The Multi-Tone Car Alarm has six tones and they’re all wonderful. What urban soundscape would be complete without the bleepity-bloopity of a sine wave gone wild? Before dubstep had its way with us, before EDM consumed all pop music, there was the Multi-Tone.
The first ‘tone’ is a series of ooey-ooies, followed by the rapid lazer beams of the second tone, while the third tone gets musical, in fifth intervals from C to G. The G is much sharper than a Perfect Fifth, giving it the feeling of a Minor Six. It’s a little scary. The tempo also slows down significantly, so it’s safe to call this “the drop.” If I were playing drums to this alarm, I’d probably go half-time here; it just feels right.
Click on the score to play/stop.
After that, the fourth tone is a rising whoot-whoot portamento, which segues nicely into the alarm clock-style buzzing below. The fifth tone was probably inspired by the even chirping of a field cricket.
The alarm finishes with a salvo of slower lazers, then loops back to the beginning and repeats throughout the night.
Look out for my forthcoming album Drums! where I play moderate rock beats live to car alarms, church bells, and a babbling brook by the side of the road.
