A small collection of recordings made around London during the hours of darkness. So far it includes night-time West End crowds, a few pubs and street scenes, and some festivities in Croydon.
Above: graphic based on a night-time 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. Left: drawing by Kaffe Fassett, 1966.
File name: Fulham Broadway tube
Grid square: Fulham, West Brompton, Putney
Duration: 1:00
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 23 January 2010
Time of day: Around midnight
Location: At the entrance to Fulham Broadway Underground station.
Description: Night-time revellers gather outside Fulham Broadway tube station, shouting, laughing and talking excitedly. Some have just come out of the station for a night out in Fulham, others are waiting to go elsewhere.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: Atlas pub closing time
Grid square: Fulham, West Brompton, Putney
Duration: 1:30
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 23 January 2010
Time of day: 11.30pm
Location: Near the Atlas pub, Seagrave Road, West Brompton.
Description: People spill out of the Atlas pub in West Brompton as it closes. Sounds of voices in the street, people hailing taxis, vehicles pass by, a lone blackbird sings in a tree.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. 2 x Shure WL-183 mics and Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.
File name: By the Thames at Hammersmith
Grid square: Fulham, West Brompton, Putney
Duration: 1:30
Recorded by: IM Rawes
Recording date: 15 August 2009
Time of day: 8.30pm
Location: Walking westwards along Lower Mall by the side of the Thames from Hammersmith Bridge.
Description: Evening drinkers congregate outside the Blue Anchor pub on Lower Mall, overlooking the Thames. Voices, laughter, traffic passing over Hammersmith Bridge.
Technical guff: Head-worn stereo. Sonic Studios DSM-6S/EH mics and PA-3SX preamp, Edirol R09-HR digital recorder.
Additional notes: None.