Erie
The chosen location of Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, signifies the opening of the Welland Canal in late March of 2025. The constant hum of the freighters and lakers, which ply these waters on the Lake Erie coast, are mixed with those of a nearby playground, gulls, Canada Geese and Red-wing blackbirds. As the ice on the coast is partially frozen, there are few sounds of water along the shoreli...
19m Jun 03
19m
Shanghai, Kongjia Nong Lane
Kongjia Nong Lane may be the last patch of lilong old district in Shanghai’s city center, with its iconic passageway buildings—a classic snapshot of the city’s past—recently demolished. One resident returned to their old home to gather final belongings, murmuring to themselves. In summers past, they might have set out small tables and bamboo chairs at the doorstep for cooling off, dining, or g...
4m Jun 03
4m
Waiting for the Easter liturgy to begin
 | A congregation waits in Gloucester Cathedral on Good Friday for the Easter liturgy to begin. The hubbub of voices echoes in the vast space of the nave. Then the Cathedral choir and organ begins to practice before the service. Recorded by Paul Stephens-Wood.
3m Jun 03
3m
Holbrook village green
Home to both the village hall and quoits club, the Holbrook village green sits almost slap bang in the centre of the village. With the COOP supermarket, Methodist Hall, Swan public house and an independent butcher all nearby, this area of the village is the central hub of village life. What interests me sonically about the the present day village green is its flagpole, upon which the union fla...
6m Jun 03
6m
The fake birds of Gare du Nord
Inside Gare du Nord, an unusual sonic addition - the fake sounds of birdsong piped in from speakers in the ceiling. The intention, I'm sure, is to bring a little nature into the station and to help travellers feel more relaxed. However, the combination of the huge station space, the volume of the bird calls and the speaker position leads 90% of travellers to ignore the sounds, 5% to look extre...
4m Jun 03
4m
Adventures in the Bremen animal hole
At the famous "animal hole" in Bremen, a drain cover with a difference! Pop a coin in and the sounds of animals from the famous Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Town Musicians of Bremen" play in turn - first the cockerel, then the cat, then the dog, then the donkey. This binaural recording was late at night when the square was deserted, meaning the sound travelled clearly out into the night air,...
2m Jun 03
2m
Artificial rainforest, Klimahaus museum
Inside the Klimahaus museum, which is dedicated to telling the stories of climate and the environment. The exhibition called "The Journey" takes you around the world on a line of longitude from Bremerhaven with interactive installations and exhibits that make extensive use of sound to be as immersive as possible. Here we are inside an artificial rainforest experience based on Cameroon, with ra...
4m Jun 03
4m
This is not a simulation?
"‘This is not a simulation?’ - raises the question what is real, am I dreaming, are we in an alternate reality? "For the Cities and Memory Spring Project I found myself drawn to an audio recording made on the platform of the Gare Du Nord in Paris. Interestingly a key feature of the recording is some fake birdsong perhaps being piped over loudspeakers onto the platform whilst everyday passenger...
7m Jun 03
7m
Bremen to moon
"How can humans stay human when we’re far away from our home planet? "How does it affect us when there are no familiar animals nearby? "As the countdown begins, we take off, heading for the moon base. Once there, daily tasks turn routine and we begin to miss the sounds of Earth. But, the engineers of Bremen have hidden a control panel in the habitat with unexpected outcomes. ""Bremen to Moon...
3m Jun 03
3m
Intro to a sound bath
"The base recording was thick with sounds, but light on texture. In order to create some space to let that texture through, I took a sample of the whole piece, slowed and tuned it down a bit, and ran it through multiple granular synthesizers. This created a pulsing, almost breathing sound, around which I added some aleatorically generated rhythmic lines as a kind of frame or dramatic container....
11m Jun 03
11m
Hippos at night
Recorded in the shallows of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. The microphones sit low, really close to the hippos resting in the mud. What defines this recording is mass. Around fifteen hippos, mostly stationary, but never still. Their presence registers through pressure, slow exhalations, submerged movement, and low frequency vocalisations that travel through both air and water. The su...
9m Jun 02
9m
The Golden Triangle
The Golden Triangle - the point where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet - attracts many visitors. They can be heard in this soundscape along with crashing of the Mekong river. Recorded in Ban Sop Ruak, Thailand by Jake Edwards.
