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: Grand Union Park Royal
Grid square: Wembley, Harlesden, Neasden
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 13 August 2011
Time of day: 1.25pm
Location: By the Abbey Road bridge, Park Royal, northwest London.
Description: Loud honking and whistling of a geese as they swim close by on the canal.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: River Brent Alperton
Grid square: Wembley, Harlesden, Neasden
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 August 2011
Time of day: 1.35pm
Location: Queensbury Road, Alperton, northwest London.
Description: Patter of rain falling on foliage, traffic on the North Circular Road with siren, noise from an aircon unit or fume extractor, metallic hammering sounds.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: River Brent Barnhill
Grid square: Wembley, Harlesden, Neasden
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 August 2011
Time of day: 11.25am
Location: Recreation ground off Barnhill Road, northwest London.
Description: The Brent passes through a concrete culvert under a footbridge, distant traffic with siren, a train passes through Neasden Depot, birdsong.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Willesden Junction at dawn
Grid square: Wembley, Neasden, Harlesden
Duration: 2:30
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 25 February 2011
Time of day: 6am
Location: Footbridge at Willesden Junction station, northwest London.
Description: Sounds of bulldozers at work in the Hythe Road industrial estate to the south. A train passes under the footbridge, heading east.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Neasden Ikea
Grid square: Wembley, Neasden, Harlesden
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 25 October 2009
Time of day: Around 4pm
Location: Neasden branch of Ikea furniture store, north-west London
Description: Recorded while walking around inside: a store announcement beginning with three chimes, voices of customers speaking in various languages.
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 2043 8447
Grid square: Wembley, Neasden, Harlesden
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 17 February 2009
Time of day: 1.15pm
Location: OS reference TQ 2043 8447. By the side of an unnamed stream, off Conduit Way, near the North Circular.
Description: Constant traffic rumble from the North Circular with lorry horn and sirens, faint birdsong.
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.