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: Ravensbourne Keston
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hayes, Keston
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 26 February 2012
Time of day: 2.45pm
Location: Barnet Wood, Keston.
Description: Loud cooing of a wood pigeon close by, other birdsong, distant traffic.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Soby PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Ravensbourne Bromley Common
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hayes, Keston
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 24 February 2012
Time of day: 1pm
Location: South of Scrogginhall Wood, Bromley Common.
Description: A tiny stream joins the Ravensbourne near a private fishing lake, birdsong, very faint music.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: TQ 4023 6551
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hayes, Keston
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 23 April 2009
Time of day: 11.20am
Location: Hayes Common, just east of Prestons Road.
Description: Birdsong in deciduous woodland, aircraft drone, and distant steady traffic noise from Croydon Road to the south.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Edirol R09-HR 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.