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 Beam Roneo Corner
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Romford, Hornchurch
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 22 January 2012
Time of day: 1.15pm
Location: A concrete passage beneath Roneo Corner, Romford.
Description: Echoing noise of water splashing from a storm pipe into a concrete channel containing the Beam, water rushing further away, a dog barks outside.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: River Rom North Street
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Romford, Hornchurch
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 22 January 2012
Time of day: 2.20pm
Location: Car park off North Street, Romford.
Description: Constant traffic passing along North Street and St Edwards Way, an emergency service siren draws closer.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: TQ 5211 8826
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Romford, Hornchurch
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 14/3/2009
Time of day: 2:30pm
Location: OS reference TQ 5211 8826. Brentwood Road, near junction with Boundary Road.
Description: Recorded by the roadside, vehicles pass swiftly every few seconds.
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.