Broadcast from a broken time machine
I was attracted to the age and broken nature of this recording and wanted to use the noise as a feature. All the sounds featured originate from the original, however mangled they have become. One could could hear all the layers of noise to be the 100+ years that have past since the recording was captured - with the original sounds still trying to break through. Balangi (xylophone) duet reimagi...
2m Feb 22
2m
Lullaby sung by Nadeng to her baby
From the sound collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, being from a collection of cassette tape recordings of music and spoken language (principally Laarim) made by anthropologist Patti Langton in South Sudan during 1979 and 1980. Recorded by Patti Langton. Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. ——— Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 so...
2m Feb 22
2m
Nadeng's song - a lullaby in cycles
I listened to this beautiful excerpt of Nadeng singing to her child and the sonic presence of children and a baby. I grew increasingly attached to their voices and carefully traced their audible responses to each other. I read about the context of this recording – mother to child, mother to children, singing in South Sudan. The wars that have afflicted this place. The civil war that had recentl...
6m Feb 22
6m
On the footsteps of Khakcilik
"Fiat Lux". From the living breath of Genesis to the Kikuyu’s sacred seed, from the Greek cosmic egg to the Sulawesi tale of the earth-shaking boar scratching its itch — across countless traditions, humankind has always sought to explain the origins of the cosmos. Perhaps fewer people are aware that humanity has also tried to explain the origins of technological life, with ‘technology’ here mea...
13m Feb 22
13m
Bridge work (2018)
As a student during the early 00s I lived close to Hammersmith Bridge and would often spend time there along the river. The architecture of the bridge and particularly the sound of crossing traffic was always fascinating to me; during a visit to London in 2018 I made field recordings, and soon after made this composition with it. Hammersmith Bridge, London reimagined by Toby Kaufmann-Buhler.
4m Feb 09
4m
Underneath Hammersmith Bridge
This was recorded in June 2018 on the Lower Mall path under Hammersmith Bridge, London, during a busy time for pedestrian traffic; this was less than a year before the bridge completely closed for extensive repairs. Recorded by Toby Kaufmann-Buhler.
2m Feb 09
2m
Every form of transport at once
An interesting spot in central Berlin at Gontardstrasse - an intersection with passing trams and buses from two sides, while trains pass overhead to our right. As an added bonus, we stand between two pedestrian crossing boxes, with a stereo effect as they exchange pulses on either side of us. Recorded by Cities and Memory, September 2025.
8m Jan 26
8m
Every form of transport and voices (stereo effect)
I was especially inspired by the rhythmic, stereo qualities of the traffic sounds. Their sound texture gave me new inspiration every time I listened to them. The reimagined piece is nostalgic and dreamy. I was really focused on the storytelling aspect, in a kind of post-cinematographic way. The composition is built partly from « tape music » using the original recording, then layered with two ...
4m Jan 26
4m
Indonesian reverie
"This recording felt introspective, reflective and meditative and the Indonesian chant took me back to Bali, where I had just been in April 2025. I used some recordings I took in Bali such as a dawn chorus and placed birds and rustles in the wider stereo field. I recorded myself playing the flute, basing the melody on the chant, which is woven throughout the piece."  reimagined by Sarah McRuvie.
4m Jan 21
4m
Rumah Tangga's back yard
There are various insects and birds in Rumah Tangga while the space is filled with gardens. During the morning time, there used to be a 'sholawat' (a praise to God from a nearby mosque) until noon. Because of the vast lands, the megaphone sound from the mosque sprawls nicely throughout the area. The sound of the inhabitants gives a calm and soothing feeling. I love to wake up early in the morn...
6m Jan 21
6m
Riffbert the frog
"I found inspiration for this piece within the first few seconds of listening to the recording, it quite literally leapt out at me (Pardon the pun), a very distinctive rhythm, I quickly wrote a riff that followed the rhythm and made it the focal point of this piece with it reappearing throughout, some very chaotic sections (similar to the hopping of a frog). I used guitar amps on a lot of the f...
7m Jan 21
7m
The frogs of Varka
"One night the frogs of Varka village were improvising!" Recorded in Varka, Greece by Agapi Zarda.
