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: Barking Creek Cuckolds Haven
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: East Ham, Barking, Ilford
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 November 2011
Time of day: 2pm
Location: Cuckold's Haven facing Hand Trough Creek, near Barking, east London.
Description: Constant traffic in the distance, a duck quacks, cries of seabirds, faint rushing sound from a weir on Barking Creek.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: River Roding Alders Brook
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: East Ham, Barking, Ilford
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 September 2011
Time of day: 4.30pm
Location: By the Alders Brook next to the City of London cemetery, Ilford.
Description: A train passes westwards along a viaduct, distant traffic, bird calls.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: River Roding Barking
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: East Ham, Barking, Ilford
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 September 2011
Time of day: 3pm
Location: North of London Road by the Roding Trading Estate, Barking.
Description: Constant background traffic, faint birdsong, beeping sound from a lorry reversing.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Barking Creek
Duration: 1:15
Grid square: East Ham, Barking, Ilford
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 March 2011
Time of day: 7.30am
Location: Town Quay, Barking, overlooking Barking Creek.
Description: Saturday morning ambience by Barking Creek with bird calls and traffic.
Technical guff: X-Y stereo. Audio Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: TQ 4419 8447
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: East Ham, Barking, Ilford
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 18 May 2008
Time of day: 11.20am
Location: OS reference TQ 4419 8447. Immediately south of the Northern Relief Road, near Barking town centre.
Description: Traffic noise from the Northern Relief Road and the yells of children in a nearby school playground. Two women talk as they go through an underpass. An empty crisp packet skitters along the ground close by.
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.