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: Old Oak canal works
Grid square: Acton, Wormwood Scrubs
Duration: 1:45
Recorded by: Sam Appleby
Recording date: 5 September 2011
Time of day: Not known
Location: Grand Union Canal by Old Oak Common, west London.
Description: Loud, busy ambience with sounds from earth-movers or similar industrial machinery close by. Faint birdsong in background.
Technical guff: X-Y stereo. Zoom H4n recorder with internal mics.
Additional notes: Many thanks to Sam Appleby for sharing this recording.
File name: Grand Union Old Oak Common
Grid square: Acton, Wormwood Scrubs
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 30 June 2011
Time of day: 1.40pm
Location: North of the Old Oak Common rail depot, near Wormwood Scrubs, west London.
Description: Loud industrial sounds from the Old Oak Common rail depot, a train rushes past towards central London.
Technical guff: Headworn stereo. 2 x 2006C DPA mics, Sound Devices MixPre-D preamp, Sony PCM M10 recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Old Oak Common sidings
Grid square: Acton, Wormwood Scrubs
Duration: 1:14
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 6 February 2010
Time of day: 1pm
Location: Footpath immediately north of the Old Oak Common railway sidings, West London.
Description: Loud air-conditioning noise from a factory, clattering and clanking of a railway maintenance vehicle moving around the sidings.
Technical guff: Stereo. Audio Technica BP-4025 mic and Fostex FR-2LE digital recorder.
Additional notes: Thanks to Ed Lawrenson.
File name: TQ 2043 8067
Grid square: Acton, Wormwood Scrubs
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 5 June 2009
Time of day: 2.15pm
Location: OS grid reference TQ 2043 8067. Cumberland Park, near junction with Woodhurst Road.
Description: A car drives by and a pizza delivery man pulls up on his scooter and dismounts. A blackbird makes clucking calls, and man approaches talking into his mobile phone.
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.