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: Hungerford Bridge 2
Duration: 5:05
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Jonathan Prior
Recording date: 12 February 2013
Time of day: 11.35am
Location: On the Hungerford footbridge, central London.
Description: Cries of gulls, footsteps, sounds of trains passing over the rail bridge to and from Charing Cross station, a child's voice.
Technical guff: Stereo. 2 x Rode lavalier mics and Tascam DR-680 recorder.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Jonathan Prior for sharing these recordings. Visit his 12 Gates to the City website.
Filename: Corams Fields from Mecklenburgh Square
Duration: 6:30
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Jonathan Prior
Recording date: 15 February 2-13
Time of day: 4.45pm
Location: Corams Fields, Bloomsbury, central London.
Description: Faint voices and laughter, birdsong, distant traffic and airplane drone, footsteps of passersby, a taxi comes to a halt nearby and its engine idles.
Technical guff: Stereo. 2 x Rode lavalier mics and Tascam DR-680 recorder.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Jonathan Prior for sharing these recordings. Visit his 12 Gates to the City website.
Filename: Tower Bridge old machine room
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Borough, Waterloo
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 31 January 2013
Time of day: 11am
Location: Inside Tower Bridge.
Description: Recording of a stationary steam engine once used to raise Tower Bridge, allowing tall ships to pass through.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp and Sony PCM-M10 recorder.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Mark Peter Wright for accompanying me, and to Chris Earlie of the Tower Bridge Exhibition (http://www.towerbridge.org.uk) for his kind permission and enthusiasm in allowing me to make this recording.
Filename: Tower Bridge bascule chamber
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Borough, Waterloo
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 31 January 2013
Time of day: 12 noon
Location: Inside Tower Bridge.
Description: Bascule chambers are large, closed spaces low down inside each of Tower Bridge's two main towers. In shape they're each like a 90-degree segment cut out of a millstone and stood on edge, about 50 feet high and perhaps 60 feet wide. They accommodate part of the roadway which tilts down into the space when the bridge is raised. You can hear traffic passing overhead and water splashing onto a tarpaulin.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp and Sony PCM-M10 recorder.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Mark Peter Wright for accompanying me, and to Chris Earlie of the Tower Bridge Exhibition (http://www.towerbridge.org.uk) for his kind permission and enthusiasm in allowing me to make this recording.
Filename: Paternoster Square voices
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 17 August 2012
Time of day: 6.30pm
Location: Paternoster Square, City of London.
Description: Voices of large crowds of tourists and office workers clustered outside bars in Paternoster Square.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Sony PCM-M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Thames shore below Cousin Lane Stairs
Duration: 2:09
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Chris/dashanna
Recording date: 8 October 2011
Time of day: Late afternoon
Location: On the Thames shore beneath Cannon Street station, City of London.
Description: Chris writes: "You can hear a train coming in over the bridge towards the end, and there is very quiet distant music throughout (from a busker on the Millenium Bridge?), but I was surprised by how quiet London was right here – shielded from traffic noise."
Technical guff: Olympus DS-75 recorder with internal mics.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Chris/dashanna for sharing this recording via SoundCloud.
Filename: St Bartholomew the Great
Duration: 2:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 10 October 2010
Time of day: 3.30pm
Location: Inside St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield
Description: The quiet inside the church is broken by occasional beeps from a tourist's camera.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Sunday Up Market Brick Lane
Duration: 2:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 10 October 2010
Time of day: 1pm
Location: 'Up Market' Indoor market off Brick Lane.
Description: Loud music plays over a PA, voices of shoppers and sightseers, food being cooked at stalls.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x MM-HLSO/Sennheiser MKE-2 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Millennium Bridge
Duration: 2:00
Grid square: City, Waterloo, Borough, Spitalfields
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 23 October 2010
Time of day: 3pm
Location: Walking southwards across the Millennium Bridge.
Description: Loud thrum of boat engines on the river below, voices and footsteps of passersby, a boat sounds its horn.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Fleet Street
Duration: 2:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 10 October 2010
Time of day: 2pm
Location: Fleet Street near junction with Fetter Lane, City of London.