3m Jan 21
3m
Kelvingrove
The original sample was resampled, with a lot of treatments. Guitar samples were added, as well as synth and keyboards sounds. The idea was to end up with an ambient piece in which you would still hear the original atmosphere. The piece was mastered by Fabric Decay, an electronic / experimental artist from Kyiv, Ukraine. Kelvingrove museum, Scotland reimagined by Abstrakt Lake. IMAGE: 瑞丽江的河水,...
8m Jan 21
8m
Kelvingrove museum atmosphere
The atmosphere of the Kelvingrove art museum in Glasgow. People walking, talking, children playing. The amazing reverberation of the building makes steps sound a bit like treated percussion, at times. Minimum editing (fade in/out and EQ). Recorded by Balthazar Klimt. IMAGE: 瑞丽江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
2m Jan 21
2m
The ballad of Bab Doukkala
The most striking feature of the original field recording is dozens of motorbikes and scooters zooming past and dodging their way through the pedestrians. Throughout the day when it's busier they can only pass very slowly, but with sparser crowds at night they rip past us on both sides. This composition brings to life some of the energy of the city of Marrakesh by night, with the instrumentati...
5m Jan 08
5m
The bikes of Bab Doukkala
Marrakesh, Morocco - at 9.30pm in the Bab Doukkala district, the city is full of life. Shops are open and bustling, the area is mostly locals and few tourists, but the most remarkable thing is the sheer number of scooters and motorbikes passing - in the space of just a few minutes, more than 20 motorbikes zip and slalom past us in the narrow alleyway, zig-zagging between pedestrians. You can h...
4m Jan 08
4m
Midnight in an amphibian world
For this piece, multiple layers of synths, strings and other instruments layer on top of one another, performing variations of the same melody, to mimic both the repetition and individual variations within the the frog choruses. Each instrument becomes a voice joining in with the frogs’ calls, creating a melodic bed that reflects on the majestic beauty of nature’s large-scale gatherings of anim...
5m Jan 07
5m
Boat launch blues
"Reimagination of Hastings Boat Launch with a blues shuffle feel to it." Hastings boat launch reimagined by Gareth Eckley.
6m Jan 07
6m
Green vs grey
|Trees and birds have always been considered the lungs of a neighbourhood. Yet, even though we recognise their value, the policy of too many (Belgian) cities is to trade vibrant greenery for dull, grey concrete. This is a call to action: we must do more to protect our scarce green spaces." Bos forest, Amsterdam reimagined by Jade Yorks.
2m Jan 07
2m
Midnight froglings, Goa
This was recorded near a field after the rain around midnight where frogs were having a huge discussion about meeting their future partners. Recorded in Goa, India by Anantha Krishnan.
1m Jan 07
1m
Launching
his recording, made in January 2025, is of one of the fishing boats being launched from the beach in Hastings. This sustainable fishing fleet has a history spanning over 200 years and faces many challenges, such as the gradual decline of fish stocks, damage to the marine environment from pollution and climate change, over regulation and unfair competition and encroachment from the european indu...
18m Jan 07
18m
Amsterdamse Bos
Amsterdamse bos is a 100-year-old forest surrounded by a 750-year-old city. This artificial forest is both a forest and park-like. It provides a significant habitat for non-human creatures within the city. Meanwhile, behind the voices of birds, you can hear the constant sound of airplanes passing overhead on their way to Schiphol Airport, which was built on reclaimed land just like the forest. ...
3m Jan 07
3m
Checkpoint Charlie
Ambisonics recordings at Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. Recorded by Anders Vinjar.
10m Jan 07
10m
Checkpoint
"I wanted to keep the original recording as intact as possible. I had some chord progressions I was already working on, and they seemed to fit the theme, so I orchestrated from there. Wanting something that reflected both the past, present and future of the location, the Berlin School influenced was obvious, but then it needed to break down a bit, before coming back to the reality of the presen...
11m Jan 07
11m
Chimes revisited
"My first ever Cities and Memory track was a response to a very similar recording; that one, too, featured chimes. For that first track I re-sequenced the ringing and built my response on that 'quantised' structure. "Some five years on I have changed very little to this original recording, leaving most of the irregularity in the ringing in place and working with and around its rhythm, embracin...
