Calvin Harris Plays Human Synth

Calvin Harris has performed a version of his new single Ready For The Weekend on a unique human synthesiser. The instrument employs 16 bikini clad models and a new electricity-conducting body ink developed by students at the Royal College of Art, London.

The new ink, when painted on the skin, allows a current to be passed through the body without causing an electric shock. When the performers touch, the connection completes a circuit, triggering a sound. Calvin played the main keyboard line and effects by interacting with a row of nine girls. The rhythmic portions of the track were played by seven dancers performing a carefully choreographed routine.

The project is the result of a collaboration between Calvin Harris, his label Columbia and four masters students from the RCA's Industrial Design Engineering programme.

The instrument consists of 34 pads on the floor which have been painted with the conductive ink and connected to a computer via some clever custom electronics. The performers stand on the pads, and touch each other on the hands or body to complete a circuit and trigger a sound.

The conductive ink, codenamed 'Bare' was developed as part of a project by RCA Industrial Design and Engineering masters students Bibi Nelson, Becky Pilditch, Isabel Lizardi and Matt Johnson. The custom electronics for the project were created by the RCA's Matt Johnson, employing an Arduino Mega and the graphical audio programming tool Max MSP. The performers, floor pads, Arduino and Max MSP combine to create a giant MIDI controller which is used to control sounds and samples from Ableton Live. The performance was shot at the Jerwood Space, a contemporary rehearsal and performance space in central London.