Release
Composition by Christina Wong. "I was initially inspired by Eiko Ishibashi’s beautiful soundtrack to the film Drive My Car and how she wove the sounds of the car, of driving so seamlessly into the music and I wanted to see how I, too, could incorporate this notion of driving along per se into my own piece. But the more I worked on it, the more it evolved into something different altogether. I...
3m Aug 14, 2022
3m
Cycled
Composition by Stepfanie Anne. "The attendance recorder reminded me of the concept of "being present" in mindfulness practices. I sampled parts of the audio to transform into a pulse, a human body's own life clock. Part of being human is being aware of time and our own cycles. I sampled micro-parts and utilized audio effects such as delay and reverb. Some of the sounds were also reversed. All ...
2m Aug 14, 2022
2m
OSsub3
Composition by Dave Paton. "I processed the sample with an Elektron Digitakt. I used it on two channels and manipulated in real time, recording in one take. I then overdubbed some chords played from an Audiothingies Micromonsta. As a child I always enjoyed playing with Viewmasters. In the 70's and early 80's there wasn't a lot of technology around so something like a Viewmaster was intriguing....
7m Aug 14, 2022
7m
Get soley (look at the sun)
Composition by Zetwal Nwar. "the original was sliced. I selected three slices, and each one of them went through modular effects/delays/reverb. The viewmaster reminds me of that funny feeling when we were playing as kids in our big family garden, and the viewmaster was kind of the toy that belonged to my father, so he would often come and meet my friends and I when we were playing and showed u...
2m Aug 14, 2022
2m
Opel Astra F (starting engine)
Recording provided by Conserve The Sound. This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds
15s Aug 14, 2022
15s
Opel Astra F (handbrake)
Recording provided by Conserve The Sound. This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds
13s Aug 14, 2022
13s
Attendance recorder
Recording provided by Conserve The Sound. This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds
27s Aug 14, 2022
27s
GAF Viewmaster 3D viewer (number two)
Recording provided by Conserve The Sound. This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds
24s Aug 14, 2022
24s
GAF Viewmaster 3D viewer
Recording provided by Conserve The Sound. This is part of the Obsolete Sounds project, the world’s biggest collection of disappearing sounds and sounds that have become extinct – remixed and reimagined to create a brand new form of listening. Explore the whole project at https://citiesandmemory.com/obsolete-sounds
30s Aug 14, 2022
30s
A moment, held in time
This piece is built from one of my favourite sounds in the world. When a bell finishes its chimes, and the environmental conditions are right (and quiet enough), you get the most wonderful, enveloping trail of ghostly reverb in which you can completely lose yourself. Many is the time when I’ve lost myself in this delicious experience of that bell reverb fading away, never sure when the exact i...
8m Aug 03, 2022
8m
The sound of A Cabra, Coimbra
The bell tower at the University of Coimbra, Portugal is the highest point of the city, visible from almost anywhere and aptly symbolising how the university sits at the centre of life here. The bell is known in Portuguese as El Cabra, which is translated as “the goat” - however, “goat” is also used as an insult in Portuguese, and is how the students used to refer to the bell when cursing it fo...
3m Aug 03, 2022
3m
The voice of the world - a tour in field recordings
This piece originally appeared as a sound installation at the Dar A Ouvir festival in Coimbra, Portugal in July 2022. The voice of the world - as heard by Cities and Memory Whether we’re protesting or worshipping, joyful or angry, sound is at the very core of human existence - we can hear before we’re born, and sound is perhaps the closest and most evocative sense we have.  Field recording c...
59m Jul 27, 2022
59m
The trees of fantasy
Birds in an Azorean garden reimagined by Cities and Memory. The interlacing lines of different species of bird all competing with one another for sonic territory was the immediately attention-grabbing aspect of this recording.  For the reimagined piece, we've taken different routes to effecting parts of the birdsong, so the various rhythm generators, effects and modulations represent the diff...
