"OLET" is an special Electromagnetic Antenna I made for my project “Electromagnetic SoundWalk Collserola”. A project that was presented at the Tsonami Sound Art Festival 2022 in Chile.

For this specific project, I thought it would be interesting to build a handmade special antenna. The intention was to replace a manufactured device -"gadget"- or electronic tool, and build an antenna with a more "organic" aspect, and that is in accordance with the landscape where it is going to be recorded. The result is this weird looking artifact that resembles a coral reef or a weird stone…

I didn't want to imitate any lifeform but make a mix of fantasy, organic, even sci-fi appearance.

I find it very attractive to change the look of the equipment we use in field recordings, because generally in the documents and photographs of the practice, we see incredible landscapes that are interrupted by the presence of "cold and black" recording instruments. (micros, tripods, blimps)...

I did a lot of testing in the studio, building the body of the antenna in various shapes and sizes. The chosen material was always light. At first the antenna was going to be portable (in the form of a backpack), which would allow me to carry out the sound walks, without having to hold and move the antenna during the entire walk.

However, that limited her greatly in terms of action, because she would always be in the same position (on her back) and at the same height. For this reason I decided to return to the shape of a handheld antenna, to be able to move it, bring it closer to places that interested me and to be able to play with it.

The body of the antenna is made with polyurethane foam and then decorated with various household items and a tree branch as a handle. The electromagnetic receiver is made of enameled copper wire attached to an XLR audio cable.

The antenna is a passive magnetic receiver of VLF waves, it is connected to an audio recorder (Zoom F6, on this occasion) to be able to amplify and record, and the sound is monitored through headphones.

The project was carried out through sound walks along various routes in the Collserola Natural Park in Barcelona. In these walks, electromagnetic emissions would be recorded throughout the entire journey.

Each soundwalk lasted between 30 -40 minutes and around 20 were done over 3 months.

The sonic DATA was collected uninterrupted (no cuts and starting from the beginning of the route.)

The electromagnetic and radio emissions (VLF) that this antenna captured are outside the range of human hearing, so the captured audio is an revelation of the insible (inaudible) soundscape that surrounds us but we are not able to hear.

The sound (or buzz) recorded in the mountain is quite uniform, since this is an open space where there are no electronic devices, however, very interesting micro-variations were captured.

There were moments in which the electromagnetic waves increased in volume and strong variations began. This was due to the presence of electric towers in the middle of the park.

The intention was to audibly reveal this sound DATA collected during the project to be presented at the Festival.

For this, the radio was chosen as a source of transmission. Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation, so broadcasting the soundwalks made perfect sense as they were broadcast in radio format.

At first it was thought to use the recordings in raw and unedited format. But I came to the conclusion that it would not be pleasant to listen to the sound without cuts or editing, so it was decided to make small pieces specifically for the radio programming during the festival.

The final pieces were called "Electromagnetic Interludes". And they were special editions made with the files of the recordings of the project. Through listening to the files, I made special compositions in small clips of 6 - 8 min. that were broadcast on the radio.