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: Regents Canal Lisson Grove
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 July 2011
Time of day: 6.40am
Location: Facing the St John's Wood electricity substation, Lisson Grove.
Description: Background traffic, birdsong, clattering sounds to the west, faint drone from the electricity substation.
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 Paddington Basin
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 June 2011
Time of day: 3.30pm
Location: Southern end of Paddington Basin, central London.
Description: Faint trickle of water, loud rush of air-conditioning units from surrounding office buildings, intermittent sound of a powersaw in use on a nearby building site.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x 2006C DPA mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Westminster Abbey Chapter House
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 25 March 2011
Time of day: 1.15pm
Location: Inside the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey.
Description: Rumble of distant traffic, sounds of visitors walking and shuffling about and talking quietly.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO mics and Edirol R09-HR recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Westminster Abbey Poets Corner
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 25 March 2011
Time of day: 12.30pm
Location: By Poets' Corner, inside Westminster Abbey.
Description: Murmuring of visitors' voices all around, sound of an attendant's walkie-talkie, footsteps.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None
File name: Soho Square
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 2:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 10 October 2010
Time of day: 3pm
Location: Middle of Soho Square.
Description: Voices of people sitting on the grass in Soho Square, crunch of autumn leaves on the ground.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: National Portrait Gallery
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 3:09
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 13 October 2010
Time of day: 5pm
Location: Top floor, National Portrait Gallery.
Description: Recorded while walking around the Tudor Gallery. Escalator, footsteps and voices of visitors, sound of air conditioning units.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Wong Kei Chinatown
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 10 October 2010
Time of day: 4.15pm
Location: Downstairs at Wong Kei restaurant, Wardour Street.
Description: Hubbub of diners' voices in the basement dining room.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: Wong Kei is famed for having rude staff, chucking people out as soon as they've finished eating: "You go! You go!" That afternoon they didn't seem rude, just briskly efficient.
File name: Gerard Street Chinatown
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:59
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 10 October 2010
Time of day: 3.30pm
Location: Walking westwards along Gerard Street in Chinatown.
Description: Voices of Chinese speakers, constant roaring or rushing of extractor fans from kitchens, faint clatter of cutlery from restaurant doorways in passing.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Libertys department store
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 2:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 October 2010
Time of day: 6pm
Location: Inside Liberty department store, Great Marlborough Street.
Description: Voices of customers and staff, footsteps on Liberty's creaking floorboards, muffled noise of air conditioning overhead.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: New Loon Fung supermarket
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 4 September 2010
Time of day: 1pm
Location: Gerard Street, West End.
Description: Ambience inside a Chinese supermarket recorded near the tills, with voices of customers and staff.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: Thanks to Wang Fei of BBC World Service.
File name: St James's Park 9am
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:10
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 4 September 2010
Time of day: 9am
Location: Towards the east side of St James's Park, central London.
Description: Saturday morning in St James's Park with chiming of Big Ben and the bells of at least one other church nearer by, calls of waterfowl.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: Thanks to Wang Fei of BBC World Service.
File name: Cardiff fans Oxford Circus tube
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 22 May 2010
Time of day: 2pm
Location: Northbound Bakerloo Line platform, Oxford Circus tube station.
Description: A small group of Cardiff football fans sing and chant on a tube platform before heading to Wembley. Tube announcer's voice and distant sound of a train arriving at an adjacent platform.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp, Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: Chanting football fans are a fairly common feature of the auditory scenes of central London tube and train stations, hence this recording has been added to the Sound Map rather than the Sound Actions section.
File name: Westminster Music Library
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 2:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 May 2010
Time of day: 6pm
Location: Westminster Music Library, Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria.
Description: The librarian scrumples up some paper and uses a stapler, faint humming of air conditioning, traffic.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Charing Cross Library
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 2:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 May 2010
Time of day: 5.30pm
Location: Charing Cross public library, Charing Cross Road, West End.
Description: Constant voices, footsteps along the library's upper gallery, squeals of an automatic door opening and closing.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Mens toilets Victoria station
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:04
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 14 April 2010
Time of day: 5.15pm
Location: Men's toilets, Victoria train station.
Description: Recorded inside a cubicle. Sounds of hand driers, plumbing, a man struggles with the toilet paper dispenser in the cubicle to the right, in the cubicle to the left another man snores without interruption.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Westminster Reference Library
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 2:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 10 April 2010
Time of day: 2pm
Location: Ground floor of the Westminster Reference Library, St. Martin's Street
Description: Sounds of traffic from the surrounding streets, a man vigorously turns the pages of a newspaper, coughs, sniffs, faint footsteps.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Harrods ground floor
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 2:37
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 13 March 2010
Time of day: 5pm
Location: Ground floor of Harrods department store, Knightsbridge.
Description: Recorded while walking from the cosmetics and perfume departments through into the food halls. Voices of customers and staff, intermittent piped music.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. MM-HLSO mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Dawn Berwick Street
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 1 March 2010
Time of day: 7am
Location: South end of Berwick Street, Soho, central London.
Description: Clattering of market stalls, barrows and shop shutters as traders begin setting up in Berwick Street. Coughing and sound of a man hawking up phlegm, distant traffic noise.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE digital recorder.
Additional notes: Thanks to Ed Lawrenson.
File name: Rush hour at Victoria
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 1 March 2010
Time of day: 8.30am
Location: Crouched just outside the entrance to Victoria station.
Description: Announcement tones and voices from inside Victoria station, footsteps of passing commuters, trundling of wheeled suitcases.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics, PA-3SX preamp and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: Thanks to Ed Lawrenson.
File name: Oxford Street
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 2:39
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 28 June 2009
Time of day: 2pm
Location: North side of Oxford Street, walking eastwards from Oxford Circus.
Description: Crowd hubbub with footsteps and snatches of passing conservation, constant traffic noise along Oxford Street, a street sweeping vehicle passes alongside for a while, music plays from inside shops.
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: British Museum
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:44
Recorded by: ERH
Recording date: May 2008
Time of day: Not known
Location: Inside the British Museum, Bloomsbury, central London.
Description: "The ambience of the large spaces of the British Museum in London. Begins with the creaking of a chair. There are voices and lots of natural reverb due to the vast size and hard surfaces. There is also a general background noise from ventilation and heating systems." – ERH
Technical guff: Minidisc recording.
Additional notes: Recording by Freesound Project contributor ERH. License: Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0.
File name: TQ 2835 8067
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 June 2009
Time of day: 4.50pm
Location: OS grid reference TQ 2835 8067. South Audley Street, near Grosvenor Square.
Description: Sound of traffic, mainly taxicabs, from Grosvenor Square and going along South Audley Street, faint voices of passersby, a taxi sounds its horn, light pattering of raindrops.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: South Ken underpass
Grid square: Knightsbridge, West End
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 11 February 2009
Time of day: Mid afternoon
Location: Walking eastwards along the underpass from South Kensington tube station to Brompton Road.
Description: Echoing sounds from the long, wide underpass at South Kensington. A busker begins playing and a crowd of schoolchildren whoop and cheer.
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.