Sonic London

Sonic London A London Festival of Architecture Cycle Ride Sunday 20 June 2010

Sound level (dBA) Shotgun Jet takeoff (100m away)

Rock band Motorbike, car horn Baby crying Chainsaw Thunder, lawnmower Telephone dial tone

140 130

Instant hearing damage Threshold of pain

120 110 100 90

Damage possible 3-4 minutes Damage possible after 1 hr Damage possible after 8 hrs

Vacuum cleaner

80

Inside car at 65 mph Alarm clock

70

Normal speech

60

Average office noise

50

Quiet library

40

Rice Krispies

30

Sleep disruption may begin

Leaves rustling Watch ticking

20

Very quiet

Quiet wilderness

10

Breathing

0

Annoying

Average threshold of hearing

“Throw out an alarming alarm clock. If the ring is loud and strident, youʼre waking up to instant stress.

You shouldnʼt be bullied out of bed, just reminded that itʼs time to start your day.”

Sharon Gold

Start

1 minute

2 minutes

Time Lowest

Highest

Frequency

Record the sounds you hear, indicating frequency and time

Ear Cleaning

A Frenchman riding a motorbike with no silencer straight through Paris at 3 o始clock in the morning can wake 250,000 sleeping people. What power! With my machine I can control a quarter of a million people.

I始m the boss. "" " " " " " " Henrik Karlsson

Twenty British Songbirds Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos Black cap Sylvia atricapilla Blackbird Turdus merula Woodlark Lullula arborea Mistle thrush Turdus viscivorus Skylark Alauda arvensis Robin Erithacus rubecula Song Thrush Turdus philomelus Wren Troglodytes troglodytes Marsh warbler Acrocephalus palustris

Garden warbler Sylvia borin Hedge sparrow Prunella modularis Tree pipit Anthus trivialis Willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus Sedge warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus Tawny Owl Strix aluco Curlew Numenius arquata Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita Great tit Parus major

Chiffchaff

Willow warbler

Wood warbler Everyone wants to understand painting. Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds? " " " " " " " " " " " " Pablo Picasso

“A unique object that serves as a natural symbol of a communityʼs identity... Communities of any significance could not conceive of being without a ring of bells.”

Alain Corbin

Sound Mapping Record the direction and distance of the sounds you hear

N

E

W

S

“Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation...Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego.�

Jean Arp

Favourite London Sounds 73-Bus bell. Bagel shop, Brick Lane. Open 24 hours a day this is one of London's favourite night stops. Bank of England 1.00am. A city back alley, the 'chinks' are ropes blowing against a flagpole. 16th floor up, London roar from the top of a tower block, Holloway Road, on a damp evening (I like the sound of traffic). Big Ben. London's most famous sound is broadcast to the world daily from a microphone high in the tower. Blackbird dawn chorus, 4.00am in May. Blackbirds are London's commonest songbirds. So much so that on occasions it is virtually the only species singing. The sound reverberates up and down the street, which gives a particularly urban feel. Brick Lane. Heart of London's Bangladeshi community.

Brixton station. Emerging from the underground station into the street. Butlers Wharf, Thames sounds.The River Thames is surprisingly quiet and one has to search for its sounds. The two here are slurps under the overhang of the wharf and squeaky barges rising and falling on the swell. Canal towpath stones.

Along London's canal towpaths are areas of loose concrete slabs which rock musically when cycled over. Club queue, Hoxton. Coffee in Soho. Dalston Market.

Depford Grid sub station. Deptford Market. Sounds of the market packing up around 4.30pm on a Saturday. Escalator, King始s Cross underground station.

Euston main line. Evening birds in Abbey Park Cemetery, early May. Among the species heard are Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin and Wood Pidgeons. Fountain Victoria Park 1.00am. With honking Canada Geese. Great Court at the British Museum. People murmering and cafe clinks heard in the fabulous acoustic of the museums's new court. Classic stone, classic reverberation. Helicopter/East London Mosque.The Muslim call to prayer is a recent addition to London's soundscape. Situated in Whitechapel the East London mosque is very close to the city heliport. Key in the front door. London Bridge station. Railway termini, the tannoy annoucements, peoples feet, the trains moving. Nightingales singing against the hum of the electricity sub station at Fisher's Green. Onions frying in my flat. Regents Park to Oxford Circus. Underground journey on the Bakerloo Line. Slamming train doors Victoria Station, A sound fast disappearing from London's soundscape. Sound of rain when I'm in bed. Swifts over Stoke Newington, swifts wheeling around the rooftops are a definitive summer sound and mark out spaces upwards and outwards in a way that few others do. Taxis waiting at Euston Station, squeaky black taxi brakes. Tottenham Hotspurs football club, White Hart Lane. Through the turnstiles at Spurs Football Club. Transformer, Putney. Part of the underground's electricity supply; the hum varies in tone with the changing current drawn by passing trains. Under the flyover, Hackney Wick.

Submitted by Londoners - Curated by Peter Cusack www.favouritelondonsounds.org

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. " " " " " " " " " " " Epictetus (AD 55-135)

Listening to your bicycle “When your bike functions best, you don’t hear it - it’s silent, there’s no cracking, just shhhh - you’re gliding.”

Ralf Hütter, Kraftwerk

If your bike makes a noise... ...once every time the wheels go around: Rims damaged or buckled? Tyre rubbing? Brake rubbing? Loose spoke? Chain rubbing spoke protector? Freehub/freewheel loose? ...once every time the pedals go around: Loose pedals? Loose crank bolts? Loose stack bolts? Bottom bracket cups loose? Bad pedal bearings? Bent chainwheel? Front derailer hitting crank? Saddle creaky? Handlebar/stem creaky? ...once every time the chain goes around (every 3-4 pedal revolutions): Stiff chain link? Bent chain link? ...when you use the brakes: Rim damaged? Loose brake caliper? Loose headset? ...when you pull on the handlebars: Loose handlebar binder bolt? Steerer needs greasing? Cracks in handlebar or stem? www.sheldonbrown.com/creaks “Sheer volume aside, the human sound which most closely approximates that of the internal combustion engine is the fart.The analogies between the automobile and the anus are conspicuous.” " " " " " " " " " " " " R. Murray Schafer

Oh look - is it a Stockbroker? Is it a Quantity Surveyor? Is it a Church Warden? No! It's BICYCLE REPAIR MAN! " " " " " " " " Monty Python始s Flying Circus

References and further reading British Library “Listen to Nature�: www.bl.uk/listentonature Defra Noise Mapping: www.defra.gov.uk/noisemapping Favourite London Sounds: www.favoritelondonsounds.com London Sound Survey: www.SoundSurvey.co.uk R. Murray Shafer: The Soundscape - Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World Resonance FM: www.resonancefm.com Sheldon Brown: www.sheldonbrown.com Sounder City- the Mayor's Ambient Noise Strategy: www.tinyurl.com/soundercity Soundscape - The Journal of Acoustic Ecology The Bike Show: www.thebikeshow.net The Free Sound Project: www.freesound.org Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book

The sound of a car door opening in front of you is similar to the sound of a gun being cocked. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Amy Webster

Notes

Different tyres, different roads, different sounds.

Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we find it fascinating. The sound of a truck at fifty miles per hour. Static between the stations. Rain. We want to capture and control these sounds, to use them not as sound effects, but as musical instruments. " " " " " " " " " " " " " John Cage