A good choice of fascinating outdoor direct sound streams from the main and side streets around the world could be found at the French website called Locus Sonus.

Not that long ago I wondered about those online audio streams that would bring the everyday charm of some faraway places apart from those I have already found – well,  Locus Sonus seems to be the best answer to all questions so far.

Supplied with “Audio in art” motto Locus Sonus is the postgraduate lab project hailing from the south of France. It is based at the Art Schools of Aix en Provence and Nice but its microphones deliver pretty decent quality .ogg streams from a number of locations in different countries.

Currently Locus Sonus offers the following 24-hour broadcasts:

• 4th floor window at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston
• 2nd floor window at the apartment on the 13th street in Buga, Colombia
• artist and World Listening Project director Eric Leonardson’s window in west side of Chicago, USA
• Rhizome Art Center in Lijiang, China
• Museum of Modern Art, Medellin, Colombia
• Komplex artist-run studio spaces in Reykjavik, Iceland
• top floor apartment window in Sollefteå, northern Sweden
• dining room/garden in Le Vésinet, France

Here is a short sample from the Buga street recorded yesterday evening:

There’s always a privacy concern hovering over services like this – isn’t it a bit of eavesdroping? It looks like the Google Street View dillemma, some say it staring over their fence, the others say it stares exactly the same way as any other tourist with his point-and-shoot camera does. Locus Sonus encourages people to take part in this experiment. They offer detailed instructions on setting up a outdoor mic to broadcast your street sounds to the world and even provide the most motivated streamers with 170 euro LocuStreamBox already equipped with a microphone, sound card and wireless connection device.

Listeners can also make your own global mix by playing those sounds simultaneously, by doing that on a dedicated page on the website or – as I did – transfer the stream urls they like into the Winamp bookmarks to have them handy all the time. There are couple of dozens of non-active mics markers put on the project map and who knows if they may be enabled one day.

Published August 14th 2010.

Sberbank office sounds once appearing on oontz.ru in May are included in the Klangboot Radio podcast.

Klangboot radio.
Published August 7th, 2010.

Not long ago I’ve received a package from Chris Church in Canada. Chris is a sound engineer who runs a small cottage industry in Hamilton, Ontario making microphones and preamps at his home. Church Audio CA-14 high sensitivity omnis are one of his hand crafted mics, and after a moment of hesitation I made my choice based on rave reviews at the omniscient taperssection.com forum and also on Chris’s advice.

Approved by Shapka

Pros: impressive sound quality, good build quality, low noise level, reliable cables and plugs
Cons: zero stealth factor, poor wind-proof

Ordering CA-14’s may look like buying a pig in a poke but actually it’s not. The arguments in favour of pig thing are quite strong though – there are NO specifications for that model available, at least it is not provided at the Church Audio ebay or home webpage. When asked if he has those figures at all, Chris has also said no. SEE COMMENTS – 10/09/06.

CA-14 are not listed on ebay, they are custom made upon request which takes 3 or 4 weeks to build. Chris looks unwilling to unveil all the know-hows related to the capsules and mods he uses, which is understood really. And on top of it all Church Audio stuff is known to be good for tapers, and little is heard on the subject from field recordists.

Isn’t it strange?

But in his reply Chris has claimed that, compared to his higly-regarded CA-11 mics these mysterious CA-14 are better, at least in terms of self-noise level. That’s not bad taking into account that according to the CA ebay store the noise level of CA-11 is 27dBA.

On the other hand even in the high sensitivity mode CA-14s are not that loud, so recording any quiet sources like e.g. 5 am ambience may require running the internal preamp really hissy. Thus, unless using an external preamp this is a compromise anyway.

Despite having a permanent foam, CA-14 are prone to wind. With a sensible inclination towards catching low frequency sounds, these mics stand unarmed against the gusts. Also, please note that it is very easy to be taken as a Mickey Mouse wannabee with those black foam balls attached to each side of your cap when head-worn.

Apart from this, I have nothing bad to report about CA-14. They are warm sounding, providing a decent spatialisation even if they are not intended to be worn inside the ear canal. Think of this as of an extra advantage because the sounds recorded with the head-worn mics could be perfectly listened through the speakers, not only through headphones as in the case of in-ears.

A few live recordings made with CA-14 found on the web may sound boomy, but this may be influenced by the hall acoustics. Personally, I’m quite happy with the colouring they produce while recording outdoors. They stand relatively high sound pressure level as well, which could be benefited by the battery box – didn’t tested this yet.

They are also available as cardioids, though this means the lost of the binaural magic which I value so much. The Mogami cable is rather long and robust, the plug is made by Neutrik – look out, the cover turns off very easily. Paired with an external preamp CA-14 is a promising gear indeed.

