New recording: Maplin Sands
Where: Near Wakering Stairs, Great Wakering. Description: Very quiet ambience with the sound of a distant ship's engine, cries of a wading bird, faint popping close by from sand drying in the sun. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 2:00.
New recording: Cuckoo at Cupid's Corner
Where: Cupid's Corner, Great Wakering. Description: Birdsong from trees and shrubs all around, a cuckoo repeats its call, faint distant traffic. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 0:30.
New recording: Southend Pier train
Where: Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Description: Voices of passengers inside one of the train's tiny carriages, the door closes and the train starts on its journey back to the Southend seafront. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: End of the pier Southend
Where: Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Description: Waves crash against the pier's struts below, voices and footsteps of passersby. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Blog post: Building a field recording system 4: introduction to binaural sound recording
Earlier posts in the series on building your own field recording system have discussed pocket-sized recorders and the best accessories to get for them. Here we’ll begin looking beyond the recorder’s built-in mics towards using external mics that plug into the recorder.
Blog post: Time off in the Scottish Highlands
A colleague at work warned me that field recordists working in the Scottish Highlands find it hard to avoid capturing the sound of falling water, whatever they’re trying to record.
New recording: Seafront at Sheerness
Where: Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey. Description: Waves crash onto a shingle beach near high tide, cries of a seagull, some wind noise. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:30.
New recording: Bowling alley Sheerness
Where: Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey. Description: Loud thumps as two families send bowling balls rumbling along separate alleys, clatter of skittles being felled, voices. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:30.
New recording: Chapel Market Islington
Where: Islington, north London. Description: Vehicles, banging sounds from a stall being dismantled, shuffling footsteps and voices of passersby. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Blog post: Absence of sound
An article in yesterday’s Daily Mail reported on an anechoic chamber owned by a company in South Minneapolis, and it’s got some choice quotes.
New recording: Queenstown Road station
Where: Queenstown Road railway station, Battersea. Description: Traffic, airplane drone, a recorded platform announcement, a train passes at high speed, faint music from a nearby house. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:20.
New recording: Thames path Richmond
Where: Thames path opposite Cambridge Gardens, Richmond. Description: Cyclists and pedestrians pass by on the path behind, an airplane flies overhead, activity on a pontoon in the river, sound of the river lapping. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 5:00.
New recording: The Great Franko
Where: South Bank. Description: An escapologist wriggles free from a straitjacket to entertain a crowd of bystanders. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 2:00.
New recording: The Euston drummer
Where: Outside Euston station. Description: A homeless man plays an improvised drum made from a plastic bin with duct tape stretched across the top to form a drum skin. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:35.
New historical recording: London street noises 1928
Where: Leicester Square and Beauchamp Place. Description: Daytime traffic noise, building work, newspaper seller's cries, busker with fiddle. Recordings: 2.
Blog post: A taxonomy for field recordings
Last month I put down some ideas on classifying field recordings. In hindsight they’re not up to much, but you’ve got to start somewhere and a blog post is as good a place as any.
New recording: Dollis Brook Moat Mount
Where: Near Scratchwood. Description: Faint trickling of the Dollis Brook, traffic on Hendon Wood Lane and Barnet Way, cawing of crows, birdsong. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Dollis Brook Ducks Island
Where: Ducks Island, Barnet. Description: Distant traffic, clanging noises from a building site, the Dollis Brook rushes through a narrowing in its channel, airplane drone. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Dollis Brook Underhill
Where: Barnet playing fields, Underhill. Description: Distant airplane drone, birdsong, trickling of the Dollis Brook, very faint voices. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Dollis Brook Totteridge
Where: Near Brook Farm Open Space, Totteridge. Description: Echoing sound of water rushing through a brick-lined culvert into the Dollis Brook, birdsong. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Blog post: Victorian cage-bird fanciers of Brick Lane
James Greenwood's 1874 book The Wilds of London reports on the poorer areas of London and the ways of life of their inhabitants. At times a note of condescension creeps into his writing, but Greenwood is broadly sympathetic to the plight of the poor and he writes in a brisk and vivid style.
