DAY SOUND MAP | NIGHT SOUND MAP | GRID | WATERWAYS | ESTUARY

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 Southall

Grid square: Southall, Norwood Green

Duration: 1:00

Recorded by: IM Rawes

Recording date: 14 August 2011

Time of day: 10.30am

Location: By the Grand Union Canal near Beaconsfield Road, Southall, west London.

Description: Sound of a distant marching band with drum and brass instruments, traffic, the wind stirs nearby foliage, birdsong.

Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.

Additional notes: None.

File name: Grand Union Norwood Top Lock

Grid square: Southall, Norwood Green

Duration: 1:00

Recorded by: IM Rawes

Recording date: 14 August 2011

Time of day: 2pm

Location: Off Havelock Road, opposite Norwood Green, west London.

Description: Trickle of water close by as it pours from a drain into the canal, louder rushing of water from the lock gates, indistinct voices of passersby.

Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.

Additional notes: None.

File name: Grand Union Brookside

Grid square: Southall, Norwood Green

Duration: 1:00

Recorded by: IM Rawes

Recording date: 13 August 2011

Time of day: 4.10pm

Location: By a small sports ground north of Southall, opposite Brookside, west London.

Description: Ducks splashing in the canal, a coot calls, voices of children and youths at play in the sports ground, distant traffic.

Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.

Additional notes: None.

File name: The Broadway Southall

Grid square: Southall, Norwood Green

Duration: 2:14

Recorded by: IM Rawes

Recording date: 25 July 2009

Time of day: 1.00pm

Location: Walking eastwards along The Broadway, Southall, west London.

Description: Street sounds on a Saturday afternoon walking along The Broadway, the main shopping street in Southall. Sounds of recorded music from several different shops, brief noises made by a tray of toys, voices of shoppers and pedestrians, and vehicles.

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 1250 8067

Grid square: Southall, Norwood Green

Duration: 1:00

Recorded by: IM Rawes

Recording date: 5 June 2009

Time of day: 1.10pm

Location: OS reference TQ 1250 8067. Junction of West Avenue and South Avenue.

Description: Footsteps in the street, clattering noises somewhere further away, a car and a van drive past, two men talk quietly as they walk by, faint birdsong.

Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.

Additional notes: None.

ABOUT SOUND MAP RECORDINGS

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.