Soundscape Collection
Our daily environment is full of sounds. To some of them we
pay attention like the beeping of our alarm clock or the siren
of a police car behind us. Others are just there as the humming
of the computer cooling fan or the flowing water in plumbing.
Some of them are pleasant others annoying. Most of them are going
by unnoticed: we can hear them but we don't listen to them.
All these sounds make up an acoustic landscape - a soundscape -
that is unique to every place. And more unique to every moment
of the day. Soundscape Collection invites you to listen to the
soundscapes that the author encounters in his daily life and hence
explore your own acoustic environment.
Important: For best quality listening use some
good headphones. All recordings were made with OKM originalhead-microphones
that have excellent abilities in recording the spaciality of
the sound sources.
Soundscape collection is alos available as podcast.
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| 1. In the
park / Taking the tramway (mp3, 10.5 MB, 21.05.2006) |
- I'm in the Grün80-park in Basel, Switzerland,
on a sunny sunday-afternoon. I'm sitting right at the
lake, near the restaurant. People are walking by, bikes
are passing. On the other lake side you can hear the
music of the carousel.
- I'm waiting at a tramway stop with other people. Two
trams meet right at this stop, I'm taking the one coming
from the left. After the second stop the tram passes
some road constructions and has to wait in front of a
traffic light.
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| 2. Crossroad
/ On the roof (mp3, 5.1 MB, 29.05.2006) |
- I'm at the crossroad in front of the Sommercasino (Basel,
Switzerland). The layout of the crossroad includes a long
curve that you might hear. Also you can hear the beeping
that signals the pedestrians a safe crossing.
- I'm on a roof patio of a five storey house in the St.
Johann-quarter. You can hear my friend eating and taking
as well as people and cars moving down in the street.
A group of piccolo players is practising in the distance.
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| 3. At the lake / Above the
lake / At the mountain ridge (mp3,
6.3 MB, 10.06.2006) |
- I'm sitting on a balcony at the Lago Maggiore-lake
in southern switzerland. It has just stopped raining and
you can hear drops falling on and from the roof of the
balcony. Behind cars are passing, in front waterbird chatter.
Inside,
my friends are playing a game.
- I'm standing on a small path
800 m above the lake. Behind me you can hear insects
on a blooming berry bush. People
talk in the distance and various birds are passing by.
- Right
under the mountain ridge I'm standing in front of a small
cabin. At the right you can hear a small creek,
in front the wind is singing in the trees. My friend
is taking a picture with his camera.
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| 4. Churches
of Chur (mp3 5.6MB, 30.06.2006) |
- Chur is a town in eastern Switzerland surrounded by steep
mountains. I'm overlooking the town center from a exit road
that climbs up into a mountain valley. It's saturday morning
11h and you can hear three of the four major churches and
the town hall signaling the hour.
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