Working inside in Arnhem
Arnhem, Netherlands sound recorded by Fleur. "I am a graphic design student and working from home has been extremely difficult. Art school online is a joke. This sound is very calm and although I am stuck at home I am grateful that I am privileged I live in a country where I have everything that I need." Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of the global c...
2m Jun 07, 2020
2m
Daily sounds in Arnhem
Arnhem, Netherlands lockdown sound recorded by Eunju Park. "This is the daily sounds in my room. Recently, I hear these three sounds the most: car passing sounds, birds singing, and typing keyboard sounds." Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/cov...
4m Jun 07, 2020
4m
Campo de Fiori in lockdown
Rome lockdown sound recorded by Francesco Tomei. "During phase 2 of the lockdown, a city like Rome has seen its inhabitants live again its streets, squares and markets. No tourists on the streets, just locals, workers, families and old ladies. You can hear the sounds of the local fruit and vegetable market in Piazza Campo de' Fiori in Rome, the voices of the sellers, the stacked boxes and the l...
2m Jun 07, 2020
2m
Morning chirping in Carpi
Carpi, Italy lockdown sound recorded by Giulio Corghi.  "At home during Italian lockdown. early morning. birds chirping and some town noise in background." Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds
3m Jun 07, 2020
3m
Sirens at dawn in Brasilia
Brasilia lockdown sound recorded by Beatriz Sousa. "This record was recorded in a region of Brasília-DF that is not usually very quiet. However, since the pandemic, we have been watching birds share space with the echoes of sirens at dawn." Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see ...
1m Jun 07, 2020
1m
A portrait of America in 2020
Piece based on Personification of America by Cities and Memory.  "The concept of personifying America in an artwork led me to think of how we might personify America here and now, in 2020 and in the midst of a global coronavirus pandemic.  "Very sadly, to the majority of the world, the personification of America in 2020 is President Trump, and he is characterised by his grotesquely irresponsibl...
5m May 28, 2020
5m
Street beats
Piece based on boombox from Do The Right Thing by Alan Bleay. "I can still remember the feeling of wonder at being able to have a portable music system. "Being able to listen to loud music anywhere was revolutionary, this went hand in hand with the new direction that music took from the streets with rap. "You could hear it everywhere. This is my humble homage to that picture and the giant that ...
5m May 28, 2020
5m
Coming home
Piece based on Apollo 11 command module by Karhide. "This piece started as an idea with the command module starting its return to Earth. It was recorded in one take using just the Korg Nu Tekt NTS 1 synth and the lovely onboard effects, with a little post-processing in Ableton Live." Part of the Smithsonian Treasures project, a collection of new sound works inspired by items from the Smithsonia...
5m May 28, 2020
5m
The "Go Home and Stay Home" Radio Club At Home
La Paz lockdown sound reimagined by Emmy Tither. "I've been listening to a lot of, and all sorts of, radio these past few months. It's almost like the sound of other people coming through the radio waves makes up for not being able to be with people. Or something. It's gotten to the stage now, isolation-wise, where everything sounds like it comes from a radio to me now, even normal real-life so...
2m May 28, 2020
2m
Paris in the spring
Paris lockdown sound reimagined by Neil Stringfellow. "I loved this recording from Paris, France.I just let the recording play and to start with improvised sounds on top. I did a few takes and then started to edit the piece and make into an arrangement. It came together well, I wanted to make the music very strange and to reflect the strangeness of these times." Part of the #StayHomeSounds proj...
6m May 28, 2020
6m
Deep Away
North Indian monastery lockdown sound reimagined by Concha Garcia. "During these weeks of confinement, listening to an “outside” that speaks of a distant environment may be the starting point for triggering an “inside”, in a mimetic way or in an evocative and associative way: a chaotic “inside” that wants to be arranged and that talks about contradictory moods, with untimely thoughts, contradic...
6m May 28, 2020
6m
The Ballad of Coronasilence feat. Hugh Sykes
London lockdown sound reimagined by Sherman and Field. "We particularly responded to the focus on silence in the field recording. The absence of one sound creates space for the hearing of another. Shifting listening from a work building elsewhere to being at home in a quieter than normal suburb has had the same effect for us, on the other side of the world.   "Our lived experience of home isola...
4m May 28, 2020
4m
Bullfrogs mating
Vancouver, Canada lockdown sound recorded by Laura Barron. "My refuge during the pandemic has been the park right behind my home, where I walk every morning with my husband before work.  There, every day I'm bathed in birdsong, rose fragrance, and other delights.  But the biggest surprise was this bullfrog mating ritual that I'd never before witnessed, right in the middle of the city!   I have ...