5m Jun 30, 2022
5m
A carpet of birdsong
In the gardens on Ponta do Sossego on São Miguel in the Azores, two imposing trees frame the entrance.  In the thick canopy of these trees, dozens and dozens of birds of all kinds of species sing frantically, creating a carpet of birdsong that greets visitors entering the garden on this quiet morning.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 
5m Jun 30, 2022
5m
Cities and Memory interview on CBC Canadian national radio
Interview with The Current on CBC, 9 June 2022.  Stuart Fowkes, the founder of Cities and Memory, explains why preserving what our world sounds like is as important as protecting what it looks like.
12m Jun 10, 2022
12m
Covid home alert, Quebec
Recording of the Québec Alert Ready – Emergency Alert for the January 9th, 2021, home curfew. Both English and French versions are recorded. Recorded by Georgios Varoutsos. 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
2m May 19, 2022
2m
Rendezvous
Estacio do Oriente, Lisbon reimagined by Synnax. "This is based on further exploration with  the new Rrreeaaa Timestretch algorithm built in to Reaper.  It chops up two minutes of a track by Karhide from their Feb 2022 Project and then extending it out to just under 30 minutes and mixing it with the Estacio do Oriente field recording.  Both of the tracks we heavily processed with plugins inclu...
30m May 19, 2022
30m
Estacio do Oriente, Lisbon
Ambience, people chatting and hall reverberation at the Estacio do Oriente station in Lisbon, Portugal, recorded by Marcel Gnauk. IMAGE: david prieto from Spain, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
3m May 19, 2022
3m
Notre Dame basilica - lockdown in Montreal
Recording of multiple groups of people playing and enjoying their time in the public space across the Basilica. Multiple languages are being spoken, highlighting some of the cultural diversity Montreal represents. A bell is struck in the background. Recorded by Georgios Varoutsos. Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown ar...
2m May 19, 2022
2m
Place Jacques Cartier - lockdown in Montreal
Recording in front of a Maple syrup stand and a light installation, where multiple groups of people are walking through. This is a low amount of people that would usually fill up this area due to its proximity to various shops and restaurants. There was also supposed to be a small winter festival in this area.  Recorded by Georgios Varoutsos. Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting a...
2m May 19, 2022
2m
Crescent Street - lockdown in Montreal
Recording at the corner of Crescent St and Saint-Catherine St. Cars are slowly driving through the intersection with their tires passing through the snow. In the background, there is a parked truck with its engine on and moments of a few distant voices. This street usually hosts many types of restaurants/bars, yet they have been closed for an extended period and therefore there is no one around...
2m May 19, 2022
2m
Guy Street - lockdown in Montreal
Recording at the corner of Guy St and Saint-Catherine St. City speakers playing music during the holiday period with cars and pedestrians travelling around. A snow removal truck lowers its plow to start scraping off the snow from the streets. There are still little amounts of afternoon commuters. Recorded by Georgios Varoutsos. Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining ...
2m May 19, 2022
2m
Xpodium - lockdown in Montreal
Recording between Rue de la Montagne & Drummond Street on Saint-Catherine St. Montreal built a tiny platform that allows you to walk onto each sidewalk. As pedestrians walk onto the metal stairs and platform, you hear each of their footsteps. While standing over passing vehicles. Recorded by Georgios Varoutsos. Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of the...
2m May 19, 2022
2m
First Pass Under Heaven
Scaffolding being erected at the First Pass Under Heaven Gate of the Great Wall of China, Shanhaiguan, recorded by Mark Wilden. 
1m May 19, 2022
1m
Pass to Heaven
Scaffolding at the Shanhaiguan gate of the Great Wall of China, reimagined by Karhide.  "This was created using the new Rrreeeaaa stretch algorithm that has been added to Reaper.  The sample was stretched out to 40 minutes and then chopped up and reassembled in to a 5 minute track."
5m May 19, 2022
5m
Do they tip here?
Da La night market reimagined by Dan Rosato.  "We stood at the ice cream stand for 30 minutes - at first hungry for a cool sweet treat, and then hypnotised by the rhythmic chopping and the motorbike drone. All sounds in this reimagined piece are drawn from the original field recording."
