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: In Selsdon Wood
Grid square: Selsdon, Forestdale
Duration: 1:30
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 24 July 2010
Time of day: 2pm
Location: In Selsdon Wood, near Old Farleigh Road.
Description: Birdsong, dripping of water off leaves after a brief rain shower, then a flurry of drops as the wind stirs the tops of the trees.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: TQ 3627 6171
Grid square: Selsdon, Forestdale
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 18 July 2009
Time of day: 12.15pm
Location: OS grid reference TQ 3627 6171. A meadow enclosed by the trees of Selsdon Wood, off Old Farleigh Road.
Description: The rasping of grasshoppers and other insects in the tall grass, the wind blows in the surrounding trees, crows caw in the distance, faint birdsong and traffic noise in the distance.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio-Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE 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.