Zuiderzee Museum – Hektjalk
The design process of the binaural audio experience in the Hektjalk
What must it have been like to live as a father, servant, eldest daughter or youngest daughter on board a transport ship? The hard work, the dangers at sea and life in a small space. Dive into the fictional story of the Van der Breevaart family, which took place over a hundred years ago on board the Hektjalk ‘de vier gebroeders’
This story can be heard at the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen from April 2025. Listen to the personal story of one of the family members at one of the four listening positions.
Together with interactives design company Synergique and exhibition design company Kloosterboer, we worked on the content of this brand new audio experience where visitors can experience what life on board must have been like.
The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen focuses on the history, current affairs and future of the IJsselmeer area. The themes of water, crafts and communities are central to this.
't Zuiderzeedorp with its historical buildings is located next to the Marker harbour. Here you can see and visit historical ships.
Hektjalk De Vier Gebroeders – the largest ship in the museum – has just sailed in with a load of potatoes. It is 1920 and skipper's wife Willempje van de Breevaart is happy to tell you all about life on board this cargo ship. In the hold you can delve further into the world of the skipper, some of the children and the servant in a special way, while they carry out their tasks.
Commissioned by Synergique, we designed the sound for this audio experience in binaural audio. The visitor descends the steps and finds himself in the cargo hold of the hektjalk, one of the first iron ships that sailed the Zuiderzee with all kinds of cargo on board.
It is dim, the little light that enters shines through the openings between the deck plates.
The visitor can sit on one of the three benches in the ship, where headphones can be put on. Here the visitor hears the thoughts of one of the characters, but there are also interactions between the members of the Breevaart family and their servant Henk. By listening to their stories you get a good picture of life on the ship. Moreover, you also become aware of everything that is going on within the Breevaart family.
We took care of the entire audio trajectory of this project. First of all, we went looking for the right voices for each role and took care of the recordings. The audio experience on the hektjalk is also interesting for international guests: we recorded the script in English and German, in addition to Dutch. In most cases, we would work with actors who have the language in question as their mother tongue (native speakers). In this case, in consultation with the client, we chose to have these versions largely recorded by the original Dutch voices. Since this is an obviously Dutch family, it was more of an advantage than a disadvantage that a clear Dutch accent is audible in the translated versions.
The story, which lasts about 3.5 minutes, runs completely synchronously between the characters. Although it is primarily an audio experience, at certain moments spots in the ship are illuminated by means of spotlights to clarify certain events or to emphasize them.
There are 4 characters on the ship: Bastiaan (the skipper), Adriana (the daughter), Henk (the servant) and Janna (the youngest daughter). The first 3 can be listened to via the headphones, but Janna, who is only 4 years old, has her own play corner in the ship where her view of life on board can be heard from 4 hidden speakers between the potatoes.
On the headphones we always hear the thoughts of one of the characters. But sometimes the characters also talk out loud to each other. By listening to everyone, the story becomes clearer and clearer and you hear new details all the time. You also hear a rich soundscape of all the sounds you would hear in such a ship on a busy quay somewhere at the beginning of the 20th century: unloading the cargo, boasting captains on shore, flapping sails but also the first boats with a motor.
All sorts of things happen around the characters. Precisely because you get the chance to listen to the story several times from different perspectives, you always hear something new that you may not have noticed the previous time.
Listen to an excerpt from the audio Experience below.
The above fragment is based on an old skipper’s song ‘a song of the sea.’
On location we took care of the final adjustments and tests of the sound.
A wonderful project with which we've made a piece of maritime history insightful to everyone who wants to hear it.
From March 29, you can listen to and experience the ins and outs of the Van de Breevaart family!