2m May 03, 2022
2m
Da Lat night market, Vietnam
A typical hot night at the Da Lat Night Market, located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Locals crowd around an ice cream stand, where they order fresh strawberries chopped into ice cream and rolled up. Small motorbikes are everywhere.  Recorded by Dan Rosato. 
2m May 03, 2022
2m
There's not a road here, there's not a river there
This composition is all about creating a brand new sense of place by combining elements of two recordings - crows nesting by a stream in some woods in Oxford, UK, and cars passing over a bridge by a cafe in Vicenza, Italy. There's not a road going through the Oxford woods, and yet we hear cars passing by in the soundscape. There are no trees, crows or woodpeckers in this part of Vicenza, and ye...
5m Apr 22, 2022
5m
On Ponte San Paolo
Binaural recording from street level on Ponte San Paolo, Vicenza. We hear, close up, the sounds of car wheels and engines as cars pass slowly over the cobbled bridge. Between cars passing, we hear the sounds of local cafe customers chatting and laughing, and a man passes close by with a trolley bag. A detailed soundscape. Recorded by Cities and Memory. 
5m Apr 22, 2022
5m
Crows in Chilswell Valley
In a valley in a nature reserve in Oxford near sunset, crows are arguing loudly in the trees above us as they prepare to nest for the night - we can also hear the alarm calls of a woodpecker in the same woods. To our left, the rushing of a small stream continues throughout.  Recorded by Cities and Memory.
3m Apr 22, 2022
3m
The bees are flying. They taste the spring.
Natural soundscape on Monte Venda reimagined by Cities and Memory.  This piece moves as the original recording moves, from a simple, relaxed and natural soundscape to the interruption of a small plane overhead symbolising the intrusion of machinery, urban life and the plague of mankind on the natural world, before passing and leaving peace in its wake once again.  The sounds are made primaril...
5m Apr 20, 2022
5m
Springtime on Monte Venda
A lush spring soundscape from Monte Venda, the highest hill in northern Italy's Colli Euganei. You can hear bees feeding on nearby flowers, coming in close to the microphone, several species of birds overhead, and then the buzz of a small plane flying overhead in this short recording.  Recorded by Cities and Memory, April 2022.
2m Apr 20, 2022
2m
The empty quarter
Desert wind in Oman reimagined by Cities and Memory.  "Far from being a silent or uninteresting source sound, the original field recording is hugely evocative and oddly emotional, transporting the listener to a unique place of both beauty and epic isolation.  "For the reimagined piece, I sought to capture and emphasise some of the sense of loneliness and isolation, but at the same time warmth...
7m Apr 19, 2022
7m
Desert wind in Oman
Desert wind in the Empty Quarter, Oman, recorded by George Vlad. "The vastness of the Empty Quarter is difficult to fathom. It's larger than many countries but it is virtually uninhabited. There's hardly any wildlife and the continuously moving sand dunes support only a few incredibly hardy plants. "The sound of the desert is subtle yet mesmerising. Only wind and soft sand movement make up th...
7m Apr 19, 2022
7m
Upon the Wailing Hill
Reimagined sound from Jerusalem, Israel by Sonnie Carlebach. "This reimagining seeks to draw from the context and content of the field recording by building upon the cries of the man that can be heard in a few points throughout. The man is performing a mystic Jewish practice of calling out to God in the wilderness known as 'Hitbodedut' invented by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.  "By sampling and m...
3m Apr 01, 2022
3m
Hitbodedut (seclusion) on Purim
"A man cries out to God on a Jewish festival holiday in a secluded park area, accompanied by birds, car horns, and other cityscapes."  Recorded in Jerusalem, Israel by Sonnie Carlebach.
1m Apr 01, 2022
1m
The cycle of days
Lockdown thunderstorm in Oxford reimagined by Cities and Memory. "In lockdown, time seemed to be at a standstill, with every day taking forever to pass, but the months vanishing in an instant. This piece is built on a recording of a thunderstorm taking place when we were all confined to our homes, a slight point of difference in a blank calendar of days that looked and felt the same. The degra...
