The composition/installation The Call plays musically with the two environmental sounds of traffic and waves and points to a possible future environmental catastrophe in the Netherlands. Global warming, which is caused by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases such as exhaust fumes from cars, is causing a rise in sea level (3 cm per decade), which in turn is caused by the melting of ice at the North Pole. Many parts of the province of Holland are below sea level, and the Netherlands has one of the highest traffic densities in Europe.

Two speakers, in The Call symbolically the two loudspeakers, call each other with the above-mentioned environmental sounds. In a generative process, the wave sounds are continuously transformed into traffic noise and vice versa. Waves thus ‘kill’ the traffic, or the traffic noise becomes so loud that ‘natural’ sounds such as the sound of the sea are drowned out. This modulation and demodulation takes place with two sound mixes, both the waves and the traffic are acoustically related noise sounds.

This audio message is intended to reach the listener in a contemporary way via the media, i.e. the Internet or the radio station.

1. Composition
The Call consists of the following sound materials:
a. Recordings of various traffic noises, which were recorded at a roundabout. This created a continuous sound layer that also guarantees ‘spatial’ variations. The bass frequencies were eliminated to create a different frequency spectrum.
b. Recordings of wave noises that were boosted in the bass range.
c. Synthetic transmission sounds consisting of very high rhythmic passages and a lying, medium-high vibrating tone.

2. Process:
The 43 traffic sounds were ordered from long to short in terms of their duration. The beginning and end of the traffic noise were framed at the beginning of The Call by the noise of the waves, which, the longer The Call lasts, then completely covers the traffic noise, which thus drowns and is no longer audible (process a). The centre of the composition is reached. Then this process is reversed again and the noise overruns the sound of the sea (process b).

These overlays are created by mixing or morphing the sounds. The change of sounds in the process takes place in small, minimal steps. A symbol for the slow change of the earth’s heat. Another compositional accent lies in the duration of the envelope curve of the sounds, i.e., among other things, the respective attack and release time of the volume. On the one hand, this is given by the sound material, the wave is allowed to fade out, on the other hand, it can be used to support the suspense of The Call.

At the end of each process, only one loudspeaker is audible, as a panorama change occurs at the same time, i.e. the waves on the right, for example, then sound on the left and vice versa. One sound thus remains alone, it becomes the dominant sound that has ‘subjugated’ the ‘basso continuo’, for example.

The basso continuo of the transmission sounds connects the traffic and wave sounds compositionally. It also acoustically emphasises the idea that the listener should be informed via the media.

3. Conclusion
The Call is a composition/installation, but also an acoustic manifesto that signals a problem that concerns us all.

Stichting LYR: ‘For composer Michael Fahres, the entire North Sea Canal region was the inspiration for his work. The composition combines the recorded sounds and impressions of the surroundings into a special, impressive piece of music. The sound of the future is visualised.