listen hear sound projects - audio diary

When I was young I loved the radio. I used to spend night after night sitting in my room and listening to the obvious stations such as BBC Radio 1 and Radio Luxembourg. One night by chance I accidently switched my receiver to short wave, and as a consequence of this, put The Clash, Devo and The Jam on hold for a little while as I became engrossed in the many strange sounds I discovered.

I became obsessed with listening to the propaganda broadcasts from Radio Moscow, it opened my ears to what I imagined (probably correctly?) as a dark and sinister world. Who else was listening? I remember one instance during the miners strike in the early 80’s when Radio Moscow constantly reported the ‘fact’ that despite a shortage of coal miners in the USSR productivity was nevertheless booming. It was fascinating, it was such an obvious agenda, surely no one, even me a western imperialist (as we all were according to Moscow!), could ever fall for such blatant propaganda.  Despite the fact that through the eyes of the Kremlin I was just another capitalist landowner (another popular phrase they used) The Voice of America just made me laugh even more. Not nearly as scary but even more blindingly obvious with its propaganda, which of course was the polar opposite to what was being reported and broadcasted by Radio Moscow.

I also discovered stations playing just Morse Code signals and those strange gongs which apparently derived from Stasi run radio stations in East Germany. On several occasions I stumbled across numbers stations, coded messages sent in the sideband of normal short wave programmes. How I managed this I’m still not sure, maybe the weather had something to do with it, or maybe I just struck lucky. I remember sitting in my room listening to the robotic listing of apparently random numbers and wondering what it was all about, who these broadcasts were meant for and whether I was perhaps listening to a message of great political and military importance. But let’s face the fact that if some kid in the home counties was able to listen to these messages then obviously those who understood the significance of such broadcasts would also be listening too.

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Air Traffic Control communications recorded between 8.20pm and 9pm (GMT) on Friday 23^rd October 2009.

This madness is an excerpt of a small part of a project I’m working on at the moment.

Air Traffic Control at –

EHAM Amsterdam - The Netherlands

EPWA Warsaw - Poland

LGAV Athens - Greece

LKPR Prague - Czech Republic

KBOS Boston (Tower) - USA

KHOU Houston - USA

JFK New York (Delivery) - USA

KJFK New York (Departure) - USA

VHHH Hong Kong Intl. - Hong Kong, China

SABE Buenos Aires - Argentina

SBBR Brasília - Brazil

TTPP Trinidad and Tobago - Trinidad

YSSY Sydney - Australia

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I’ve just witnessed the most pefect rainbow ever…and I didn’t have my camera…but nevertheless I’m happy to have seen it.

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Probably the most annoying Buskers in the world…ever…they’d been repeating this phrase, from an Abba favourite, for at least 15 minutes before I went and recorded them from the street…now just imagine trying to work with this constantly in the background…

Never mind, another beautiful sunset to enjoy when I got home…

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Sometimes you really have to search in order to find sounds that are unique to any one place, geographical sonic signatures. It seems that every city looks and sounds very similar now, which is, of course, very sad.

The bustling city of Seoul is one of the worlds largest cities and with that comes traffic, lots of traffic. The one thing that’s most notable is the lack of Police car sirens, I didn’t hear one whilst I was there. I have to say that I felt the safest I’ve ever felt, whilst exploring any city in the world, and I wonder how much of this was due to the lack of this one sound. I was never aware of any crime or, the possibility that there was likely to be any.

It appears that Seoul is sadly losing its identity very quickly, every other shop seems to be a Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts or, Krispy Kreme (my downfall). It sadly feels far more western than Asian, a clone of any large city in the USA. It does still have a unique identity but you really have to search for this as it is quickly getting buried (and hidden away) under a vast array of American corporate identities.  

This recording was taken at 7am, on Saturday 19^th September 2009, from my 12^th floor hotel room at the Lexington Hotel in the heart of Seoul’s financial district.

Could this be any city in the world? What makes it uniquely Seoul? I sadly don’t know.

Latitude 37°32′14.15″N

Longitude 127° 3′18.07″E

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Lots of voices, a busy Street outside the Daehango Arts Theatre, Seoul.

8pm, 18th September 2009.

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The Great Hero Hall, Seoul, so called because it enshrines the Shakyamuni Buddha whose teachings are fundamental to The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.

This hall is designated as Seoul City Cultural Treasure No. 127 and is the single largest floor hall in Korea.

This was recorded outside this amazing building.

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A courtyard in the beautiful Changdeokgung Palace, Seoul. Cicadas, Birds, tourists. This place could well be a sonic heaven without the infiltration of Seouls heavy traffic in the background. Oh well.

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I’ve just spent an excellent few days with wonderful people in Cabris. The weather was generally good, except for yesterday (Sunday 13^th September) when a storm hit in the afternoon, apparently this was the first rain since early June. Here’s the storm approaching which gave us all an excuse to go inside and play golf on the Wii!

The intermittent beep you here is the pool alarm and the young boy’s voice belongs to Finn….

Congratulations Neil and Sophe!

