Recordings of background atmospheres and incidental noises from all over London. Many form part of a sound grid series recorded at evenly-spaced points across the city, each marking the centre of a square on the map below.
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Above: graphic based on a daytime satellite image courtesy of the Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. Each red grid square is 2.5 miles or 4 kilometers across.
File name: River Brent barge shed
Grid square: Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 August 2011
Time of day: 6pm
Location: Disused barge shed by the Commerce Road industrial estate, Brentford.
Description: Echoing sounds inside the barge shed, with calls of ducklings, a plop as the mother duck dives underwater, aircraft drone, hammering in distance.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: River Brent Glaxo HQ
Grid square: Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 August 2011
Time of day: 5.50pm
Location: By the GlaxoSmithKline offices near Boston Manor Park, west London.
Description: Constant sound of machinery at the side of the office building, faint rush and splash of an ornamental water feature that runs into the Brent, loud traffic with siren.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: River Brent under the M4
Grid square: Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 August 2011
Time of day: 5.30pm
Location: Under the M4 motorway near Boston Manor, west London.
Description: Muffled sound of traffic passing along the motorway overhead, a coot calls, faint jingling from a chain as a walker approaches with his dog.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Great Conservatory Syon House
Grid square: Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond
Duration: 2:46
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 August 2010
Time of day: 2.45pm
Location: Inside the Great Conservatory at Syon House, Brentford
Description: Visitors walk through the Great Conservatory, jet planes fly overhead bound for Heathrow, a constant hum from a small wall-mounted transformer.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: TQ 1647 7688
Grid square: Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 May 2009
Time of day: 1.30pm
Location: OS grid reference TQ 1647 7688. Quaker's Lane, a broad alleyway running off London Road near the junction with Spur Road.
Description: Vehicles pass along London Road, a few dozen yards away. Aeroplane drone and voices of children walking along Quaker's Lane, who pause then run past the sound recordist, who is in motionless 'living statue' mode.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: One of the few instances where the recordist's presence obviously influences the sounds in the auditory scene.
File name: Brentford boatyards
Grid square: Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 11 February 2009
Time of day: 11.00am
Location: Brentford boatyards at the mouth of the River Brent.
Description: Arc-welding equipment, drilling sounds from further away, honking of Canada geese, indistinct cries and shouts from boatyard workers, and airplane drone.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Olympus LS-10 digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Sound map recordings fall into two kinds, shown by the filenames they're given.
A sound grid recording has a filename beginning with the letters 'TQ', followed by eight digits. These are the Ordnance Survey co-ordinates for where the recording ought to be made. Each is part of a regularly-spaced series of recordings covering London. More about them, including graphics showing the resulting city-wide patterns of sounds, can be found on this page.
Other recordings have more descriptive filenames and these are simply of curious or distinctive sounds heard in different places.