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
There is no well-established entry similar to “field recording” in Russian dictionaries yet. The word taping still sounds strange to our ears. Gear is expensive and only a few apart from musicians or journalists would show an interest.
That is quite unusual considering the long-standing tradition of DIY electronics and the general reverence towards everything technical in the USSR. And well alas – it seems that no one is interested in the dedicated Russia based field recording community at the moment to discuss mics, preamps and stuff. Until lately, as there’s such a community now
http://community.livejournal.com/field_recording
I know this news is pretty useless for non-Russian speakers, but let’s keep it at least for historical reference.
Balancing between the audio archive and the time machine London Sound Survey is a pioneering project.
Ian Rawes is the man behind it and he builds an extensive collection of quality indoor and outdoor recordings from the UK’s capital. LSS also features literary excerpts recalling the sonic habitat of the days when such a thing as keeping the sounds wasn’t something people might be thinking about.
All that turns London Sound Survey into a fine audio chronicle with hundreds of reasonably short recordings telling lots and lots with only a few minutes of listening.
Ian is innovative in classification of his recordings. Go to the Economic 1 section with “Sounds to get you to buy or part of what you pay for: beggars, market traders and more” description to find sub-sections related to fairgrounds and amusements, hustlers and beggars or market traders.
Or listen to a Villiers street poet reciting verses on the passers-by request, or a man selling Brentford FC fanzine named ‘Thorne in the Side’, or one the last conductors on a London bus, or… It is all very good.
There’s the Sound map – an aerial image of London with a boxed table laid upon. Each cell of the table contains the number of the recordings Ian has made in that area. Clicking the digits reconstructs the ambience of a particular corner of the city. Furthermore, there are night and day versions of the map for you to enjoy.
Audio is fantastic and Ian knows how to make good use of it – both in technical and artistic ways. He witnesses the changes London is going through and it is very likely that his devotion will be appreciated not only by field recordists but by the researchers as well.
Published January 29th, 2010.
Some of the recordings from this blog have been recently featured on the Curious Ear series podcast at RTÉ Radio 1.
A few snippets along with the commentary of the Curious Ear producer Ronan Kelly were presented as a supplementary audio to the The Dead Snow podcast on James Joyce’s The Dead (an Athena Media production for RTÉ). Ronan did a fantastic job mixing the essence of oontz.ru recordings – from a few dozens to a few minutes. Here it is
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/the-curious-ear-joyce-podcasts.html
Published Jan 10th, 2010.
I always felt that field recordings should normally last no longer than a conventional pop song or it will make a listener just bored. with this in mind I’ve tried to cut the sounds on this blog off when editing even if leaving them behind was not an easy thing to do.
But what about taking it to a longer scale on a really good occassion? There’s a new feature on oontz.ru – an extended versions page where you’ll find a much longer (and better quality) audio variations of some of the weekly postings. Still binaural, still downloadable. Please let me know if you have any ideas on that.
Lets’ start with the audio chronicle of the days of Christmas in Sergiyev Posad in 2010 (23 min).
Published January 10th, 2010.
