Pirate Soul Museum

The audio experience of Pat Croce’s Pirate Soul Museum in St. Augustine, Florida consisted of nine different ambient environments (example of one below), including a binaural experience, highlighting the story of the legendary pirate, Blackbeard. The project included original recordings in various venues throughout the country in order to acquire over 100 authentic sound effects required for the audio experience. This included the construction of a twenty by twenty two-level mock pirate ship on the IDEAS recording stage (seen below) and one day at sea aboard the Schooner Western Union recording the sounds of crashing waves and creaking ship.

The recording was done using both a binaural recording head as well as standard audio recording equipment. Once the original recordings took place, weeks of post production audio work was done before the nine different environments were completed. Sound design, Foley, voice over and loop group recording were all part of the post production process. In addition to human actors, the recordings also included professional rats, roosters, possums and cats. Included in the different environments are the exterior courtyard, the deck of Blackbeard’s ship, a Blackbeard audio animatronic figure as well as the binaural experience in a holding cell.

Pat Croce’s Pirate Soul Museum is a unique collection of authentic pirate artifacts coupled with elements of interactive technology revealing an historic adventure through the Golden Age of Piracy and the lives of the era’s most infamous pirates. With the “please touch” and audio-animatronics of a theme park coupled with the provenance of a museum, guests undertake an awesome pirate journey — both above and below deck — filled with compelling lore, surprising fact and an abundance of sensory perceptions.

IDEAS was contracted for the project by Pennsylvania-based Pat Croce & Company, Maryland-based Gallagher & Associates and New York-based RomeAntics Productions.