For the most part, people develop their own individual sense of ethics and morality based on personal experience and/or a system of beliefs harvested from religion and philosophy. This criteria becomes the conscious-self that people use to govern their actions. What would happen if we lost the ability to listen to our conscience in a technologically fast-paced society not unlike present day society?

When we try to get in touch with busy people, we often leave a message for them on their answering machine. This way, people will still receive important information, even if we were unable to speak to them at that particular time.

This project was based on the notion of someone who has become so preoccupied with their life, that they have forgotten to listen to their conscience. To remedy this, their conscience has left a message for this person on their answering machine.

The original version of this was done with a hand held tape recorder, but I was unable to transfer the information on the microcassette, to the studio equipment. The piece was then re-recorded directly into the editing station in studio B at Trent Radio. With John Muir's assistance, I was able to record a spoken word passage that was then spliced together with telephone samples from my answering machine at home. Using the "Cool Edit" computer program, I was able to alter the sound of my voice to give it a "digitized" feel during the opening and closing phrases of the message. This program also allowed me to edit out certain imperfections in my speech, like unwanted pauses and stutters, which compensated for my some of my nervous hesitation.

The intention of this project was familiarize myself with the capacity of the available technology and make a sardonic statement about the place of such technology in our lives.

Craig O'Shaughnessy

[ends]