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: Antiques arcade Portobello Road
Duration: 2:40
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 2 February 2013
Time of day: 3.15pm
Location: Inside an antiques arcade off Portobello Road, west London.
Description: Atmosphere recorded inside one of the antiques arcades off Portobello Road. The arcade consists of a warren of passageways lined with traders' booths. The recording starts and ends with the bustle of the street outside. In between are the voices of the traders and their customers, and a man tries out a violin before deciding whether to buy it.
Technical guff: In-ear binaural stereo. Soundman OKM II Classic/Studio mics and Sony PCM-M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Holland Park voices
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 18 August 2012
Time of day: 4.15pm
Location: Near Holland House, Holland Park, Kensington.
Description: Voices of clusters of people out in the sunshine in Holland Park.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Sony PCM-M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Shepherds Bush Market voices
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 28 July 2012
Time of day: 1pm
Location: Shepherds Bush Market, west London.
Description: Voices of shoppers and stallholders recorded while walking southwards through the market.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics, Sony PCM-M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Shepherds Bush Westfield voices
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 28 July 2012
Time of day: 1.30pm
Location: Westfield shopping centre, Shepherds Bush, west London
Description: Voices and footsteps of Westfield shoppers, faint clattering noises from nearby cafes and restaurants.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics, Sony PCM-M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Regents Canal Little Venice
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 July 2011
Time of day: 6.15am
Location: West side of Little Venice, north of Paddington.
Description: A narrowboat's propeller churns the water as the boat makes a turn, background traffic with emergency services siren.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Grand Union Harrow Road
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 June 2011
Time of day: 2.30pm
Location: By the footbridge between Harrow Road and Kensal Road, west London.
Description: Constant traffic on Harrow Road, music from a cafe by the canal, a man talks loudly on his mobile phone, sound of hammering in the distance.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x 2006C DPA mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Grand Union Westway
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 June 2011
Time of day: 2.45pm
Location: Under the Westway a short distance east of the Great Western Road, west London.
Description: Constant, loud traffic from the Westway overhead, a curious hollow tone sounds briefly from 0:22, source unknown.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x 2006C DPA mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Grand Union Westbourne Green
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 June 2011
Time of day: 3pm
Location: By Westbourne Green Open Space, west London.
Description: Voices of children from Westbourne Open Space and of drinkers at The Waterway pub on the opposite side of the canal, birdsong, traffic passing along the Westway.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Pink Floyd Westfield
Duration: 2:35
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: Michael Gallagher
Recording date: January 2011
Time of day: Not known
Location: Westfield shopping centre, Shepherds Bush. west London.
Description: Echoing interior ambience with hubbub of shoppers' voices, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here plays over a PA before fading out to make way for a more blandly upbeat tune.
Technical guff: Zoom H4N digital recorder.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Michael Gallagher for sharing this recording. It originally appeared on his personal blog in the post titled Wish You Were Here.
Filename: Hammersmith Library
Duration: 2:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 May 2010
Time of day: 4pm
Location: Hammersmith public library, Shepherd's Bush Road.
Description: Constant tapping on keyboards by visitors using the library's computers, faint voices and other sounds within the library, traffic.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Grand Union Canal Kensal Green
Duration: 1:34
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 February 2010
Time of day: 1.30pm
Location: By the Grand Union Canal, opposite Kensal Green cemetery.
Description: Brief aircraft noise, birdsong from trees flanking the canal, occasional calls from ducks, distant traffic.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technical BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE digital recorder.
Additional notes: Thanks to Ed Lawrenson.
Filename: Notting Hill pub 1984
Duration: 0:55
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: Cameron McNall
Recording date: August 1984
Time of day: Not known
Location: A pub near the Notting Hill Carnival area.
Description: Pub ambience with a group of men discussing buying football tickets.
Technical guff: Cameron writes: "I used a Sony WM-D6C cassette recorder with a Sony ECM-939LT condenser microphone. I digitized and expanded the track with a PEAK LE software."
Additional notes: Visit Cameron McNall's Electroland website.
Filename: Portobello Road
Duration: 2:47
Grid square: Hammersmith, Kensington, Shepherds Bush
Recorded by: barredowl
Recording date: Summer 2004
Time of day: Not known
Location: Portobello Road, west London.
Description: "A walk through the Portobello Road street market in London, summer, 2004. Lots of crowd noise, a street vendor at the beginning ("'ave a look!"), a train passing overhead in the middle of the clip, and a number of people talking as they passed me. Many of them were talking Russian, for some reason. Music from a vendor's boom box in the background of the last half." – barredowl
Technical guff: Sharp MD recorder (MD-MT90) with SoundPro stereo mic.
Additional notes: Recorded by Freesound Project contributor barredowl. License: Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0.
Filename: TQ 2439 8067
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 June 2009
Time of day: 3.30pm
Location: OS grid reference TQ 2439 8067. Lansdowne Road, near junction with Lansdowne Rise.
Description: A residential street of large houses. Traffic in the distance, and sounds from a building site further down the road, and a noise like brakes squealing from somewhere else. A car passes nearby along Lansdowne Rise.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Shepherds Bush market
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 11 February 2009
Time of day: 2.00pm
Location: Shepherds Bush market, walking due south from Uxbridge Road.
Description: Traffic sounds from Uxbridge Road recede and shoppers are heard thanking a stallholder. Electronic noises from a toy stall, a Hammersmith and City line train passes along the viaduct which bounds the west side of the market, then indistinct background sounds. A quiet day at the market.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp. Olympus LS-10 digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Westfield shopping centre
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensington
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 11 February 2009
Time of day: 1:00pm
Location: Westfield shopping centre main hall, Shepherds Bush
Description: Walking through the main hall of the new Westfield shopping centre, a sentimental pop song plays over a PA and recedes, replaced by music coming from inside shop units and the voices and footsteps of shoppers.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp. 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.