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: New River West Reservoir
Grid square: Stroud Green, Seven Sisters, Stoke Newington
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 29 December 2011
Time of day: 3.15pm
Location: By West Reservoir, Manor House, north London.
Description: Cries of gulls and ducks on the West Reservoir, distant traffic, faint airplane drone, the wind stirs nearby foliage.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: New River Hornsey Depot
Grid square: Stroud Green, Seven Sister, Stoke Newington
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 27 August 2011
Time of day: 3pm
Location: On the New River path by Hornsey train depot, north London.
Description: Distant traffic, faint sound of the breeze stirring leaves on trees, a train passes and sounds its horn.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: New River Seven Sisters Bridge
Grid square: Stroud Green, Seven Sister, Stoke Newington
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 27 August 2011
Time of day: 2.15pm
Location: By Seven Sisters Bridge near junction with Amhurst Road, Stamford Hill, north London.
Description: Loud traffic from Amhurst Road and Seven Sisters Road, deep noise of water churning and bubbling in a covered culvert feeding into the New River.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10.
Additional notes: None.
File name: New River Harringay Ladder
Grid square: Stroud Green, Seven Sister, Stoke Newington
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: I M Rawes
Recording date: 27 August 2011
Time of day: 2.40pm
Location: Duckett Road, Harringay, north London.
Description: Quiet ambience in a residential street with traffic passing along Wightman Road to the west, faint birdsong.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Seven Sisters indoor market
Grid square: Stroud Green, Seven Sisters, Stoke Newington
Duration: 1:55
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 7 July 2010
Time of day: 4.30pm
Location: Seven Sisters indoor market, next to Seven Sisters tube station.
Description: Recorded while walking around the maze-like interior of the market. Voices of staff and customers at a cafe in the market, voices and recorded music from various stalls and little shop units.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: Marred in places by wind noise, to which these mics are very sensitive. The wind source was ceiling fans in the market.
File name: Marcus Garvey Library Seven Sisters
Grid square: Stroud Green, Seven Sisters, Stoke Newington
Duration: 2:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 7 July 2010
Time of day: 5.30pm
Location: Marcus Garvey public library, Tottenham Green Centre, Seven Sisters.
Description: Library ambience with air conditioning hum, people turning pages of newspapers and books, a man mutters briefly to himself.
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 3231 8826
Grid square: Stroud Green, Seven Sisters, Stoke Newington
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 16 February 2009
Time of day: 3.00pm
Location: OS reference TQ 3231 8826. Entrance to Arena Business Centre off Oakdale Road.
Description: A constant and regular clattering noise from equipment used to repair the railway line just east of Harringay Green Lanes station. Some other sides made by workmen, and aircraft 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.