5 curious sounds I've heard this week
I love sound. I love collecting sounds. Here are some of this week's favourites.
Listen to me reading this article.
One of my earliest memories is an experience of sound.
I can hear it now, if I conjure it, if I concentrate deeply enough, if I travel back in time far enough.
It’s like zooming in to something earthbound from way, way up in space, plummeting from satellite-height high above the earth down to focus on a specific place, with trees and blurry people and shop signs and cars. As if my brain has set a location on a map and has taken me, suddenly, precisely to the very spot I was seeking.
I conjure the sound and I’m aware that I’m a small child, sitting on the floor of the kitchen in my childhood home.
And I can hear it. A combined sound: a tumble drier and rain.
Those two sounds always went together; our tumble drier was only ever used if it was raining.
I can hear the thud-thud of clothes being tossed and slung in the drum.
I can hear the tumble drier reverse and restart.
I can hear Manchester rain on glass, in puddles and running down gutters. I hear it as if I’m inside the house, listening to the world beyond the walls of our suburban semi.
If I listen hard enough, I can hear the tiny metallic clink of a button or a zip hitting the metal walls of the machine. A lightning-fast, silvery sound.
The thud-thud-thud of the tumble drier is like a heartbeat in the centre of a warm kitchen and my sense of my first, oldest home.
I’m anchored to that time by sound.
I can hear its multiple pitches. A chord, actually. I feel its rhythm. It’s an embodied memory.
When I conjure the sound, other senses awaken. I can feel cool linoleum underneath me. I can smell fabric conditioner in the air. I see my mother’s clog-clad feet standing in front of the sink as she washes dishes.
I love sound.
Read on, to listen. :)
Some of my favourite found sounds
1. The morning sounds outside my house
Listen to this and see what you can hear. There are LOADS of gorgeous noises in this. A plane going overhead, distant traffic, the wind and lots of birds.
2. The sound of a small orchestra tuning up
When I hear musicians tuning up it fills me with anticipation; something exciting is about to happen. People are about to use their energy and expertise to make something beautiful. Have a listen to see if you can pick out all the instruments.
3. The sound of my dog trying to talk.
My dog can ‘talk.’ Just listen to this conversation and you’ll see what I mean. She’s definitely expressing herself in what, I think, are her ‘words.’ See if you can pick up on her mood in this clip.
It’s a conversation. An actual conversation.
I’m trying to figure out what she wants. At the end she walks out of the room after a uttering very disgruntled grumble.
4. Dodgy hotel plumbing
I send audio letters to my mate Taff. If you’ve never sent an audio letter, try it. It’s brilliant fun. Here’s a clip from a recording I made last summer in a London hotel. The sound of the pipes is…alarming.
5. Me, aged 2 playing with a very old cassette recorder
Who doesn’t love a cassette recorder?
This is my first experience of recording audio. Literally, my very first.
My mum won this tape recorder in a raffle (or a tombola?) and I thought it was the most magical thing I’d ever experienced.
This is me, recording audio on our one and only cassette. The label is written in my mum’s handwriting and says “Emma, aged 2 1/2.” So I was very small.
Listen to the tape hiss, the sound of the mic cable and me, reciting a fairy tale.
If you want to find out more about this piece of audio and hear more of it, click here.
I’ll be back with more lovely sounds soon. Let me know what kind of sounds you enjoy. I’d love to hear from you. :)
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