7m Jun 02
7m
Watching the world go by at the Blue Temple
This was recorded inside The Blue Temple in Chiang Rai, Thailand. It is filled with people marvelling at the large Buddha and people singing. Recorded by Jake Edwards.
7m Jun 02
7m
The buzz Of Ao Nang night market
This is Ao Nang night market, Thailand, where an announcement for Muay Thai can be heard along with musical instruments and the buzz of people. Recorded by Jake Edwards.
4m Jun 02
4m
Watching the world
"Watching the World is a generative composition which was performed live and built from the recording which was processed through granular synthesis and other effects. The textures, harmonic material were inspired by the recording with a sense of movement and transition which I wanted to capture. "The piece used a system based on four-part harmony (SATB) to organise the arrangement of the gran...
4m Jun 02
4m
In the night market
"Some time in the future. Humanity has expanded beyond. You sit at the edge of the market, feeling the hum of the space station below you. It's late, only a few of your fellow travellers mill about, seeking out food, drink, company. Staring up, through the glass of the Starport, you see infinite, unthinkable galaxies. Everything feels too big and too small all at once. You are part of The Machi...
9m Jun 02
9m
Hope springs
"A constantly shifting atmospheric track that interplays with a wildlife field recording of grunting hippos. The intention behind this track was to layer gently microtonal hypnotic sounds with the insects as a rhythmic underlay and the hippos' growls blended in as if they were sniggering." Hippos in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda reimagined by Michael Agar.
10m Jun 02
10m
Static twilight
 Jeff: "My intent was to create a dreamy walk down a street of an unfamiliar city in an unfamiliar part of the world. Working with yamo is a collaboration in spirals and poetry; she filters the world through a soft daydream. I put textures and incidental events inside her world that are like a radio broadcast from an open doorway or from a busker on the sidewalk as you wander around." yamo: "R...
2m Jun 02
2m
Lawnmowers in the mountains
Four or five people work with lawnmowers and strimmers around the restoration of a cabin in the Dolomites - the sound travels wide and far, and reverberates off the rock faces to give a very particular mountain soundscape of work. Recorded in the Dolomites, July 2025 by Cities and Memory.
6m Jun 02
6m
The long ladder steps of the Bangbang
Locals in Chongqing call these steep stairways “long ladder steps.” This recording captures one such corridor, still tread by “bangbang” porters. It’s morning school rush: vendors hawk, footsteps echo, delivery station chatter booms, and schoolkids’ jabber rings from afar—all swirling in a hundred-step passage. Cities with Z-axis terrain stack buildings vertically, weaving complex, layered echo...
4m Jun 02
4m
Clown on the move
This sound is a field recording taken a public transport bus, on the "Huipulco - Six Flags" bus line, in Ajusco, Mexico City. The recording features a clown who boarded the bus and gave a performance for its passengers. Also audible is a traditional Mexican song, featuring instruments and vocals, played by the bus driver on the bus's speaker. Noises from the transport and passengers can be hea...
2m Jun 02
2m
Holler
"In the original field recording, I was drawn to the acoustic space of the vendor's calls, and decided that was enough of a springboard to create a piece. Other than that, I was going in blind with no preconceptions. I began by adding edits of percussion recordings from my archive, some of which were processed. "The piece developed as I added enough elements and it found its form by a process ...
5m Jun 02
5m
Dolomite drone
"I was drawn to the recording because the sound of the mowers felt like spring. I enjoyed the noise of the mowers and wanted to work with it. The mowers cut in an out, processed by my modular synth, with a noisy drone in the background from the synth. Some tape noise shows up too. Recorded in Ottawa, May 30 2026 (Drone Day!). Mixed and mastered the next day. Pls wear headphones, there's some fu...
8m Jun 02
8m
Behind the smile
"My piece imagines the clown beyond his public role. The piece is divided into two parts: the first focuses on his life in the street — moments of joy, chaos, conversations, advice to strangers, and the strange energy of constantly being surrounded by people. In the second part the clown is alone, the noise of the street fades, and sadness and an angry kind of nostalgia begin to surface. "Usin...
