THE PAST AND PRESENT OF LONDON LIFE EXPLORED THROUGH SOUND                                   

Welcome to London Sound Survey, a growing collection of Creative Commons-licensed sound recordings of places, events and wildlife in the capital. Historical references too are gathered to find out how London sounds have changed.

NEW! LONDON WILDLIFE

The beginnings of a new section devoted to the sounds of London wildlife. Nearly all so far are recordings of land and water birds reproduced from the xeno canto collection, but the capital's bold and burgeoning fox population makes an appearance too.
Go there >

SOUND ACTION RECORDINGS

Stereo recordings of sounds designed and made to have an impact on other people, and also of events where there's a main focus of attention. Includes traders' cries in London markets, voices of officialdom, hustlers, buskers, pub singalongs, carnivals and parades. Go there >

SOUND MAP RECORDINGS

Stereo recordings of ambient sounds all across London, including a grid series of recordings made at regular points on the map. From parks and marshes along the Thames estuary to steam museums and night-time West End crowds. Go there >

SEE HEAR: A VISUAL GUIDE

At-a-glance guide to what different parts of London sound like during the day. Not-so-quiet suburbs, aeroplane flight paths, birdsong, where the most building work is going on, the spread of the ring-necked parakeet, and the ever-present growl of traffic. Go there >

HISTORICAL SOUNDS

London history explored through its past sounds in works by Pepys, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Orwell and others. Accounts include protestors shouting 'Porridge!' in church, how loud the London Bridge cataracts were, and examples of the sales-patter of quack doctors. Go there >