1m May 28, 2020
1m
Morning birds compete with Kiev traffic
Kiev, Ukraine lockdown sound recorded by Mariana. "The soundscape was recorded on May 15th, 5 am, it documents the 64th day of quarantine in Kyiv, Ukraine. You may hear the early birds choir singing on top of the sounds of the train and occasional cars passing by. Despite the official restrictions, many citizens couldn't bear self-isolation anymore  and started to return to usual lifestyle, dri...
15m May 28, 2020
15m
Air ambulance helicopter with birds and rabbit
Toronto lockdown sound recorded by Jonathan Spencer. "5:45AM. An air ambulance helicopter passes overhead, bringing a patient from from a hospital up north to a trauma unit in downtown Toronto. As the sound recedes, birds sing. A rabbit hops across the road confidently, as the coyote hurt its right paw last night and won't give chase this morning." Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenti...
2m May 28, 2020
2m
My safe environment
Heteren, Netherlands lockdown sound recorded by Julia Gerritsen. "During these circumstances, I try new things that I can do indoors. An example is that I paint a lot and try out new techniques, the sound has to do with this.  "Here in the Netherlands the rules are being let go more and more little by little, we just have to keep it up together." Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting...
1m May 28, 2020
1m
Lockheed Vega 5B
Piece based on Lockheed Vega 5B by Adrian Williams (Things Being Various) "I wanted to make a piece that evoked feelings of flight, given the Smithsonian treasure chosen, and to make it light and airy.  "I also decided to make it a short piece, to reflect perhaps the take off, or landing of Amelia Earhart's journey. The plane is a long-distance record breaker so rather than make a long piece, I...
2m May 27, 2020
2m
Flights of vengeance
Piece based on V-1 missile by Richard Watts. "The piece is based on an imagined flight of a V1. The white noise and pulse sound are supposed to be the jet engines in flight, with the strings giving a sense of air movement. I've added some off beat melodies that are a bit threatening and the voices are there to give a sense of doom. The drums are the anti-aircraft fire. I've also added a sample ...
5m May 27, 2020
5m
Silver Print
Piece based on Gelatin silver print of Paul Monday playing the piano by Neil Stringfellow.  "After first thinking I had a good idea I struggled with this piece. Taking a photo and trying to come up with an audio response was difficult. I had some old shellac 78s so sampled the crackle of these. I added some piano sounds and then more contemporary sounds. To me it lacked something so I got my pa...
5m May 27, 2020
5m
One Dilla Land
Piece based on J Dilla's MPC by Adam Hulbert. "J Dilla’s MPC 3000 was a portal to another, fresher, place, where nothing was quite as expected. In his hands, machine music was full of life. I’m celebrating his legacy with a back-to-roots boom bap track, which draws on the MPC production style for inspiration. I made this using a serve of cut-up samples from the 1951 Alice in Wonderland animated...
2m May 27, 2020
2m
Phyllosoma
Piece based on Phyllosoma by Thomas Haighton. "This piece was inspired by pictures of different types of phyllosoma by Dr. Martin W. Johnson. Phyllosoma are crustacean larvae but the still look a lot like insects. In the photo’s they where coloured with a green dye which almost gave them an alien look. This inspired my to make the piece dark in mood by using heavy base and distorted tones. This...
3m May 27, 2020
3m
Lonesome Spring Frolic
Piece based on prehensile-tailed porcupine by Michelle Breslin. "Being in isolation and away from the woods conjured up the memory of being free in the sun, and imagining the porcupine, enjoying the early moments of spring.  I would have loved to have a recorded porcupine, but I think that might be a very unlikely field recording for me to have the luck to be there at the right time. I relied o...
2m May 27, 2020
2m
Lorelei
Piece based on Lorelei painting by Ursula Bravo. "The myth and the perspective represented was the key. That trapped soul in her own curse for being in love, resonating between the rocks, the water, the wind, at the same time can be almost a free spirit. The piece that you can hear is the emerging of the energy of the cursed soul trough a storm, sometimes you can hear her as an animal entity, o...
6m May 27, 2020
6m
Knights of the Grip
Piece based on Knights of the grip tag by Richard Watts. "I wanted to capture the loneliness and a sense of being on the road as a salesman in this piece. I've used a repeating beat like a train or bus journey. I've also used some treated guitar parts to try and show the loneliness. There is also a slight sinister nature to the name so the piece has of dark feeling." Part of the Smithsonian Tre...
5m May 27, 2020
5m
Tu vas pas m'attraper
Piece based on worrying mother pig toy by Tilla Martin. "The Smithsonian item illustrated, an American folk art child toy, communicates the touch and feel of craft wood. The sound composition is inspired from children's plays, running away from an imaginary threat, drifting away from reality to a fantastic world of their own. The harp leads the way until the story's melody align with the young ...
3m May 27, 2020
3m
Sound walk in the morning rain
Piece based on To Miss Wheaton: Religion by Lina Chang. "This recording was made through a series of sound walks that were captured within my home during quarantine and during my walks on Sunday afternoons. Inspired by a letter addressed to Miss Wheaton by artist Elizabeth W. Capron, the personalization and care that went into composing the letter brought me back to images of people writing in ...