Description: Sunday afternoon traffic, beeping of nearby traffic lights when the green man comes on, bells strike the hour at St Dunstan-in-the-West opposite the recording point.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP4025 and Fostex FR-2LE recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Under Tower Bridge
Duration: 1:20
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 26 September 2010
Time of day: 4pm
Location: Beneath Tower Bridge near St Katherine's Pier, on the north bank of the Thames.
Description: Deep sound of boat engines at St Katherine's Pier, small waves lap at the river wall, voices of tourists.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Spitalfields market
Duration: 2:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 26 September 2010
Time of day: 1pm
Location: Spitalfields indoor market.
Description: Hubbub of voices, clattering of cutlery from restaurants and background music inside Spitalfields market on a Sunday.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Catherine Wheel Alley
Duration: 2:55
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 26 August 2010
Time of day: 2.00pm
Location: Walking east along Catherine Wheel Alley from Bishopsgate to Middlesex Street.
Description: Loud traffic on Bishopsgate recedes and is replaced by the noise of air conditioning units along and above the alley. Cries of market traders and sounds of metal frame stalls being moved as the alley opens out onto Middlesex Street.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Tate Modern turbine hall
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 26 September 2010
Time of day: 3.30pm
Location: Turbine hall at the Tate Modern gallery, Bankside.
Description: Echoing ambience with voices of visitors.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: St Alphages Gardens London Wall
Duration: 1:22
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 19 September 2010
Time of day: 10am
Location: St Alphages Gardens by London Wall, City of London
Description: Birdsong and sound of a small fountain nearby in a sunken garden, an alarm bell rings continuously in the distance, traffic.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Smithfield meat market
Duration: 1:15
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 4 June 2010
Time of day: 6.30am
Location: Smithfield meat market, Farringdon.
Description: Recorded while walking into the market building from West Smithfield and then along the central Buyers' Walk. Sounds of vehicles being loaded and unloaded, voices of market porters.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp, Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Roadside snack bar Surrey Row
Duration: 1:06
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 January 2010
Time of day: 7.30am
Location: Junction of Surrey Row and Great Suffolk Street.
Description: The snack bar owner hands over some change, sounds of an egg frying in a pan, occasional chinks from pots and pans, traffic, a train passes along the nearby viaduct towards Blackfrairs station.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Victoria Embankment
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Ben Cripps
Recording date: 15 December 2009
Time of day: 1pm
Location: Victoria Embankment, alongside the ship 'The Wellington'.
Description: Water can be heard lapping up to the stairs that lead down into the river. Traffic is waiting at a traffic signal light near Temple Underground station, and moves off when the signal comes off. Pedestrians can be heard walking and talking.
Technical guff: Stereo. Olympus LS-10 digital recorder with internal mics.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Farringdon station
Duration: 3:30
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Ben Cripps
Recording date: 7 December 2009
Time of day: 12.45pm
Location: Eastbound Metropolitan/Circle lines platform at Farringdon station.
Description: Both Metropolitan and Circle line Underground trains and First Capital Connect National Rail trains can be heard, together with the (sometimes overlapping) loudspeaker announcements relating to both! Just after a minute, the crackling sound of the FCC train's pantograph lowering and disconnecting from the overhead power line can be heard. A passenger sitting on the bench next to me coughs. Other passengers converse with each other and one speaks into his cellphone.
Technical guff: Sony TCD-D7 portable DAT recorder with a Sony ECM-DS70P electret condenser stereo microphone.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Lambeth bridges
Duration: 1:22
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Stuart Fisher
Recording date: 29 October 2009
Time of day: 5.25pm
Location: Railway arches, Carlisle Lane.
Description: Recording made on Carlisle Lane under the railway arches at Lambeth on the way towards Archbishops Park. The sound of trains passing and various other ambience.
Technical guff: Not known.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Whispering Gallery St Pauls
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City Spitalfields Waterloo Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 2 October 2009
Time of day: 11am
Location: The Whispering Gallery, St Paul's Cathedral.
Description: Indistinct murmuring of visitors' voices from the cathedral floor below, occasional coughs, echoes.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp, Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Borough market
Duration: 2:03
Grid square: City Spitalfields Borough Waterloo
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 25 September 2009
Time of day: 10.45am
Location: Walking around Borough market.
