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.
Filename: River Quaggy Chinbrook Meadows
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hither Green, Grove Park, Mottingham
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 November 2011
Time of day: 4.20pm
Location: Chinbrook Meadows, Grove Park.
Description: The Quaggy rushes as a thin sheet of water over its concrete bed, faint birdsong close by, distant traffic.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: River Quaggy Mottingham Lane
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hither Green, Grove Park, Mottingham
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 November 2011
Time of day: 3.50pm
Location: Mottingham Lane near junction with Sidcup Road, Mottingham.
Description: Traffic, reverberant sound of the Quaggy as it flows into a culvert beneath Mottingham Lane, distant traffic and indistinct voices, a car drives past.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: River Quaggy Cray Valley FC
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hither Green, Grove Park, Mottingham
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 November 2011
Time of day: 3.30pm
Location: Eltham Palace Road, overlooking the Cray Valley FC ground.
Description: Shouts of football players at the Cray Valley FC ground, referee's whistle, sound of the ball being kicked, constant traffic in distance.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: River Quaggy Sutcliffe Park
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hither Green, Grove Park, Mottingham
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 November 2011
Time of day: 3.10pm
Location: Sutcliffe Park, Eltham.
Description: Loud whistling and chirping of starlings in a stand of trees, constant traffic on the A20.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: River Quaggy Manor House Gardens
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hither Green, Grove Park, Mottingham
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 November 2011
Time of day: 2.15pm
Location: Manor House Gardens, Hither Green.
Description: Trickling of the Quaggy, distant traffic, sound of a football being kicked, indistinct voices of children in the park.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Quaggy River March2011
Duration: 1:56
Grid square: Hither Green, Grove Park, Mottingham
Recorded by: Richard Sanderson
Recording date: March 2011
Time of day: Unknown
Location: Manor Park, Lewisham
Description: Trickling and rushing sounds of the river Quaggy, birdsong, distant traffic, an airplane flies overhead, a child's voice at the end.
Technical guff: Stereo.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Richard Sanderson for sharing this recording via Soundcloud. For writings on post-punk, improvisation and English folk music, visit Richard's Baggage Reclaim blog.
Filename: TQ 4023 7309
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hither Green, Grove Park, Mottingham
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 20 February 2009
Time of day: 12:45pm
Location: TQ 4023 7309. An alley running behind the back gardens of houses on Baring Road.
Description: Birdsong, faint traffic noise, a power saw used at the back of one of the houses.
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.