Under Voices: Les Voix de la Tour Eiffel — by China Blue — is a CD compilation of sound pieces based on actual vibrations and binaural recordings of the Eiffel Tower. In addition to 8 songs, there is a limited and signed edition thumb drive that includes 23 sound files for you to play with. You can make something and submit it for possible inclusion on the next CD. The thumb drive is presented in a cool steel box that can also hold 5 CDs. You can listen to samples here.

The organization in charge of running the Tower gave us access to the monument to document it’s ambient acoustics and vibrations - the intrinsic sounds of 7300 tons of 2,500,000 rivets and 18,038 pieces of steel moving in the wind and in response to environmental changes, as well as the sonic environment of the 30,000 people who visit it daily as they move from the ground to the pinnacle.

The vibrations of the structure were captured by geophone (a seismic microphone used to record earthquakes). With these microphones we documented the sound of the wind against the surfaces of the steel, the intermittent rumbles as the elevators moved up and down as well as the vibrations from people walking. We used binaural in-ear microphones to capture the ambient soundscape. More about the process here.

China Blue is an internationally exhibiting artist who pursues the intersection of sound and architecture. She is an adjunct professor and fellow at Brown University in the United States. Her work has been shown, galleries and non-profit spaces in Finland, Sweden, France and the US. She has shown at the Melbourne International Arts Festival in Australia and the Armory Fair in New York. Her work has been reviewed by the New York Times, Art in America, Art Forum, artCritical, NY Arts to name a few. She has been interviewed by France 3 (TV), for the film “Com-mu-nity” produced by the Architecture Institute of America and was the featured artist for the 2006 annual meeting of the Acoustic Society of America.