In the meantime here’s a few recordings made with CA-14 high sensitivity omni mics plugged directly into the Edirol R-09HR recorder.

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Morning bird in Skobyanka area, Sergyiev Posad (recorded 14/07/10)

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Railroad crossing, Vifanskaya St, Sergiyev Posad (09/07/10)

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Municipal Band, Sergiev Posad (21/07/10)

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Published August 1st, 2010.

There are three things that might be suggested to be of particular value in the future – food/water, information and silence with the latter becoming more and more valuable every day.

I’ve been tracing this ever-elusive phenomenon – the samples of silence that used to be found in everyday situations in Sergiyev Posad, Russia on World Listening Day 2010.

Seven locations were planned before the soundwalk. They were put on the map, general direction is South to North, starting at 8.40 am. Recorded “as is” with a few or no outtakes or alternative attempts made in order to retain the sense of everyday life to the sounds.

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Semkhoz field, 8.40 am.

This field was sowed with wheat once, now its all thistle and chamomile with a few wheat ears in between. Normally pretty quiet with sporadic railroad noises, it is now approached by the new cottages, some are in the process of construction. Traffic, trains, bees, grasshoppers, birds, disk saws.

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Temp Stadium, 10.22 am

When not in use the lane is occupied by the local parents strolling with prams. There a few of them on a Sunday morning, the football ground is vacant. Helicopters up in the sky, loud radio from across the field.

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Zvezdochka bench, 12.21 noon

Zvezdochka was known as one of the quietest corners of Sergiyev Posad. Except for the large block of flats, little has appeared there since, only a few minor shops and beauty salons. Also, this is the only area of Sergiyev Posad covered by CCTV. A small public garden with only three benches. A small lorry, swallows, unidentified sounds.

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Chitay-Gorod bookshop, 12.57 noon

Located at the city centre this bookshop (like many others) normally provides an alternative to the bustling Karl Marx Street sounds. Traffic noise, the door being opened, shop assistant talking over the mobile phone, moderate volume disco music, doors and traffic again, footsteps. Conversation partially muted/faded.

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Trinity-Sergius Monastery, 1.30 pm

Not exactly the quietest location but is really worth exploring. People prefer to speak in a low voice while being there allowing other sounds to show up. Distant voices, hand cart over the pavement stones, chimes.

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Art Gallery, 1.50 pm

The art gallery (Shlyakova st, 2a) was expected to be the quietest place within this soundwalk. The silence was affected by traffic noises from the open window and the inspector’s steps. No visitors in the hall.

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Deserted building site, 2.28 pm

Abandoned building, no works in progress. White brick tower-block, suspended for many months. Wind, car alarm, traffic, loose doors and windows.

Recorded July 18th, 2010

Published July 20th, 2010

Webcams are nothing new to the internet, they are extremely handy if you are missing your latest holiday destination or homesick or just curious. But there is one particular quality that remains largely neglected over the years – the sound of it.

Finding an outdoor webcam with live audio stream is not an easy task. There are a few of them though – but not many. I wish there were more with better audio and here’s a good reason for that – the World Football Cup.

Apart from being an introduction to the updated links section at www.oontz.ru, this is the illustration of how technology, sound and global events blend together. There is a link to the Amsterdam cam – home of the second best football team in the world as you already know (the football fever is as pushy as the vuvuzelas sound, you can’t miss the news even if you’d like to).

Watching the final game and listening to the live stream at the same time is a thrilling experience even for a non-fan. But first let’s press the imaginary rewind button and hear what was happening a few hours prior to the game.

Hear the yelling, the trams and the vuvuzelas. A game is to begin soon and if the only knew…

This one sounds like dome avant-garde piece:

Footbal fans in Russia utilize the same rhythmic pattern to cheer themselves up known as “Spaar-tak-cham-pea-on” chant:

As the game begins the streets get empty but the silence was broken by a company of men singing… They did sing, eh?

And this is what Amsterdam sounded like on the night after the game as the Dutch team lost 1-0 in extra time to Spain:

Or even this (hopefully nothing serious):

And this:

So let me point out to the wonderful phenomenon of live audio travel cams. It is way beyond the pre-recorded sound in terms of ‘being there’ effect – think of it as canned vs. fresh – an unconventional way for some sound hunters to get inspired too.

Go to the link section to find more live sounds from Germany, Estonia and Scotland. It you know any interesting scenic audio webcam anywhere in the world I would be happy to hear from you.

Sounds courtesy of Terena Association and the good people of Amsterdam.

Recorded July 11th, 2010
Published July 15th, 2010