japan and the UK, collaborating with a global network of artists and creative partners. Nick's three decades of work across Japanese music and culture underpin a studio practice that MSCTY has developed over the past 16 years.

We work with artists, architects, designers, researchers, and cultural organisations to create sound experiences, cultural programmes, and creative strategies - work that helps people listen more closely to the places they live in, and to each other.

Japan is where we start, but the questions are universal: how might we listen differently to the world around us, and what happens to a place, a brand, or a life, when sound is treated as seriously as everything we can see?

WHAT WE DO

STUDIO: Sound + cultural strategy

Site-specific commercial sound work for hospitality brands, cultural spaces, and cities. Every project begins with fieldwork and sound surveys [recording and understanding what a place actually sounds like] before we shape that material into a sonic identity, soundscape, or experience. We help our clients and partners use sound as part of their identity, experience, and communication, grounded in the real acoustic character of a place rather than a generic sound library.

ENCOUNTERS: Listening & live experiences

Concerts, broadcasts, listening sessions, installations, and cultural programmes.

RESEARCH: Sound & wellbeing

Collaborative research into sound, wellbeing, and technology, working with partners including Sony, OIST, the University of Tokyo, and other academic institutions.

Some of our projects

ISETAN Tokyo
w/ RYUICHI SAKAMOTO

To coincide with renewal as a “fashion museum”, Tokyo’s flagship Isetan store was looking for something different to engage visitors.

MSCTY_STUDIO curated an original soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Music for Fashion Museum” available only in the entrance foyer of the store.

LISTEN HERE

Sonic Minds

An Ongoing Partnership with Thailand's Scratch First and Wonderfruit Festival that explores the meeting places of sound, science, health and wellbeing.

The project includes global collaborations, site-specific sound activations, and a focus on outputs within 4 specific areas: mind, community, sleep, and place.

READ MORE

MSCTY x V&A Dundee
w/ KENGO KUMA, MIDORI TAKADA + SHHE

Dundee's V&A, designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, is the new icon for the city, representing its maritime history and innovative future.

Our project created two site-specific soundscapes which provide new perspectives on the building and its surroundings.

MSCTY x Tokyo
NIHONBASHI w/ TOKYO BIENNALE 2023

We created a sonic journey through a historic part of Tokyo, taking in long-established stores specializing in traditional crafts, foods, and more alongside two of Tokyo's most famous department stores, Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya.

Our project created a community-driven radio station as a hub throughout Tokyo Biennale, and welcomed a smorgasbord of creative practitioners from both the local area and around the world.

MSCTY x London
COLLECTION

Our project was born and realized in London, and owes its birth to the impact the big smoke had on perspectives of sound, space, music and architecture.

Since 2008 we've established new sonic perspectives on London's skyline, streets, statues, and waterways - through collaborations with developers, festivals, and an ever-growing group of partners in the city.

OPPO Relax

OPPO Relax, for ColorOS 11, offers users a diverse range of ambient sounds to help re-realize their everyday, from the convenience of their smartphone.

Using the unique soundscapes of cities, we soundtracked downtime for users around the world.

WATCH THE VIDEO