Sound action recording: Saracens vs South Africa
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:51 +0000
Category: Social - Rugby and cricket. Description: The announcer introduces the two sides in the Saracens vs South Africa Tuesday night match at Wembley. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:35.
Sound action recording: Souvenir scarves Wembley
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:59:23 +0000
Category: Social - Rugby and cricket. Description: Rugby scarf sellers shout for custom beneath the underpass outside Wembley Park station before the match. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Blog post: Golden days of the rag-and-bone men
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:21:15 +0000
Recently found a selection of letters from The Guardian newspaper dated June 2007, on the subject of rag-and-bone men. [. . .]
Blog post: Look who's come to Pinner
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:57:15 +0000
Contrary to London's stereotype as a grey Limbo of wailing sirens, most of the city’s inhabitants live the suburban life in the twenty outer boroughs, serenaded by birdsong, ice cream vans and jet airliners. [. . .]
Sound map recording: Cafe Rouge Pinner
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:55:30 +0000
Where: Cafe Rouge, High Street, Pinner. Description: Recorded French music, voices of customers and staff, sounds of the coffee machine. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound map recording: River Pinn
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:53:53 +0000
Where: In a field north of Nower Hill, Pinner. Description: Trickling sounds from the River Pinn, faint birdsong, the wind rustling foliage, distant traffic noise from the A404. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound map recording: Queens Head Pinner
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:43:48 +0000
Where: Queens Head pub, High Street, Pinner. Description: Customers' voices and noises from the open door of the pub's kitchen. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
London wildlife recording: Angry squirrel of Pinner
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:41:48 +0000
Where: Nower Hill, Pinner. Description: A grey squirrel angrily squawks at the recordist from a low tree branch. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 0:44.
Sound action recording: Noon bell Pinner
Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:39:50 +0000
Category: Officialdom - Nonverbal signals. Description: The church bell of St John the Baptist, Pinner, strikes noon on a Sunday. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 0:44.
Blog post: Jive at the Paramount Ballroom, 1947
Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:19:04 +0000
‘The hep-cats are at it, the jive is on, they’re in a groove.’ That’s how it was at the Paramount Ballroom in Tottenham Court Road in 1947 [. . .]
Blog post: Doodlebugs
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:22:14 +0000
The first doodlebug or V-1 rocket to land on London killed six people at Mile End in June 1944. By the war’s end they had taken the lives of over 6,000 Londoners. [. . .]
Blog post: Past sounds of Lambeth Walk and London Bridge station
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:30:07 +0000
Two excellent descriptions gleaned recently of early twentieth-century London sounds from the reformer Maud Pember Reeves and the writer V.S. Pritchett. [. . .]
Blog post: A beautiful recording made with skill (and expensive mics)
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:17:54 +0000
One of the good things about field recording is that you can get some fairly capable kit together for less than the price of many consumer dSLR cameras. [. . .]
Blog post: Sounds of the Chislehurst underworld
Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:36:23 +0000
Among the gentle folds and rucks of the chalk hills to the south of London are the Chislehurst caves. [. . .]
Sound map recording: Chislehurst caves
Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:35:05 +0000
Where: Chislehurst caves, south-east London. Description: Sounds of water dripping from a shaft into a shallow puddle on the cave floor. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound action recording: Guy Fawkes 2009
Thu, 5 Nov 2009 20:41:40 +0000
Category: Social - Other events. Description: Local residents gather on top of a hill in south-east London to see and hear the fireworks. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:30.
Blog post: London Sound Survey on YouTube
Thu, 5 Nov 2009 13:10:37 +0000
The second largest search engine after Google is YouTube. It seemed like a good idea therefore to set up a London Sound Survey YouTube channel and begin turning the 400-odd recordings here into simple videos. [. . .]
Sound action recording: School bell Nunhead
Thu, 5 Nov 2009 10:14:37 +0000
Category: Officialdom - Nonverbal signals. Description: The bell sounds at 9am at Hollydale Primary School, Nunhead, south-east London. Sounds of children shouting and yelling, and aircraft drone. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 0:30.
Sound map recording: Thames at Rainham
Wed, 4 Nov 2009 23:20:44 +0000
Where: Path by the Thames, south of the Rainham marshes. Description: Waves lapping the shore; loud, deep humming of machinery from a plant on the opposite side of the river at Jenningtree Point; faint cries of seagulls towards the end. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound map recording: Thames at Dagenham
Wed, 4 Nov 2009 23:18:06 +0000
Where: On a path by the Thames just west of Dagenham. Description: Waves lapping the shoreline, distant hum and clatter of machinery at Barking Riverside to the west. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound map recording: Creekmouth Barking
Wed, 4 Nov 2009 23:16:33 +0000
Where: By the Barking Creek flood gate. Description: A strong breeze stirs bullrushes; to the north, sounds of heavy machinery from factories and scrapyards. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound map recording: Olympic construction site
Tue, 3 Nov 2009 14:49:54 +0000
Where: On the Greenway path, near Pudding Mill Lane. Description: Great din of earth movers, dumper trucks and machinery from all around at the 2012 Olympics construction site. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:30.
Sound map recording: Hertford Union canal
Tue, 3 Nov 2009 14:48:28 +0000
Where: On the towpath beneath the Cadogan Terrace bridge. Description: Loud traffic noise from the A12 bridge over the canal, rushing of water from nearby lock gates. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound map recording: Hyacinth macaws London Zoo
Tue, 3 Nov 2009 14:46:49 +0000
Where: London Zoo, Regent's Park. Description: Throaty squawking and croaking of Hyacinth macaws as they clamber around the wire mesh of their aviary. Recordist: IM Rawes: Duration: 1:11.
Sound map recording: Reptile house London Zoo
Tue, 3 Nov 2009 14:45:25 +0000
Where: London Zoo, Regent's Park. Description: Footsteps and echoing voices of children and adults inside the Reptile House. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Sound map recording: Squirrel monkeys London Zoo
Tue, 3 Nov 2009 14:44:03 +0000
Where: London Zoo, Regent's Park. Description: Thin, high-pitched squeals of black-capped squirrel monkeys and some rustling sounds as they climb around a bush to get a better look at the recordist. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:11.
Sound map recording: Trains passing Manor Park
Mon, 2 Nov 2009 22:58:59 +0000
Where: Near the City of London cemetery, Manor Park. Description: Passing trains recorded from the alleyway between the railway and the City of London Cemetery at Manor Park. Some car noise and water rain dripping on leaves nearby. Recordist: Stuart Fisher. Duration: 2:12.
Sound map recording: Lambeth bridges
Mon, 2 Nov 2009 22:57:09 +0000
Where: Railway arch, Carlisle Lane. Description: Recording made on Carlisle Lane under the railway arches at Lambeth on the way towards Archbishops Park. The sound of trains passing and various other ambience. Recordist: Stuart Fisher. Duration: 1:22.
London wildlife recording: Blackbird alarm calls
Mon, 2 Nov 2009 22:55:03 +0000
Where: Wanstead Park, east London. Description: Sounds of a Blackbird alarm calling before going to roost in Wanstead Park. Recordist: Stuart Fisher. Duration: 0:37.
Blog post: Genghis Attenborough rides again
Mon, 2 Nov 2009 22:54:04 +0000
Offers of money and the lifestyle of a Mediterranean playboy are all well and good, but what London Sound Survey really craves is your sound recordings. [. . .]
Blog post: Kenneth Williams and the Mayor of Garratt
Mon, 2 Nov 2009 22:53:04 +0000
Among the chaos swarming off the pages of Clive Bloom’s excellent book Violent London: 2,000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts, there’s a few sentences ending in exclamation marks. [. . .]
Blog post: When smashing windows is a sound action
Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:08:47 +0000
The other day I watched some workmen smash in the old windows of a block of flats they were gutting and renovating. They looked like they were enjoying themselves. [. . .]
London wildlife recording: Eurasian Coot 1
Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:07:06 +0000
Where: Welsh Harp Reservoir, Hendon. Description: Calls of adult coots in the reservoir, rising in number and intensity after one coot begins chasing another. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 2:00.
Sound map recording: Neasden Ikea
Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:05:40 +0000
Where: Neasden branch of Ikea furniture store. Description: Recorded walking while around inside: a store announcement beginning with three chimes, voices of customers speaking in various languages. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Historical reference: Sam Selvon's 'The Lonely Londoners'
Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:43:11 +0100
The Caribbean writer Sam Selvon describes old men singing and begging for money in the streets in 'The Lonely Londoners', published in 1956.
Sound action recording: Brentford vs Stockport 2nd half
Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:40:48 +0100
Category: Social - Football. Description: Crowd reaction to some tackling, chanting, and a substitution is announced. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 2:08
Sound action recording: Brentford vs Stockport announcement
Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:39:10 +0100
Category: Social - Football. Description: An announcement gets a laugh ten minutes into the first half. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 0:31.
Sound action recording: Brentford FC fanzine seller
Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:37:05 +0100
Category: Social - Football. Description: Man sells a Brentford football fanzine at the entrance to the Griffin Park stadium. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 0:35.
Sound map recording: Staples Corner traffic
Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:35:28 +0100
Where: On a walkway at Staples Corner interchange. Description: Wall of traffic noise from all around. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Blog post: Fun with spectral analysis
Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:23:07 +0100
Spectrograms are a great way to visualise sound. Laid low by the Dreaded Lurgi, I’ve been trying out different freeware and shareware programs at home. [. . .]