Occasional posts on subjects including field recording, London history and literature, other websites worth looking at, articles in the press, and news of sound-related events.
ON WEDNESDAY the 20th of November I’ll be giving a talk at the London Metropolitan Archives on the theme of London sounds past and present. In the talk I hope to offer some justification to a general audience for making and collecting sound recordings of daily life in the city.
I support the London Sound Survey out of my own pocket, and what anyone does with their time and money is their business. Nonetheless, it seems a worthwhile exercise to imagine the objections of a sceptic. One test of a good idea outside of some highly abstract or technical realm is whether it’s easy to explain to the next person you meet at the bus stop.
The talk starts at 6pm and is free to attend, but you’ll need to register online via this events webpage. The Archives are at 40 Northampton Road, EC1, in Clerkenwell – see the map below.
The building housing the Archives is a former print works and it may be easy to walk past the slightly anonymous-looking entrance. Here’s the building photographed from Spa Fields immediately opposite:
The Archives are set in what is still one of central London’s most interesting enclaves, and there are easily enough exhibits and resouirces to make an early visit worthwhile. Also, Exmouth Market is close by with its many places to eat and drink afterwards.
The balloonist in the desert is dreaming
The Binaural Diaries of Ollie Hall
The Ragged Society of Antiquarian Ramblers
Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology
World Forum for Acoustic Ecology