Comments on: Il fait beau dans l’métro

By: Fagstein » Attention la terre, pollution

Fagstein » Attention la terre, pollution — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:50:14 +0000

[...] Il fait beau dans l’métro (about) meets Don’t Copy That Floppy (about). Will it be as much of an Internet [...]

By: kristin

kristin — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:32:14 +0000

I’m excited that the sound making of the métro has been cleared up, as some friends and I were wondering about its source just last week.

By: Christopher DeWolf

Christopher DeWolf — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:12:07 +0000

Thanks for the clarifications, Steve. I knew that only the MR-73 trains made that sound, but I had no idea that it was actually five tones.

Infopresse got the ball rolling but I guess BCP has taken a hint and made many of their iconic TV ads available on their website, too.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:57:47 +0000

Another thing worth mentioning is that the video resurfaced online after Infopresse uploaded videos of Bouchard's BCP ads as a memorial. From there it was copied to YouTube and spread like wildfire. Others (including the really catchy and cheesy Montréal Matin song) are available here. It's one of the reasons ad companies should be putting all sorts of vintage TV ads online.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:41:25 +0000

The three-tone sound of the metro trains leaving the station isn’t caused by the brakes (there are physical and electromagnetic breaking systems which are both very quiet), but my the motors. The MR-73 trains use a current chopper to gradually add power to the motor and prevent surges.

And it’s actually five tones, though many people don’t hear the first two because their frequency is so low (I find myself hearing all the tones more frequently now – maybe my hearing range is getting lower)

The other thing to remember is that this sound is only on the MR-73 trains (for the most part – there’s also a single 9-car MR-63 train that produces a similar sound), which were delivered the same year this ad was produced. So the doo-doo-doo was new and exciting back then, and not so much an established sound.