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Sitting up late into the night unable to sleep, grabbing past audio experiments off my drive, some created while learning about (then) new pieces of software, while others were produced in an effort to create a particular sound or mood. Mixing them all together and going ouch or uhmmm. Too much reverb,,,always….compress, or not to compress, I hate compression. Thinking about the current loudness war. Shhhhhh….go to sleep. Then lying in the dark trying to work out why when converting from .wav to .mp3HD I lose the ID Tags and other info. Still not sure why. Really must try and learn to sleep….

So, probably no ID Tags, which means that if you download this mp3 the following information is not included with the file but you agree (on this occasion) that this recording is ©2009 Steven Brown/Listen Hear Sound Projects/All rights reserved.

I’m still not 100% sure that the file remains mp3HD once it’s been uploaded as the size seems to change drastically….more experiments needed, more time needed….to play Backgammon and watch Come Dine with Me….

This recording is mp3HD encoded, further details here. I think!

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This recording has been sitting on my hard drive for exactly one year. Some thunder heading towards land from the sea, recorded in Brighton on Sunday 31st August 2008. Aircon, seagulls and thunder, memories of home because today I’m sat in a dark Manchester theatre, thinking of fresh air and sea. True to form, for a British public holiday, it’s raining as I write this.

This recording is mp3HD encoded, further details here. More mp3HD experiments soon…

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As I was listening to some old Minidiscs tonight I stumbled across this recording. The disc was unmarked (typically) and I can’t remember recording it (no surprise). I’m wondering if it’s a stroll down Las Ramblas on one of my many visits to Barcelona? I just don’t know.

Can anyone shed any light on this mystery recording of mine? Is there an obvious clue I’m missing? It could well be that it was recorded unintentionally and my recorder just happened to be on in my bag…

Still I enjoyed listening to it, despite my inability to remember the location, time, or date. Oh well it will, no doubt, remain forever a mystery.

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My favourite boat sound, with basketball being played nearby and Sunday morning strollers. Brighton Beach.

16^th August 2009

12.00

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There’s a lovely little Puppet shop in one of the arches on Brighton Beach. I love the clackety-clack sound the little mechanical Puppet Theatre, which sits outside, produces.

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A warm, sleepy, evening I’m sat on a quiet Bedford railway station platform as I wait for the train to take me back home, after a very quick visit to my parents…the microlight flying over is almost the noisiest thing…a docile stillness, even the approaching train seems to creep into the station apologetically at the end of it’s journey, very much a reflection of how I feel about this town.

Latitude 52° 8′10.58″N

Longitude 0°28′48.63″W

8th August 2009

18.05

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It’s that time again, much the same weather, much the same everything, as last year….

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I’m not a great fan of, or participant, when it comes to organised trips. I hate being herded around whilst someone carefully follows a script of ‘useful and interesting’ information (with the addition few well rehearsed gags) about all that we’re seeing and hearing. It’s all a little lazy, as an individual you lose any excitement, any sense of discovery, adventure and independence.

However, if you ever find yourself on the island of Lefkas I would strongly recommend that you take the Sunset and Stars trip which leaves Nidri quayside every Wednesday evening. It is fantastic. You sail to a lonely and isolated beach away from any light pollution, lay back and the brilliant guide explains all that sparkles above you in the dark night sky. The night I did this we tracked the International Space Station and the Endeavour Space Shuttle across the sky and I (very luckily, as not everyone got the chance) saw Saturn (and its rings!) through the telescope set up on the beach. I was like an excited child, it truly is something so wonderful. The whole evening is highly recommended…in the words of that great Greek Goddess, Nike, Just do it! J

Here’s some of the boat trip back to Lefkas….at the end of one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on holiday.

22nd July 2009.

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Beach atmosphere Nidri, people playing ‘bat and ball’ in the sea, motor boats towing water-skiers and para-gliders, general hubbub with gentle sea lapping. Happy, hot, sunny, carefree days.

24^th July 2009.

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Nidri quayside in the morning as the tourist boats leave.

There are a number interesting ways to explore the Greek islands, but the tourists in Nidri (who are mainly Greek, Italian, Swedish and Czech) seem to prefer taking one of the many day trip boats that leave the quayside at around 10am.

There are three large vessels which leave daily, the Makedonia Palace, the Eptanisos and the Nidri Star I, a few more interesting smaller boats and also a funny little Pirate ship…. All the three large boats do exactly the same journey, Porto Katsiki, Fiskado, Ithaka, Papanikolis Cave, Skorpios and then Madouri before returning to Nidri around 6.30pm when the tired tourists disembark and return to their hotels and apartments.

Before the boats depart crew members seem to be rounding up colleagues from bars and going to pick up others on their scooters and mopeds.

This recording is the short walk from the apartment I was staying in to the quayside, watching and listening to the mayhem as the passengers board before I head back home along the waterfront.

On this recording, the first boat to leave is the Makedonia Palace, then the Nidri Star I which comes very close to colliding with the Eptanisos (at 18’ 27”).

A very small amount of microphone handling noise near the end, apologies, and the photo is Nidri Quayside, at sunrise, much earlier that morning.

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A local man fishes, with a single line, on Nidri quayside…

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