Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

By Cities and MemorySociety & CultureArtsMusicPlaces & Travel
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Cities and Memory - remixing the world episodes

  • In the business class lounge
    "Sounds from inside the Business Class Galleries lounge at Heathrow's Terminal 5 in London, used for British Airways international flights."

    Recorded by Mark Wilden.
     
    Part of the Until We Travel project to map and reimagine the sounds of transport and travel in a pre-pandemic and pandemic world. See the whole project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/travel.
    2 min
  • 2,653 miles via airwaves
    Punta Arenas airport reimagined by Museleon.

    "I have travelled the world many times over in the past 50 years without ever leaving the confines of my little house. Even before the pandemic, I have always travelled by listening to the worlds’ radio stations at night. Choosing a country and wandering through it via the local radio stations, is a wonderful way to get a flavour of a place. I've travelled to Asia, the Russian Steppes, Africa and the Pacific rim, so now was the time to explore Latin America, and Chile, which I have had a long wish to visit in reality, is as good a place as any to begin.

    "So, starting at Arica on the northern coast, on the night of 28th February, 2021, I zigzagged my way down the 2,653 miles from Coast to Andes, via large cities and small towns, all the way to the southern tip at Punta Arenas. I recorded my journey via small snippets of radio shows, interweaving conversations, talk shows, traditional music and modern, to create a sound collage of the places I’d ‘visited’.

    "As usual, I took the midi information from the original field recording - #1 : At the bottom of the world -  Punta Arenas airport and used it as a basis to create the aircraft drone and also a range of ambient atmospheres representing airwaves, wind, cold, deserts, glaciers and mountains. I processed the original field recording and this adds to a ghostly feel, where sound fades in and out as if in a dream. My journey in radio is a sonic record of my travels from sea to mountain, from Peruvian border to Punta Arenas. At my destination, an Andean pipe welcomes me and I drift gently back to reality.

    "Since this journey, I have listened to the sounds of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador and will shortly be exploring the 3,976 miles of the Amazon river all via the means of airwaves. It’s the only way to travel."

    Part of the Until We Travel project to map and reimagine the sounds of transport and travel in a pre-pandemic and pandemic world. See the whole project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/travel.
    6 min
  • The airport at the bottom of the world
    A long layover in one of the world's most southerly airports, at the tip of Chilean Patagonia, as we waited for a flight back to Santiago. There's very little to see or do in this tiny airport, as you might expect, but you can hear the sounds of traditional Chilean music being piped in, some chatter in Spanish, and those typical sounds of a transient space holding mostly people who are on their way to - or from - an incredible trip to one of the most beautiful parts of the world.

    Recorded by Cities and Memory.

    Part of the Until We Travel project to map and reimagine the sounds of transport and travel in a pre-pandemic and pandemic world. See the whole project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/travel.
    3 min
  • Until we travel the future
    Train through Bulgaria reimagined by Heiko Jay.

    "I've always liked the rhythmic sound of the train tracks and with this field recording I have the perfect template for the snare rhythm track. The bass kick and hi-hat are also snippets from the original sound.

    "I also used parts of the recording for the bass sound. For this I use the EQ to only allow low tones to be heard.

    "For the synth-like sounds I used the Resonators plugin.

    "I recorded the voice sample myself, it repeats the phrase "Until we travel".

    "Since the rhythm in the original is quite fast, it is associated with a fast train journey, possibly even in a futuristic city.

    "The jazzy futuristic music style and the audio effects reinforce the whole thing even more."

    Part of the Until We Travel project to map and reimagine the sounds of transport and travel in a pre-pandemic and pandemic world. See the whole project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/travel.
    4 min
  • Akihabara convergence
    Akihabara Station reimagined byt Michael Lilley.

    "I chose to contrast the white noise ambience of the crowd in Akihabara Station with the electronic bing bongs. I added some discordant oboes, to add a feeling of general unease.

    "Towards the end, as the soundscape fades, I'd like to think the effect I created is the train shunting off!"

    Part of the Until We Travel project to map and reimagine the sounds of transport and travel in a pre-pandemic and pandemic world. See the whole project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/travel.
    6 min
  • Inside Akihabara Station, Tokyo
    Recorded by Marcel Gnauk.

    Akihabara Station (秋葉原駅, Akihabara-eki) is a railway station in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward. It is at the center of the Akihabara shopping district specializing in electronic goods.

    Part of the Until We Travel project to map and reimagine the sounds of transport and travel in a pre-pandemic and pandemic world. See the whole project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/travel.
    2 min
  • Train from Ruse to Varna
    Travelling by train across Bulgaria, recorded by Mark Wilden.

    Part of the Until We Travel project to map and reimagine the sounds of transport and travel in a pre-pandemic and pandemic world. See the whole project at https://www.citiesandmemory.com/travel.
    2 min
  • Wytham Woods in lockdown
    Over the Christmas period in the UK, we remained locked down, unable to visit friends or relatives, and walking out in nature became even more important as it was one of the few safe - and legal - activities to do over this period. 

    We'd already recorded Oxford's Wytham Woods during Easter 2020, when they were at their quietest in lockdown number one, so we returned during December to record the forest soundscape during winter.

    Recorded by Cities and Memory.

    Part of the StayHomeSounds project to map and reimagine the sounds of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
    3 min
  • The patchwork hum of lockdown
    One of the unexpected urban soundscapes of the Covid-19 lockdowns has been previously-unheard or unnoticed sounds that had been hidden by the drones of continuous traffic noise emerging into focus. Sometimes they're beautiful sounds like birdsong, and at other times you realise the drone of the city is actual composed of multiple layers of drones at different frequencies and volumes making up that patchwork urban drone. 

    On this occasion, the pulsing drone from a box on the street (telecoms? air conditioning? who knows?) is the dominant sound all of a sudden, so we recorded it along with several moments of passing life during the third lockdown in the UK.

    Recorded by Cities and Memory.

    Part of the StayHomeSounds project to map and reimagine the sounds of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
    7 min
  • Lockdown afternoon snack
    "Sounds of the microwave, crockery and antique clocks ticking and chiming in my house. The sounds of the modern and the old, microwave beeps,Victorian clock chiming, emphasise the passing of time which marches on regardless of human intervention."

    Lockdown sound recorded by The Gaye Device.

    Part of the StayHomeSounds project to map and reimagine the sounds of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
    5 min

About Cities and Memory - remixing the world

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Cities and Memory remixes the world, one sound at a time - a global collaboration between artists and sound recordists all over the world.