2m May 27, 2020
2m
UMcertain
Piece based on the Statue of Liberty by Bev Boyd. "It moved to me to think about emigration to the United States from the perspectives of two English emigrants and one native New Yorker, whose ancestors fled Europe at the turn of the 20th century. "Each voice describes a different aspect of the immigrant experience and it got me thinking how hard it can be for societies, and individuals, to mar...
14m May 27, 2020
14m
The airship lament
Piece based on The Air Ship Waltz by Shaun Malone. "Since it was sheet music I immediately wanted to know how it sounded - I could not find the music anywhere online, and trying to play it myself was a very slow process. So I downloaded some software that could scan sheet music to MIDI. The music was corrupted in the process and I decided to work with this and explore how the music sounded with...
5m May 27, 2020
5m
Torn
Piece based on Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral by Phil Smith. "The reason I chose this item from the list of Smithsonian Treasures was, I think, because it looked like something I might instinctively shy away from, or think, "that's not mine to explore." It’s a book of poems, published in 1773, written by Phillis Wheatley, "a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years since, brough...
5m May 27, 2020
5m
Number sixty
Piece based on Gelatin silver print of Paul Monday playing the piano by Heiko Jay. "I was inspired to do a "blues" track by searching some info about the musician Paul Monday. "I had to listen to many blues songs in the internet, to find the right mood and rhythm structure for me. In Ableton Live, I practiced some piano improvisations with my MIDI keyboard, added some steel guitar feel and prog...
2m May 27, 2020
2m
Valentino : Pale Hands, Where Are You Now?
Piece based on Rudolph Valentino image by Kenneth Lyons. "The sepia-toned, high contrast 1925 photo portrait of silent movie star, Rudolph Valentino by renowned studio glamour photographer, Russell Ball, depicts a mid-shot Valentino, in profile, in a suit of the day looking beyond the frame in a fixed gaze. In his right hand, he holds a pipe, posed and in pause. The high contrast lighting emplo...
7m May 27, 2020
7m
Blades
Piece based on Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II "Spirit of Texas" by Ricardo Paraíso Silvestre. "I imagine that circumnavigating the world in a helicopter involves moments of extreme concentration, ever present noise and wandering of the mind. I tried to sit inside the cabin and imagine the abstract soundscape that surrounded the crew. The real sounds and the sounds imagined by them throughout their j...
7m May 27, 2020
7m
Olii
Piece based on four pieces of a mouth organ by Joe Pino. "Simple tones from the past leaking into the present. Spectral manipulation in Kyma." Part of the Smithsonian Treasures project, a collection of new sound works inspired by items from the Smithsonian Museums’ collections - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/smithsonian
10m May 27, 2020
10m
Discovery
Piece based on Discovery shuttle by Ian Haygreen. "Since it was about the space shuttle Discovery, astronomy and space-related subjects have interested me since childhood,, I knew that NASA had sound files on their website and they were bound to have some relating to the Discovery, so it was easier enough to go onto NASAs website and download a dozen sound files from the various Discovery missi...
10m May 27, 2020
10m
Smith's Onion (A Burlesque on a Burlesque)
Piece baed on Charlie Chaplin poster by Daniel Olson. "By the time I became aware of the Smithsonian Treasures project, there were not many items available, but having previously worked with themes or elements from Chaplin, the poster for his 1915 film “A Burlesque on Carmen” seemed a good candidate. On the other hand, the image did not provide any obvious cues for a sound project. Moreover, it...
20m May 27, 2020
20m
Reverie
Piece based on dog-powered treadmill by Mike Tupling. "I was fascinated by the picture of the dog treadmill and, having dogs of my own, wondered how they might behave in such a device. The piece, which is really just a sketch, imagines a dog dreaming of running free whilst being restrained in the confines of the treadmill.  "The piece uses sounds recorded locally and a treated recording of an a...
4m May 27, 2020
4m
Telegranular
Piece based on telegraph sounder and speaking telephone by John Wiggins. "Such early technology, I had to use granular synthesis to go back in time and get down to the "quanta" of what this object sounded like then and what it sounds like now." Part of the Smithsonian Treasures project, a collection of new sound works inspired by items from the Smithsonian Museums’ collections - for more inform...
1m May 27, 2020
1m
I Love A Piano - Jungle Radio
Piece based on photo of Irving Berlin by Glenn Sogge. "I think of this as one of a series of Counterfeit Pieces. Imagine being in a jungle with a radio and scanning for entertainment. Counterfeit birds, counterfeit rain, counterfeit radio tuning, counterfeit record noise as you finally catch a recording from 1916 (not counterfeit) of one of Irving Berlin's early hits - I Love A Piano." Part of ...