Description: The market specialises in high-quality, high-price foodstuffs and is already crowded before 11am on a Saturday morning. Crowd sounds, traders' voices, sizzling noises from stalls selling cooked snacks, grinding of trains overhead going to and from London Bridge station.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp, Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Waterloo tunnel
Duration: 3:07
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Will Montgomery
Recording date: Early December 2007
Time of day: Not known.
Location: Tunnel near Waterloo station, central London.
Description: "Recording made in early December 2007 in a Victorian rail tunnel a few hundred metres from Waterloo station." – Will Montgomery.
Technical guff: Not known.
Additional notes: Recording from soundtransit.nl, covered by a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Filename: Hungerford Bridge
Duration: 2:34
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Will Montgomery
Recording date: Late January 2008
Time of day: Not known
Location: Hungerford Bridge, crossing the Thames between Waterloo and Charing Cross.
Description: "The bridge runs across the Thames between the South Bank complex and Charing Cross station. It is used by trains and pedestrians. The recording was made by attaching a contact mic to one of the bridge's steel stays. Some eq'ing applied." – Will Montgomery.
Technical guff: Contact mic.
Additional notes: Recording from soundtransit.nl, covered by a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Filename: Faraday Elephant
Duration: 2:23
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Will Montgomery
Recording date: Early December 2007
Time of day: Not known
Location: Faraday monument, Elephant and Castle.
Description: "In the middle of the northerly roundabout at the Elephant and Castle in south London is a large, box-shaped stainless steel monument to Michael Faraday, the scientist, who is best known for his work on electricity and magnetism. Inside the monument is a transformer and electricity sub-station for the Northern line of London's Underground train network, which runs through Elephant. This recording was made in early December 2007 by attaching a contact mic to the monument. Some eq-ing has been applied." – Will Montgomery
Technical guff: Contact mic.
Additional notes: Recording from soundtransit.nl, covered by a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Filename: Ball games Commercial St
Duration: 2:54
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: Matthias Kispert
Recording date: 2005
Time of day: Not known
Location: A lane off Commercial Street, Spitalfields.
Description: "A group of children from the local Bangladeshi community playing ball games in a side lane off Commercial Street on a Sunday afternoon. Recorded for the D-Fuse project Undercurrent." – Matthias Kispert
Technical guff: Not known.
Additional notes: Recording from soundtransit.nl, covered by a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Filename: TQ 3231 8067
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 11 July 2009
Time of day: 12.15pm
Location: OS grid reference TQ 3230 8067. On the Thames Path, north side of the river, a few score yards west of Southwark Bridge.
Description: Traffic noise from Southwark Bridge, a pleasure cruiser captain's voice in the distance, sound of boat engines and wash crashing on the river shore, a beeping siren somewhere.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio-Technica BP4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Bankside wash
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 14 June 2009
Time of day: Around 1.30pm
Location: On the south shore of the Thames at low tide, near Bankside.
Description: Pleasure cruisers on the Thames create a powerful wash which crashes on the shoreline. A helicopter clatters overhead, aircraft drone, and boats' engines.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX mics. Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Grafitti subway Waterloo
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 11 April 2009
Time of day: 2.30pm
Location: A pedestrian subway running from Lower Marsh beneath Waterloo station.
Description: Youths rattle paint spray-cans and add to the already considerable quantity of grafitti and tags decorating a subway beneath Waterloo station. A speaker in an armoured cage mounted high up plays monastic plainsong, maybe to encourage a peaceful attitude. Sounds of traffic passing outside on Lower Marsh.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Cello and hotdogs
Duration: 0:49
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: June 2008
Time of day: Mid-afternoon
Location: South Bank near Coin Street.
Description: Walking southwards, a cello-playing busker is encountered playing a melancholy tune, then a few yards further on a hotdog seller, with sizzling sounds from the hotplate and a few words from him for a customer.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp. Olympus LS-10 digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
Filename: Elephant shopping centre
Duration: 1:00
Grid square: City, Spitalfields, Waterloo, Borough
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 11 February 2009
Time of day: 4.00pm
Location: The lower gallery of the Elephant and Castle shopping centre.
Description: Walking around the lower gallery of the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, towards the exit on New Kent Road. Laughter and chatter of shoppers, and also birdsong, which turned out to be emitted by an intriguing range of wall-mounted electronic objets d'art sold from an indoor stall.
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.