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.
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.