Rémanence by Jean-Baptiste Masson

Rémanence is based on found materials, recorded by amateur sound hobbyists in France and Germany between the 1960s and the 1990s. The tapes and cassettes were collected in the two countries in Summer 2023, while on trip to investigate the sonic practices of French and German sound hunters. People were interviewed, and sonic material gathered. Sound hunters were amateurs interested in sound, who, from the 1950s, started to produce radio programmes, to organise national and international contests, to edit magazines, to gather themselves in tape recording clubs. This piece documents and poeticises their activities, that ranged from family recordings, to musique concrète, to the recording of bird songs, to the soundtracks of amateur films, to music, interviews and audio documentaries. Short electroacoustic compositions by me link or sometimes frame sound hunters’ recordings.

The tapes and cassettes of this piece were collected thanks to a funding from the Deutsch-Französischer Bürgerfonds. Many thanks to them.

Rémanence was broadcast in the Netherlands at and from the Institute of Sonology in Den Haag, and in Germany (Radio Cashmere) on the 26th of May, thanks to On Air On Site. It was also broadcast in France in June on Tikka Radio.

Tracklist