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
The Untuned Bell
The Untuned Bell sound installation in Radhusplassen in Oslo. This 1.4-ton bell (anno 1949) was removed from the bell tower of Oslo City Hall because it was no longer in tune with the other 48 bells. The artist found the bell lying silent on the ground and restored its voice. From its new home on Radhusplassen, here outside the City Hall, the bell can once again interact with the bells in the ...
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
Chaffinches in McCaig's Tower
In McCaig's Tower, overlooking the bustling harbour town of Oban, finches call out from all sides as we walk around the inside of the tower walls, while the hum of the harbour rises up the hill from below us. Recorded in Oban, Scotland by Cities and Memory in April 2025.
4m Dec 18, 2025
4m
Look out
"The piece takes its cue from McCaig’s Tower in Oban, Scotland—not as an architectural curiosity, but as an acoustic world. It begins and ends with the finches that inhabit the open structure, their calls forming the work’s natural frame. "The music moves through evolving motifs: a peaceful drone and the suggestion of bagpipes represent the quiet of the unfinished enclosure overlooking the tow...
6m Dec 18, 2025
6m
The company of others
"In approaching the project I was struck by the evocative and ethereal quality of the original recording, in particular the call to prayer, and have tried to retain that in the three sections of this piece. There is also a timeless quality to the original, which I wanted to retain and develop. "The piece is intended to present those sounds in different yet related contexts; the first section i...
16m Dec 18, 2025
16m
Call to prayer at the floating village
A call to prayer at the Bang Phat floating village in Thailand, known for its "floating" houses on stilts and a simple fishing community. Recorded by Jake Edwards.
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
Cuckoos
"I used the cuckoos as a backdrop for a story about death in the forest, of disappearing back into the earth and how that would feel. I wanted it to sound sort of dreamy and slightly off balance." Cuckoos in Tomintoul, Scotland reimagined by Dermot Fitzsimons.
5m Dec 18, 2025
5m
Cuckoos at dawn
A soundscape of a particularly misty morning, recorded at 4.12am during late spring from the observing window of the Tomintoul Bird Hide. The hide sits on the edge of the highest village in the Highlands of Scotland. The calls of cuckoos create an eerie presence that gives depths to the length of the surrounding valley. Along with the days awakening dawn chorus, loud insects chirping, a brash ...
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
Beneath the swell, she echoes
"Beneath the swell, she echoes emerged from Marcelo Carneiro’s evocative field recording of the Iemanjá Day celebration—its textures, rhythms, and atmosphere opened a doorway to memory. I was drawn to create it through a long-standing connection to Brazilian music and culture. Many years ago, while singing with a Brazilian percussion group in Scotland and collaborating with Brazilian musicians ...
5m Dec 18, 2025
5m
Praia Vermelha 01
This is the first 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. Waves...
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
Some distance from the city
"The sound of a train in the distance on a quiet beautiful morning makes me think of possibility and freedom. But I was thinking about how others may hear something different, or it might not be a positive association for everyone, depending on how free you are, or what's truly possible. In the old days I had an idea of America and its wide open spaces as a place where people were free and ever...
6m Dec 18, 2025
6m
Early morning, Savannah Garden City
It’s early morning in what seems to be a quiet suburb of Georgia. People are still asleep, but you the rumble of industry never stops, cars flying down nearby highways and the signalling and occasional hoots of trains passing through. The birds wake up and follow suit. Garden City is a city is known for its industrial hub and proximity to the Port of Savannah. The rumble of trains reminds you ...
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
I found the presence
"This piece struck me because of the background drone of echoed speech and mechanical sounds with some melodic content (possibly an elevator chime, since looking into the site I found that the Hannover Rathaus has a well-known arched elevator that curves with the dome of the building). "I built the fundamentals of the piece around those notes and some audible German and English phrases, includ...
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
Reverb in the Rathaus
A soundwalk around the heavily-reverbed impressive interior of Hannover's Neues Rathaus. Huge, reverby echo caused by the voices and footsteps of just a few visitors. Recorded by Cities and Memory, May 2025.