8m Jun 02
8m
Arise and walk with thee
"It was strange and daunting to select a church service as my starting point, but I was drawn to it. My main focus thematically was on struggle and renewal, and how we try to explain the inexplicable." Oslo Domkirke reimagined by Eulipion Corps.
7m May 29
7m
A liturgy in Domkirke
A liturgy service in Norwegian, taking place in Oslo's Domkirke cathedral, featuring service readings, hymns sung by the congregation and passages of organ playing. This service takes place at 5pm every Friday afternoon. Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory.
14m May 29
14m
Bells outside the bookshop
In late December, the Christmas season in Venice is in full flow. Mass bells peal out in a backstreet next to the excellent Marco Polo bookshop in the Dorsoduro district, with occasional passing footsteps ringing out into the crisp evening air. Recorded in December 2025 by Cities and Memory.
1m May 29
1m
Aboard the ferry to Gressholmen
Aboard the Oslo inner fjord ferry from Lindoya island to Gressholmen, with engine sounds and Norwegian announcements. Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory.
2m May 29
2m
Gressholmen
"I used recordings from Norwegian ferry and ferries in Bainbridge Island and the San Juan Islands. I have been in love with ferries and the sea since childhood. I used harmonics from wind sound through metal guardrails in boat for base harmonies and synthesizers to build in these harmonies and accentuate movement on the water and the cabin of the ferry." Grssholmen ferry, Oslo reimagined by Ro...
4m May 29
4m
Quartet: cities, bells, memory and sea
"Quartet is composed of the City of Venice and its mass bells from the original field recording. Memory rises not only of the Sea that surrounds me on the island where I live, but also of visiting Venice; the sound of water, church bells mingled here with the Bells of the island and my overlapping Memory of playing piano from an early age." Bells in Venice reimagined by Steph Shipley.
2m May 29
2m
Redstart reimagined
I usually play jazz piano, but on this particular day I was camping with my family — my wife, our two-year-old son, and our two medium-sized Japanese dogs. When I woke up, the scenery and the birdsong were so beautiful that I felt compelled to record the soundscape, and I naturally began playing piano along with it. Birdsong in Suwa District, Japan reimagined by Daisuke Matsubara.
3m May 28
3m
Daurian Redstart in Suwa
This sound is the call of a bird we heard while camping with our family in the morning. It comes from a region that is usually covered in snow, but this was recorded during the pleasant climate of May in Japan. Recorded by Daisuke Matsubara.
1m May 28
1m
Swallows
"There are so many extraordinary moments in Claude Lanzmann’s nine hour documentary, Shoah but it’s the interviews with the railway workers and the train drivers that helped facilitate the horrors of the holocaust (some of them still working those same lines when the movie was made in the 70’s and 80’s) and those with the farmers and local people who bore witness to the trains that have the mos...
10m May 27
10m
Birkenau Gate
Ambisonics recording of the special acoustics and environmental sound inside the gate to Auschwitz II, Birkenau. Recorded by Anders Vinjar.
2m May 27
2m
Lost in the woods
"The source sound is open to interpretation but to me it sounds like I'm in the woods. I used a quote from Dante’s Inferno in it as spoken word whilst maintaining the original source sound in the background. It's about expecting things that should be in place by midlife but the realisation they're not; you’re lost in the woods (metaphorically); there are many paths to go by, and what one might ...
6m May 25
6m
Red beach
"The feel of the song was inspired by the slow joy of the ambient sounds in the field recording, and the rhythmic sound of the waves. Praia Vermelha is at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain, and after researching the place, it also became important to the song. "The lyrics include a line about Henrietta Carstairs, the first known person to climb the mountain in 1817. The field recording continues ...
4m May 25
4m
Antipolo dawn chorus
A five minute recording is all it takes to tell what time day and year it is at home. Natural sounds like backyard native birds like Collared Kingfisher, Philippines Pied Fantail, Zebra doves, and Yellow-vented Bulbuls are busy asserting their territory and finding food in the morning before it gets too hot. Migratory birds like Gray Wagtail, Arctic Warbler, and Ashy Minivet mean that it's som...
