October 10th, 2009
Metro melody dou-dou-dou doomed
By Alanah Heffez // 13 Comments
What are your favourite sounds of Montreal? Mine is the lovely chord that the metro trains make when they start up – you know, the one featured in the campy 70’s metro ad “Il fait beau dans le metro.”
According to a friend with perfect-pitch, the notes are F-Bflat-F, a Bb5 chord. He suggests Beethoven’s 4th or Elton John’s Can you Feel the Love Tonight as musical matches for your metro-riding enjoyment.
The STM explains in more technical detail than I can grasp that the dou-dou-dou sound is a by-product of the 1970s vintage current-chopper. The three audible frequencies are caused by the incremental increase of current to the motor. Since the whole system was custom-engineered for MR-73 metro cars, Montreal’s subway system is unique in running to the tune of Bb5.
But the dou-dou-dou is, in the long run, doomed, as the 35-year-old trains are to be replaced with new, more hushed technology. In September, the STM negotiated was in the process of negotiating an order for 765 new metro cars, which will would be manufactured in Quebec by Bombardier and Alstom over the next 10-12 years.
The 340 MR-63s cars, which have been rolling since 1966 on the green line will be replaced first. If all goes according to plans (but does it ever?) the melodious '73s will be replaced by 2021. That means we wtill have lots of time to appreciate this little idiosyncrasy before "Il fait beau dans le métro" has to go acapella.
Image: The current-chopper is situated underneath the metro's motor cars. Each train has 9 cars, two of which are motor cars. Image from Info STM: Le hacheur de courant
Cross-posted from Indyish.com
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Wow, learning that it's gonna go away made me quite sad. I hope they emulate it someway else. :(
i never witnessed it during my 5 years in montreal, but there are some hard to find cars that extend the audible current chopping down another octave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EymHC0wyr8
dou-dou-dou-dou-dou!
I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice and enjoy these things. Every city's transit system seems to make different noises. I thought it'd make for some good samples to throw into a metro or streetcar party.
I seem to only hear the cord on the orange and blue lines. I've never heard it on the green line trains, but those ones seem to be a different model, with the open mesh windows on one end of each car.
Every metro system has a different signature sound, usually warning the doors are about to close. Montreal's metro lacks that, which is particularly annoying as it's doors are unforgiving if you get stuck between them!
The metro car contract has not been awarded to Bombardier. Originally they were the only company that qualified, but that deal was voided when Alstom took the STM to court. Bombardier and Alstom are now jointly bidding, but the bid was 40% higher then the STM expected. They are currently in negotiations and the contract is 14 months late.
Before I moved here, I couldn't wait to hear the dou-dou-dou when I would come for a visit.
Maybe they can create a dou-dou-dou emulator for the new cars? Sure they can!
Another vi-dou-o:
Oh yeah, and the new cars had better be blue and white!
Matthew - the musical cars are only on the orange, blue and yellow lines. The cars on the green line are older and don't use the same technology. Well spotted.
GDS - Thanks for the clarification about Alstom.
Todd - my feeling is that a dou-dou-dou emulator would be kind of... trying too hard. What's so nice about the sound is that its an inseparable part of the metro system rather than some marketing ploy or aesthetic detail that had to pass through a million committees.
Can you imagine the engineers pitching this to the STM in the early '70s? "Well, the new technology is noisy, but kind of NICE-noisy..."
I actually wrote a note about this on Facebook for my friends a few days ago! Here are my thoughts:
*******
Proof that You Can Find Beauty Anywhere... if you look. La preuve qu'on peut trouver la beauté partout... si on la cherche.
Through the Canadian Centre for Architecture website, I found this article:
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=7487
A visiting American architecture and design expert discovered that the mechanical sounds the metro metro cars make on departure strongly resembles the beginning of the "Fanfare of the Common Man"... and indeed it does! It's amazing! Wouldn't it be beautiful if the STM adopted this piece as its official sound signature? (in the same way that "Mind the Gap", "Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Please" and the SNCF chimes remind you instantly of the Tube, the NY Subway and a lovely trip to the South of France respectively). And obviously, the title of the piece is perfectly appropriate...
Here is the noise the train makes (for those of you who don't live in Montreal):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-q4JUERkxU&feature=related
And here is the fanfare:
http://expertgenealogy.com/videos/FanfareForTheCommonMan.asp
Little snippit, works great as a "new message" tone for text messages (so long as you're not that asshole on the bus).
Monica, I've found that a far better sound for text messages is this one: http://www.stm.info/english/info/sons/timbre1.wav
It never fails to turn a few heads. :)
Wow! How did you find that? I downloaded "timbre2" and 3 as well. Are there anymore STM sounds to download?
"Can you Feel the Love Tonight"??? Naah, try Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.
Incidentally, it was the official theme for Expo 69...
Comment by Circeus
October 10, 2009 | 2:24 pm