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: Channelsea River Greenway
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 June 2011
Time of day: 4pm
Location: The Channelsea river under the Greenway bridge, near West Ham.
Description: Traffic noise, cooing of pigeons beneath the bridge, constant dripping of water.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Edirol R09-HR recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Channelsea River island
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 June 2011
Time of day: 3.45pm
Location: By the Channelsea River opposite a tiny island, near Bow.
Description: Constant rushing noise from airconditioning units in an industrial estate, birdsong, faint aircraft drone.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Edirol R09-HR recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Channelsea River Prescott Channel
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 June 2011
Time of day: 3.15pm
Location: By the confluence of the Channelsea River and the Prescott Channel, Bow.
Description: Faint birdsong, constant rushing sound of industrial origin, a train heads eastwards, cries of gulls.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Edirol R09-HR recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Stratford shopping centre
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 1:50
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 7 May 2010
Time of day: 2.30pm
Location: Walking through the Stratford shopping centre, east London.
Description: Voices of shoppers, echoing more loudly in the centre's high-ceilinged hub towards the beginning, stallholders' voices, music from shop units.
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: Trains passing Manor Park
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 2:12
Recorded by: Stuart Fisher
Recording date: 31 October 2009
Time of day: 9.30am
Location: Near the City of London cemetery, Manor Park.
Description: Passing trains recorded from the alleyway between the railway and the City of London Cemetery at Manor Park. Some car noise and water rain dripping on leaves nearby.
Technical guff: Not known.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Queens Market argument
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 1:17
Recorded by: Dave Pape
Recording date: 16 June 2007
Time of day: Not known
Location: The car park above Queens Market, West Ham.
Description: Two men get in an argument in the market car park, and exchange insults.
Technical guff: Binaural stereo. Soundman OKM mics, Marantz PMD-670 recorder.
Additional notes: Find out more about Dave Pape's activities at Museum of Techno.
File name: Queens Market
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 6:05
Recorded by: Dave Pape
Recording date: 16 June 2007
Time of day: Not known
Location: Queens Market, West Ham.
Description: Ambience at Queens Market in West Ham, a covered market of stalls selling food and cheap non-perishables. Voices of traders, customers and children, stall shutters are pulled down, and some kind of electronic toy plays the tune to 'Old Macdonald' on a loop.
Technical guff: Binaural stereo. Soundman OKM mics, Marantz PMD-670 recorder.
Additional notes: Find out more about Dave Pape's activities at Museum of Techno.
File name: West Ham fox cubs
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 1:12
Recorded by: Genghis Attenborough
Recording date: 2/3/2009
Time of day: Not known
Location: West Ham cemetery, east London.
Description: "Two young foxes in a play fight in West Ham cemetery. I sneaked up behind a wall and recorded them for a while. I peered over the wall to discover they were only about four metres away [. . .] they were locked with paws on each other's shoulders screaming at each other." – Genghis Attenborough
Technical guff: High pass filter used to eliminate wind noise on recording.
Additional notes: Recorded by Freesound Project contributor Genghis Attenborough. License: Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0.
File name: TQ 4023 8447
Grid square: Forest Gate, West Ham
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 17 February 2009
Time of day: 4.15pm
Location: OS reference TQ 4023 8447. West Ham Park.
Description: Distant traffic and aircraft drone, birdsong, a dog yaps, a group of youths talk among themselves after a game of football.
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.