Spectres of Shortwave: Falling Towers (excerpt)

2017
Amanda Dawn Christie

Writes Christie, “Spectres of Shortwave / Ombres des ondes courtes is both a film and an electroacoustic audio documentary about the Radio Canada International Shortwave Radio Towers that transmitted from 1944 to 2012 and were demolished in 2014. The soundtrack to the film was designed so that it could stand alone as an audio work. Two years before the demolition of the RCI radio towers, home made contact microphones (both piezo disks and piezo film) were placed on the towers, halyards, and vertical stays of the transmission site. A library of recordings was made of the vibrations of the 400 foot tall radio towers in the high marsh winds. Field recordings were also made during the demolition as each of the towers fell and crashed to the ground in the midst of heavy machinery and cold winter winds. In this excerpt, you hear the “voices” (contact mic recordings) of each of the towers. As each tower falls and crashes to the ground, it’s “voice” (contact mic recording) is first briefly amplified in a final breath, before it is removed from the mix altogether.”

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