5m Dec 18, 2025
5m
Skye waves / Midnight mariner
"Scotland has always had a strong pull on my imagination and I've always wanted to visit. This sound file was my first choice from the many offered by Cities & Memory for their Autumn Project. Coincidentally, this past summer, while vacationing with my family in Assateague, Virginia, I made a recording of the ocean shore while standing on the beach. When I began the Autumn Project, I decided to...
6m Dec 18, 2025
6m
Chirping into daylight
A dawn soundscape in the heart of Vietnam’s lowland forest, where the awakening of countless birds marks the start of a new day. The air fills with the diverse chorus of chirps, calls, and rustling, as various species gradually come to life. Cat Tien Park, Vietnam recorded by Rafael Diogo.
6m Dec 18, 2025
6m
Vienna drum and bass on a bike (liquid pedal remix)
"For this remix, I pulled out the most musical fragments of the original, like the bicycle bells, and turned them into looping motifs, then built an entirely new drum and bass track beneath them. I also reshaped the vocal sample into another loop and wove in select sound effects, like the crowd noise and a car starting, to preserve the atmosphere while giving the piece a fresh identity." Drum ...
5m Dec 18, 2025
5m
Drum and bass on the bike
This is the recording I made by complete accident - we were coming back home with my girlfriend and when we came out of the metro station we heard loud music from behind, so we went to see what it was. I remembered that I'd seen the posters around town about the Drum and Bass on Bike event, which was supposed to be in support of the general 420 parade (cannabis legalization movement in general...
2m Dec 18, 2025
2m
Brooklyn carousel
This is a brief recording in May 2022 of the music from Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn, NY. I was just looking up the history of the Merry-Go-Round, which was built in 1922 for the Idora Park amusement park in Youngstown, Ohio. So, by sheer coincidence this recording was made 100 years after the creation of the carousel. Recorded in Brooklyn, New York by Bill McKenna.
2m Dec 18, 2025
2m
Jane underwater
"Resampled bit of carousel from my former home of Brooklyn gets a new life as this plaintive melody." Carousel in Brooklyn, New York reimagined by Anne Pope.
5m Dec 18, 2025
5m
The March of Light
The March of Light 2025 (Ukraine Support Demonstration in Vienna) This recording illustrates one of the crucial parts of the March of Light demonstration, which is basically a flash mob based on people showing and hiding their phones with flashlights turned on, which is then shared on social media to draw people's attention to the whole event, which is to support Ukraine in its war against its...
2m Dec 18, 2025
2m
Transmissie
"The original field recording captures a street choir singing hymns. I transformed this material by processing it into dense, evolving layers of sound. One layer stretches the recording in time and feeds it through the Elta Music Solar 42F, allowing the choral textures to dissolve into a shimmering, otherworldly drone. "The result is a slow-moving, contemplative, and meditative soundscape that...
3m Dec 18, 2025
3m
Vietnam
"The bird sounds of this recording have a particular cadence and repetition. It inspired me to create something that was more solid and continuous to accompany it. I created a drone composed of 4 sounds that intertwine with each other progressively. "This piece contains a binaural base frequency of 3.2 Hz so it is encouraged to listen on earphones to get the optimum effect. The piece is also t...
6m Dec 18, 2025
6m
Dripping water inside a sea cave
Inside a sea cave on a Cornish beach, recording dripping waves on different surfaces and at different distances, onto rock, into small puddles and directly onto sand, while the roar of the sea waves continues outside the cave. Recorded in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, England by Cities and Memory, April 2025.
4m Dec 18, 2025
4m
Cicadas and katydids singing
Cicadas and katydids singing in Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, 9 Aug 2013. This is a recording of the intense sounds of cicadas and katydids singing in the deep night. The recording was made using two condenser microphones in stereo array through a Mackie 12 track board directly to digital. Recorded by Dan Bodah.
5m Dec 18, 2025
5m
Aquatic reverberations from Cornwall to SoCal
"Salt water reverberations and soundscapes are a daily and necessary embodied element of my life by and on the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, Southern California. As a woman from Britain living in SoCal, I connect with the sea caves sounds in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, England, being soothed and inspired by the rhythms, pitches, textures, and timbres of water drops, accompanied by the constant ro...
13m Dec 18, 2025
13m