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.
| 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 |
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: Queens Head Pinner
Grid square: Pinner, Rayners Lane
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 November 2009
Time of day: Around 1pm
Location: The Queens Head pub, High Street, Pinner, north-west London.
Description: The pub is busy on a Sunday lunchtime: customers' voices and noises from the open door of the pub's kitchen.
Technical guff: Stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp, Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: River Pinn
Grid square: Pinner, Rayners Lane
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 November 2009
Time of day: 3.15pm
Location: By the River Pinn as it runs through a field just north of Nower Hill.
Description: Trickling sounds from the River Pinn, itself no more than a shallow, gravel-bottomed stream about six feet wide. Faint birdsong, the wind rustling foliage, distant traffic noise from the A404.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP4029 mid/side mic and Fostex FR-2LE digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Cafe Rouge Pinner
Grid square: Pinner, Rayners Lane
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 November 2009
Time of day: 11am
Location: Cafe Rouge branch in the High Street, Pinner, north-west London.
Description: Recorded French music, voices of customers and staff, sounds of the coffee machine.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp, Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: TQ 1250 8826
Grid square: Pinner, Rayners Lane
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 16 February 2009
Time of day: 10.30am
Location: OS reference TQ 1250 8826. Junction of Dewsbury Close and Church Avenue.
Description: A quiet suburban street. A crow chatters on top of a lamp-post, fainter song from other birds. Two cars drive past in quick succession.
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.