6m Mar 15, 2022
6m
Anti-Ukraine war protest, Oxford
6 March 2022: A protest against the war in Ukraine held in Radcliffe Square, Oxford. Hundreds of people listen on and applaud in support of Russians speaking out against the war and Ukrainians speaking of their experience of the conflict. Three Russians tell us that they don't support Putin and the war, and a Ukrainian based in Oxford speaks of her experience and tells us about her family, stil...
9m Mar 06, 2022
9m
Let it go
Venetian busker reimagined by Scott Lawrence Whitman. "I transformed the original field recording into an ethereal pad."
3m Mar 01, 2022
3m
Let it be in Venice
A busker plays "Let It Be" by the Beatles on an acoustic guitar on New Year's Eve in Campo Santo Stefano, Venice. You can hear passers-by and dogs as well as the busker himself. Recorded by Cities and Memory.  
4m Mar 01, 2022
4m
Walking on freshly-cooled lava
Walking on recently-cooled lava at the site of the Geldingadalir Volcano, Iceland, August 2021. Recorded by Mark Wilden.
4m Mar 01, 2022
4m
Eurydice's shadow
Geldingalir volcano lava walk reimagined by presidiomodelo. "This composition is an inevitable reflection on the current events and a reminder that turning to the past inevitably throws us back to hell itself. Sending a chorus of voices into the cauldron of the resonating fear and violence, we doom ourselves to loneliness, to the past, to an inevitable and helpless repentance in the future."
10m Mar 01, 2022
10m
Trance-it Zürich
Zurich airport shuttle reimagined by Kim Laugs. "The original recording was dense in sound, so I decided to take samples and rework them trough granulation, pitch and cut-ups to create another reorganized transit trip. Enjoy the ride!"
5m Mar 01, 2022
5m
South Tangerang
Soundscape from South Tangerang reimagined by Luis Antero. "Listening to the original recording, full of everyday sounds, led me to create a piece in which many of these sounds were eliminated, leaving only a few that, in a way, mirrored the sound identity of that place. In order to create a more harmonious piece, I added musical elements and sound effects, namely granular synthesis, choosing ...
9m Mar 01, 2022
9m
South Tangerang, Indonesia
Recording by Arya Adyuta from South Tangerang, Indonesia.  "From motorbikes muffler buzzing to the kids shouting, here's how the typical suburban housing in South Tangerang sounds like on the afternoon."
5m Mar 01, 2022
5m
Zurich airport shuttle bus
"Hearing different languages and announcements in the shuttle bus taking me from the plane to the airport terminal. Stepping off the bus into the noise of the airside zone, then into the quiet of the terminal itself." Recorded by Shaun Malone. 
5m Mar 01, 2022
5m
The Icelandic lament
Djúpavík oil tank, Iceland reimagined by Audio Obscura "There was something incredibly moving about this original recording, a reverb heavy voice / moan recorded in an Icelandic oil tank. I wanted to use the singing as it was without alteration and keep the backing sounds to compliment and move the piece along.  "It felt like I was composing music to add to this as if there was an orchestra...
6m Feb 28, 2022
6m
Inside a gigantic oil tank
Inside the Djúpavík oil tank, Iceland - a huge reverb, cavernous footsteps and a recording of singing inside the tank. Recorded by Mark Wilden. 
4m Feb 28, 2022
4m
Partials and overtones
Lockdown hum in Oxford reimagined by Robert Dansby. "I isolated the hum in the title and began to pick apart partials and overtones, from which a I built up an assemblage of details already there, but enhanced - an ambient track made from ambience."
6m Feb 26, 2022
6m
Stoppelbergen pine forest
"'Stoppelbergen' is the name of a 190-hectare wooded area located south of Ossendrecht and northeast of Zandvliet. The area is located on the southern edge of the 'Brabantse Wal', on the border of the polder area. It is a shifting sand area that is wooded with Scots pine, Maritime pine and Corsican pine. The shelduck and the nightjar breed there. 'Stoppelbergen' lies directly east of the Belgi...
6m Feb 25, 2022
6m