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.
THE LONDON SOUND Survey has now been online for seven months. In that time, the number of recordings has nearly doubled to around 450. Each month a reasonable and increasing number of visitors drops by, not counting webcrawlers and other automated whatsits. The site is climbing up the search engine rankings and there have been a couple of radio interviews and an offer of a telly appearance, which I knocked back because it seemed premature. Plus I’m shy. And very ugly.
This is not a bad start. But it’s impossible to work in a vacuum, and none of these things would have happened without the help and good will of many people. In particular, many thanks to those who’ve sent in recordings, including Dave Ackrill, Ben Cripps, Stuart Fisher, James Huckle and Dave Pape.
Much gratitude is owed to Martin Paling, Neil of the Transpontine and History is Made at Night blogs, Adrian Maddox of Classic Cafes fame, Another Nickel in the Machine blog, the Londonist, Nick and Malcolm of Resonance FM, Jim Cummings of the Acoustic Ecology Institute, Eric Leonardson of the World Listening Project, Living Geography, KR Connect, John Ptak, helpful people at the Freesound Project, Taperssection, soundtransit, Electromusic, the Montreal Sound Map, Will Montgomery, Rob Danielson on the Phonography Yahoo group, Ollie Hall, Sergio López Figueroa, Mike and Eme of Goldtop/Urban75, and anyone else who ought to be in that list.
Thanks also to several colleagues at work for their encouragement and technical advice, in particular Christine, Andrew, Trevor, Paul, Richard and Will. Finally, thank you to anyone who has come along and sent in a comment, an email, or who has just taken the time to listen to a recording.
2010 will see further developments on the London Sound Survey, with two major site additions planned. One of those in particular should help push it forward to a new level, but first there’s extensive behind-the-scenes work needing done to pave the way for it. Be sure to keep an eye out and an ear open for those changes – you won’t be disappointed!
Have a very happy New Year.
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