Salzburg,  Sigmund Tor 1991

Sam making a binaural recording in Sigmund Tor

As our interest in modifying ambient urban sounds developed, we were working on an idea as yet unrealized  to transform four resonances of Salzburg into a real-time  installation.  Doppler had done much work in Salzburg.  This influenced our choice to make a binaural recording of passing rush hour traffic in the Sigmund Tor, a 17th century tunnel through the Monchsberg.  Later we removed the cars and trucks with computer filtering leaving only  the resonance of the tunnel and its Doppler shifting melody.  The site we were studying, Furtwengler Park, is over an underground river, the Almkanal, which we discovered by listening to a G# and a C# tone coming up from the lawn.  The hidden river was connected to the drain system of the park, and these drains were functioning as resonating tubes making the basis of a C# major drone.  We felt that we were discovering hidden inner voices of the city caused by architecture, infra-structure, traffic and water.