5m May 25
5m
Praia Vermelha
This is the second edition of a recording I've made in the 2024 summer afternoon at the beach. It was made at Praia Vermelha (Red Beach), Urca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was a hot weather, the beach was crowded: children, families, young and elder people, vendors selling drinks and refreshments (water, cold mate, coconut water, popsicle, and so on). People are talking, laughing, shouting. Wave...
5m May 25
5m
Serengeti tocante drone
"I steered safely around the lions only featuring a loop of a growl buried towards the end of the piece. I was more intrigued by the sound of insects and cracking undergrowth, moving noises. These were sampled and re pitched. I added kalimba played through a granular effects pedal and it skittered around the mix. Percussion shakes were found sounds of beads brushed on a contact mic. "Finally I...
7m May 25
7m
Serengeti central at night: lion pride roaring close
A powerful night recording from the heart of Serengeti Central. Listen as a lion pride roars close by—their calls echoing across the plains for up to eight kilometers 4 . Hyenas whoop and cackle in response, while insects create a steady rhythm and night birds call softly. This is the African night at its most raw and wild. Perfect for immersion, study, sleep, or experiencing the true voice of ...
20m May 25
20m
The magical music of Jemaa el-Fnaa
9.43pm, and by night the Jemaa el-Fnaa square turns into a musical paradise - gone are the grim snake charmers and animal handlers, and in their place circles of musicians fill the south end of the square, playing various forms of amazing Moroccan music. This recording moves back and forth between several groups, enjoying the music. Recorded in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2026 by Cities and Me...
7m May 25
7m
Ka Faroshi carpet store, Kabul
"Ambience sounds inside a carpet store in Kabul's famous Ka Faroshi market, people talking in the dampened acoustics of the carpets, shielded from a very busy market outside. Post 45 years of disastrous war. This recording is part of the HEYR project, presenting 3-dimensional soundscapes from special locations, connected to special events. Find out more by visiting https://www.heyr.no." Recor...
6m May 25
6m
Olive stands in the medina
In one of the indoor markets in Marrakesh's medina, olives are being wrapped, packed up and sold to passing customers, as we hear shouting traders, Arabic conversations and background music. Recorded in Marrakesh, Morocco, January 2026 by Cities and Memory.
3m May 25
3m
Dozens of generators at Mega Huepfbergenland
Mega Huepfbergenland is a fun park for children, with 50 bouncy castles in one place, just being set up with no customers there having fun yet. What this means for sound recordists today is rows and rows of generators along the path by the river, allowing us to get close-up recordings of multiple generators as we walk past - an interesting industrial machinery soundscape coming from a children'...
6m May 25
6m
Electrical outdoor distribution box, Greece
Electrical outdoor distribution box. Steady electrical hum, cars passing, car engine. Recorded in Agios Dimitrios, Greece by Konstantinos Staikos.
1m May 25
1m
Reconciliation +212
"An original composition created from a field recording of an Olive stand in the medina in Marrakech, Morocco. "I was initially drawn to this recording as Marrakech has been on my “to visit” list for some time and yet I still haven’t made it there. Anyway, I enjoyed the energy of the recording and the fact that there were people having conversations included in it. Usually, when recording, I t...
6m May 25
6m
The Marrakesh excess
"A pure sound piece, with something like 80% of it comprising the original field recording, processed, tweaked, reworked etc." Djemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakesh musicians reimagined by Nick St George.
7m May 25
7m
Earthed
"The sound does opt convey a sense of space, but the location informed my choice. I took the original sound of the distribution box, chopped it up and added a modulator to change the pitch of the chops randomly. This gives the piece a rhythmic element that I was able to use as the backbone for a live piano improvisation on top of it. I did not change any notes but look some stuff away in the mi...
10m May 25
10m
Mega Land
"Drawn to the drone quality of the Mega Huepfbergenland recording, I made a quiet drone piece with a little 18th century cembalo at the end (ignoring imagined bouncy castles)." Bouncy castle park in Bremen reimagined by Eva Q Månsson.
4m May 25
4m
A play on words
"The recording I worked with was from a Ka Faroshi carpet store in Kabul. This consisted of several people chatting in a carpet shop in some language/dialect of Afghanistan. I do not speak the language so picked part of a conversation spoken between 3 men with different pitched voices. I have no idea what they are saying. I hope it's not rude. "I formed a repeating pattern of this phrase trans...
4m May 25
4m