4m May 27, 2020
4m
Tempo tempo
Piece based on creeping baby doll patent model by Robin Bale. "This piece was a response to the “Creeping Baby”, a prototype crawling baby doll in the Smithsonian collection. This was an obviously creepy object; the juxtaposition of naturalistic face and hands with a (very beautiful) clockwork interior placed it somewhere around the uncanny valley as well as squarely in the territory of hybrid ...
8m May 27, 2020
8m
Nocturnal
Piece based on "The Girl I Left Behind Me" by Stormy. "Watching this treasure quickly aroused in me the desire to express a ghostly presence. Disturbing night rumbles, memories of a voice, a few wild notes from Leos Janacek ... Any signs of the loss of a loved one?" Part of the Smithsonian Treasures project, a collection of new sound works inspired by items from the Smithsonian Museums’ collect...
3m May 27, 2020
3m
Benjamin Franklin
Piece based on Benjamin Franklin painting by Rosie Julin. "I was inspired by Ben Franklin's breadth and depth of pursuits. He was truly a man ahead of his time. The piece first reflects on the effects of his contributions to our modern scientific discoveries, democracy, and press while maintaining a feel for the archival. The piece then transitions to his writings and reflections on his own lif...
3m May 27, 2020
3m
Abraham Thinkin'
Piece based on Abraham Lincoln painting by Ben Van De Water. "When I was looking through the prompts, I was struck by the portrait of Abraham Lincoln. He’s a figure nearly everyone knows and is familiar with, and here he was among a collection of very unique and unknown artworks and artifacts. My first thought was my usual first thought: lush and reflective strings, probably piano to add a litt...
3m May 27, 2020
3m
Elision
Piece based on Thomas Edison painting by Keira Simmons. "In this piece I was interested in exploring Edison’s early wax cylinder phonograph recordings, as depicted in the painting. As the first recording technology designed to be listened back to, these wax cylinders arguably begin the trajectory that leads us here, to the proliferation of public access to audio recording, to skype calls, to he...
12m May 27, 2020
12m
The Marey Reel
Piece based on "Marey Reel photographs of unidentified model" by Paul Collins. "I was initially made aware of chronophotography while at studying art school: Marcel Duchamp used Marey’s and Muybridges’ work as a direct reference for his painting, “Nu descendant l’escalier, N°2.” The chronophotograph from the Smithsonian Collection is by Thomas Eakins, who is generally recognized as having intro...
3m May 27, 2020
3m
The Fisherman's Daughter
Piece based on Charles Webster Hawthorne painting by Baying Ridges.  "It is very hard to capture in words how this amazing painting moved me.  I printed it and put it up in my studio. Its textures, colours and the faraway gaze in the fisherman's daughter's eyes haunted me and informed every texture and note that was created and played.  Quite simply, this piece is the sound I hear when looking ...
6m May 27, 2020
6m
Margot Perot
Piece based on Margot Perot image by Brent Tomchik. "On the cusp of discovering her own self in Baltimore, she fell in love with Ross Perot on a blind date and married him; never to become the social worker she was studying to be. With their amassed wealth, mostly due to Ross Perot's real estate investments and political aspirations, she instead was swept into a life of philanthropy.  "She most...
5m May 27, 2020
5m
Spitfire
Piece based on Supermarine Spitfire by Jeff Holland. "This piece reflects the take-off, swooping majesty, and deadly impact of the Spitfire aircraft as it soars the skies in a quest for freedom." Part of the Smithsonian Treasures project, a collection of new sound works inspired by items from the Smithsonian Museums’ collections - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/smithso...
7m May 27, 2020
7m
Moonshine
Piece based on DJ tweeters by Michael Lilley. "This treasure is named as Tweeters used as part of a DJ setup and categorised under hip hop music, which (semi-tangentially) led me to think about sampling....  "Every sound in my entire composition evolved from a (heavily manipulated and treated) single sample (of Imogen Heap singing the short vocal phrase which can be detected weaving throughout ...
5m May 24, 2020
5m
Rakim's Loop
Piece based on Rakim's microphone by Borys Kossakowski.  "A piece inspired by the Item Number 61 - Cordless microphone used by Rakim to record The 18th Letter. I dare to say that we are friends with Rakim now. For the last couple of weeks, we spent a lot of time together. Although we never met or talk.  Rakim was walking around the room, talking about his life. I was listening, noting, recordin...
4m May 24, 2020
4m
Things are weird and things are sad
Piece based on MacCameron's Waiting for the Doctor by Emmy Tither. "It's impossible not to make a connection between the piece, and the feelings in it, with what is happening globally right now. Things are weird and things are sad." Part of the Smithsonian Treasures project, a collection of new sound works inspired by items from the Smithsonian Museums’ collections - for more information, see h...
3m May 24, 2020
3m