elektro80
Site Admin
Joined: Mar 25, 2003 Posts: 21959 Location: Norway
Audio files: 14
|
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 7:26 am Post subject:
YOUR FAVOURITE LONDON SOUNDS |
|
|
I just go this info.
If you are interested in this, contact Peter Cusak pcusack@btinternet.com
-------------------------
Your Favourite London Sounds - CD 2
CD 2 of 'Your Favourite London Sounds" is now being planned for release later this year. Like CD 1 it will be recordings of Londoners favourite sounds. Since the project started in 1998 people have been giving their favourites by filling in the questionnaire belowe.
This is an open invitation to participate, so please email your answered questions back to me (pcusack@btinternet.com).
Although most of the recordings on CD 1 were made by myself (based on the favourites), a few were recorded by those who suggested them. It would be great to increase that number for CD 2. So, if you wish, please make your own recordings and let me know. The track list from CD 1 can be seen belowe to give some idea of recording lengths and content, although, obviously, we will try not to repeat what's already been included. Occasionally similar sounds recorded from a very different point of ear could be interesting though.
Last time around there were far more 'favourites' than could possibly fit on a CD and this is likely to be the case again. A selection will have to be made. But all the suggestions sent are is very valuable. Together they are gradually building up an impression about what people find positive in our city's soundscape - a much needed perspective. The soundscape is the cinderella of environmental issues and official strategy, where it exists, is almost entirely directed towards noise, ie the negative. It is my belief that such strategies will make little difference until they take a much more positive approach and consider what people like as much, if not more so, than what they don't. In other words 'noise' strategies should become 'sound' strategies. All your 'favourites' suggested in this project very much contribute to the perspective and the discussion. So please keep them coming.
For the future a website is being planned where all this info and some of the sounds will be freely accessible.
Looking forward to your favourites.
best wishes
Peter Cusack
YOUR FAVOURITE LONDON SOUNDS
'Your Favourite London Sound' is an attempt to discover what Londoners think about their city's soundscape. The project was set up for Resonance FM in 1998 and has been running since. So far hundreds of replies have been received and the CD "Your Favourite London Sounds' with a selection of 40 has been released. The long term aim is to build up a comprehensive 'overhear' of London's ever evolving sounds and how they effect us individually. Many thanks for your 'favourite'.
What is your favourite London sound?
Why?
What is your favourite London sight? (view, building, object, ...)
Why?
Name:
Part of London where you live:
.........................................................................................................
Favourite London Sounds on the original CD
1 Big Ben (street) 0:51
London's most famous sound is broadcast to the world daily from a microphone high in the tower. This
is how it sounds from street level.
2 London Bridge station 2:07
3 Brixton station (recording Matthias Kispert) 1:49
Emerging from the underground station into the street.
4 'Mind the gaps' at Bank underground station 0:49
5 Bank of England 1.00am 1:36
A city back alley, the 'chinks' are ropes blowing against a flagpole.
6 Blackbird dawn chorus, 4.00am in May 2:05
Blackbirds are London's commonest songbirds. So much so that on occasions it is virtually the only
species singing. The sound reverberates up and down the street, which gives a particularly urban
feel.
7 Brick Lane 1:51
Heart of London's Bangladeshi community.
8 Bagel shop, Brick Lane 1:22
Open 24 hours a day this is one of London's favourite night stops.
9 73-Bus bell 0:25
10 Bus pressure (recording Tom Wallace) 1:00
11 Butlers Wharf, Thames sounds 2:01
The River Thames is surprisingly quiet and one has to search for its sounds. The two here are slurps
under the overhang of the wharf and squeaky barges rising and falling on the swell.
12 Canal towpath stones 0:35
Along London's canal towpaths are areas of loose concrete slabs which rock musically when cycled
over.
13 Club queue, Hoxton 1:47
14 Coffee in Soho 1:39
the voice of Tom Brake
15 Dalston Market 1:29
16 Deptford Market 2:09
Sounds of the market packing up around 4.30pm on a Saturday
17 Depford Grid sub station 2:20
Charles Hayward explains.
18 Regents Park to Oxford Circus 5:00
Underground journey on the Bakerloo Line
19 Escalator, King's Cross underground station 0:40
20 Euston main line (recording Bunny Schendler) 1:21
21 Slamming train doors Victoria Station 1:36
A sound fast disappearing from London's soundscape. Recorded 1987
22 Evening birds in Abbney Park Cemetery, early May 1:59
Among the species heard are Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin and Wood Pidgeons.
23 Michelle phone message 0:58
24 Fountain Victoria Park 1.00am 1:25
With honking Canada Geese
25 Great Court at the British Museum 2:09
People murmering and cafe clinks heard in the fabulous acoustic of the museums's new court. Classic
stone, classic reverberation.
26 Helicopter/East London Mosque 5:51
The Muslim call to prayer is a recent addition to London's soundscape. Situated in Whitechapel the
East London mosque is very close to the city heliport.
27 Key in the front door 0:36
28 Onions frying in my flat 1:10
29 Post through the letterbox 1:20
30 Nightingale/hum 0:56
A unique outer London sound combination, Europe's most spectacular bird song against the all
pervasive high voltage substation hum.
31 London thunder 4:09
32 Rain on skylight while lying in bed 1:31
33 Bleeps at the supermarket checkout, Safeways, Stoke Newington 0:46
34 Spurs football - White Hart Lane (recording Clive Bell) 2:55
Through the turnstiles.
35 St James Park/2 species of baby 0:59
Two human toddlers imitate a very young coot chick screeching to be fed.
36 Under the flyover, Hackney Wick 1:06
Vehicles bumping over the expansion joints in the flyover, as heard from belowe.
37 Taxis waiting at Euston station 0:59
38 Transformer, London Regional Transport, Putney 1:40
Part of the underground's electricity supply, the hum varies in tone with the changing current drawn
by passing trains.
39 Swifts over Stoke Newington 0:54
Swifts, screaming around the rooftops, are a definitive summer sound and mark out spaces upwards
and outward in a way that few others do. The knowledge that these birds migrate thousands of miles to
the warmth of Africa makes it, for me, a sound that connects London to the world outside.
40 16th floor up 3:25
London from near the top of a tower block on a damp March evening, Holloway Road _________________ A Charity Pantomime in aid of Paranoid Schizophrenics descended into chaos yesterday when someone shouted, "He's behind you!"
MySpace
SoundCloud
Flickr |
|
mosc
Site Admin
Joined: Jan 31, 2003 Posts: 18197 Location: Durham, NC
Audio files: 212
G2 patch files: 60
|
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 10:48 am Post subject:
Re: YOUR FAVOURITE LONDON SOUNDS |
|
|
elektro80 wrote: |
1 Big Ben (street) 0:51
London's most famous sound is broadcast to the world daily from a microphone high in the tower. This
is how it sounds from street level.
|
Too bad this is not broadcast by the BBC World Service anymore. I'm a regular listener. They have modernized there format and gotten rid of it. They've also stopped broadcasting to North America on short wave, but that's another discussion.
Sounds like a terriffic CD. |
|