New recording: Ravensbourne Keston
Where: Barnet Wood, Keston. Description: Loud cooing of a wood pigeon close by, other birdsong, distant traffic. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Ravensbourne Bromley Common
Where: South of Scrogginhall Wood, Bromley Common. Description: A tiny stream joins the Ravensbourne near a private fishing lake, birdsong, very faint music. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Ravensbourne Norman Park
Where: Norman Park recreation ground, south Bromley. Description: Distant rumble of airplanes, faint trickling of the Ravensbourne, a dog barks, birdsong, a man laughs. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Ravensbourne Streamside Close
Where: Off Sandford Road, south Bromley. Description: A residential cul-de-sac with birdsong, distant traffic and siren, children's and adults' voices heard faintly. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Church Street off Edgware Road
Where: Walking eastwards along Church Street, Lisson Grove. Description: Dustcarts and street-cleaning vehicles pass close by and recede, faints voices and footsteps, a siren and traffic in the distance. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 2.30.
New recording: Euston station plaza
Where: Euston Station Plaza. Description: Footsteps and rattle of wheeled luggage, bystanders' voices, a station announcement, distant traffic. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 2:00.
Blog post: The slow movement
A few weeks ago a message arrived via Soundcloud from Iain Chambers with a link to a track he’d made from recordings along the Regents Canal in north London.
Blog post: Two sound-related talks coming up in March
Here's two dates for the diary which should be of interest to anyone into field recording or sound studies. They’re both in London and I’ll be doing my bit as part of their line-up of speakers.
New recording: Mobile phone competition Lewisham
Where: Lewisham shopping centre, southeast London. Description: Lewisham Shopping Centre onlookers encourage a boy trying to win a mobile phone. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 0:40.
Blog post: Thoughts on classifying field recordings
Recently an email arrived from Eric Leonardson of the World Listening Project, the motivating force behind World Listening Day, which is due to be marked again on July the 18th this year.
New radio actuality: Godfrey the Bagpipe King 1936
Where: Possibly recorded at Broadcasting House. Description: A street musician plays a bellows-driven bagpipe while keeping up a stream of patter. Recordings: 1.
New recording: Mutton Brook Norrice Lea
Where: Norrice Lea near junction with Lyttleton Road, East Finchley. Description: Loud traffic from Lyttleton Road, faint birdsong and trickling of the Mutton Brook, occasional sounds of a gardener at work outside a nearby house. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Mutton Brook Lyttleton Playing Fields
Where: On a footbridge by the Lyttleton Playing Fields, East Finchley. Description: The Mutton Brook passes noisily over a rubble-filled stream bed, traffic on Lyttleton Road, a car horn beeps. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: Mutton Brook Hampstead Garden Suburb
Where: Northway Gardens, Hampsteasd Garden Suburb. Description: The Mutton Brook flows through and over a narrowing in the stream, birdsong, distant traffic. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: St Mary-le-Bow peal
Where: St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. Description: Peal attempt by the Southwark Cathedral Guild on the bells of St Mary-le-Bow. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
Blog post: Building a field recording system 3 - recorder accessories
The previous post in the field recording system series looked at the Sony PCM M10 recorder and introduced a few technical concepts which are good to know about.
New recording: River Rom Collier Row
Where: Collier Row recreation ground. Description: The Rom flows over a small weir, a woodpigeon coos, traffic passing along Collier Row Road immediately to the south, birdsong. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: River Rom Footpath No 19
Where: Footpath number 19 off White Hart Lane, Collier Row. Description: Weak trickling of the Rom beneath a footbridge, the wind blows briskly above, faint traffic in distance. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
New recording: River Rom North Street
Where: Car park off North Street, Romford. Description: Constant traffic passing along North Street and St Edwards Way, an emergency service siren draws closer. Recordist: IM Rawes. Duration: 1:00.
