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: River Lea Bow Locks
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 29 December 2011
Time of day: 1.45pm
Location: Bow Locks, Bromley-by-Bow, east London.
Description: Churning and bubbling of water in one of the Bow Locks, constant traffic, faint bird calls.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: River Lea Limmo Peninsula
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 November 2011
Time of day: 3pm
Location: Limmo Peninsula Park, Canning Town, east London.
Description: Loud, constant traffic on East India Dock Road, a regular hammering noise from a large building site.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA 2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Trinity Buoy Wharf
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 0:57
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 8 October 2011
Time of day: Noon
Location: Trinity Buoy Wharf at Leamouth, near East India Dock.
Description: Traffic passes over the Lower Lea Crossing, a metallic clinking sound as moored boats shift around at the mouth of the Lea.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x DPA2006C mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Thames path North Greenwich
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 4:30
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 18 December 2010
Time of day: 3.30pm
Location: Thames path on the Greenwich Peninsula.
Description: Quiet ambience with occasional calls of birds, distant traffic, a catamaran cruiser motors past and its wash crashes on the shore.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Inside the O2 dome
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 3:37
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 18 December 2010
Time of day: 2.30pm
Location: Inside the O2 dome, north Greenwich.
Description: Recorded while walking a half-circle inside the O2 dome's gallery of restaurants and amusements. Loud humming of heating system, music piped over speakers, from restaurants and fairground rides, yells of children on go-karts.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Canning Town industrial estate
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 1:45
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 7 May 2010
Time of day: 1.30pm
Location: Walking past industrial estate units on Bidder Road, Canning Town.
Description: Vans and lorries passing by, a woman talks to a man outside a snack bar, humming and droning of industrial machinery, bulldozers shovel waste in a recycling plant.
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: London City Airport
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 12 February 2009
Time of day: Mid afternoon
Location: North side of the Royal Albert Dock, close to Royal Albert DLR station, facing London City Airport.
Description: Sounds of jet and turboprop engines of planes taxi-ing on the runway.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics. Olympus LS-10 digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: TQ 4023 8067
Grid square: Canning Town, Silvertown, North Greenwich
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 18 July 2009
Time of day: 3.00pm
Location: OS grid reference TQ 4023 8067. ON the north side of Royal Victoria Dock, near Royal Victoria DLR station.
Description: Traffic, wind rustles small trees planted near the dock, sound of JCBs working in the distance, an aeroplane from London City Airport flies overhead.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio-Technica BP4025 mics and Fostex FR-2LE 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.