The Domestic Soundscape making, listening, thinkingfelicityford@outlook.com
Listening
Listening in on the walk!
I experimented with posting a sound and pictures account over on the 2012 walk blog, but if you fancy listening to our short audio logs from the three days, they are here. I have been very inspired by the inimitable Ramblings programme, created for Radio 4 by Clare Balding and I want to work on […]
Walk 2012
Mark had the idea some time ago to design a walk from Weymouth – his hometown, and the location of all the Olympic and Paralympic sailing competitions – to Stratford in London, where the rest of the Olympic Games will take place. The idea is to walk the route during the time of the Olympic […]
Niftyknits and our mascot for this season on The Hub!
I have a *thing* for Meerkats. From bouncing on the sofa excitedly at any appearance by Aleksandr Orlov on the TV to insisting on watching every annoyingly-voice-overed episode of Meerkat Manor, I cannot get enough of these animals and their behaviour. I readily sought out and absorbed Tim Clutton-Brock‘s book on the subject of Meerkat […]
Scratches on records
There is a perfect DOT of sound when the stylus on a record player hits a scratch. Sort of prickly and bassy at the same time, the scratch quickly tails off into a kind of whispery, rustly, fizzing noise. But that first contact with a deep scratch – the “Bd” sound, is quite unique
Supermarket
If anyone reading this has been caught up in the last-minute provisions purchasing of Christmas, you may be familiar with the soundscape of the Supermarket at this time of year! BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP Out of my way… fsh… sorry… aaaargh… sigh… OUT OF MY WAY… SORRY… AAAARGH! SIGH! SORRY… SIGH! FSH… This year’s trip […]
Pine needles, Scratching
While replacing decorations the cat had knocked down & repositioning various baubles & decorations on our tree, I noticed the very bristling, brushlike, rasping sound of the needles brushing against my fingertips & the ribbons. This made me think of & remember the specific sound of pine-needles dropping onto the ground on Xmas we had […]
Car engines on TV: “Top Gear” sounds + “BADDIE’S” car in Tarantino film
Watching TV tonight, the sound of car engines & their specific tones or aural qualities stuck out for me. On Top Gear, the sounds of a 3 V8 engine bellows was discussed, while in Tarantino’s “Deathproof,” the menacing sound of The Bad Guy’s car-engine became a very important sound in terms of building anticipation & […]
Different kinds of paper in pass-the-parcel
When playing pass-the-parcel today at The Oxford Bluestockings Xmas party, I was struck by the different sonic qualities of various types of wrapping paper. The foil papers have an almost tinny quality; a kind of treble, high-pitch (relatively!) rustle with a metallic twang. The brown or duller papers tend to make buckling, woody, more bassy […]
Bubbles in the bath
The sound of bubbles fizzing and popping in the bath is miniscule & dainty. A brittle, wet sound. Tiny bursts of sonic, watery waves.
Twig snapping in fire
BASS TONE TREBLE AFTERMATH
Cutting Parsnips
soft, wet, firm sound of the parsnip’s surfaces and texture as it is cut low sound as it hits sideboard/worktop. MUCH NOISIER than a chopping board… SLEUSH… SHMUPP… STRIKE
Roadworks outside
high-pitched trilling mechanism panning machinery moving L to R white noise; the blocky sound of a generator or large engine rumble of breaking tarmac
The weir
(near the Oracle…) On the approach to the weir, a louder & louder ROAR becomes evident… a deep, dangerous, powerful DIN.
Horses passing
ROUND HOOF SUCKING CLOPPING MUDDY SOUND clop   clop clop clop clop clop rhythm of movement WHINNYING: exhale through the lips, with mouth closed but relaxed lips, so that escaping air makes flubbering sound. Also, vocal noise… Nnnnn the N of ‘neigh’ begins in the nose & travels down through the mouth and lips. […]
Joey’s noises
Joey’s pitiful miaowing, mewing and other assorted cries have been very present in the soundscape of today. His miaow is uncertain & needy; a high, thin sound. I feel a bit bad about today’s SOUND BANK entry, since it doesn’t so much describe the actual sound of Joey’s miaows as well as it could, and […]
Breaking Chocolate
Breaking squares of chocolate off a bar has a strangely soft, brittle, dense, snapping sound.
Swans Flying
I can’t recall *exactly* the sound of swans flying overhead; but I do remember their wings made a great sweeping sound & there was a high tone in the noise of their calls & movement. It was an assured sweep of wings; too strong for a flutter and yet not at all choppy or hard. […]
Cow slipping on ice
concentric circles of echoing harmonics with many thin tones built up on each other… The cow that slipped was this one, and I saw it when I was walking in Ditchling this time last year. This is Ethel Mairet’s sign, which hangs in the Ditchling Museum, just around the corner from where she had her […]
Wind in the last oak leaves
A very small sound like a thin rattle at the edge of the wind… shk, shk, shk, shk…
Ice cracking
extreme hardness: kkkkkk-fsh-RUKSH-CRRRRRR can sound be ‘SHARP’? Snap. Crack. Brittle surfaces colliding & freezing friction Ice cracking: it is like glass being torn.
Pouring a beer
1. Get bottles out of cupboard. They CLINK together; a rolling, glassy resonant bang. 2. The short fzz/shhh as the cap is popped off the bottle. 3. The clunk of the glass being set down… 5. 4. The gentle zzzzzzz of the bubbles as the glass fills & the diminishing space produces a higher pitch.
Mystery birdsong
Buoyantly; rapidly; intensely; alarmingly PAUSE: then repeat You can hear a recording of the mystery birdsong (I have since learned that it was a Great Tit singing) here from when I recorded it last year and posted it on this very blog to find out if anyone knew what it was!
Shattering crockery…
Porcelain surfaces CRASH clink… A violent, percussive, short, staccato BURST. A single, radiating, large soundwave. I remember this sound very well; it was when Joey the cat was investigating the shelves in the kitchen and he knocked over a Toby Jug that had belonged to Mark’s Grandmother. It was in so many tiny little pieces […]
Frost
Walking on frosty pavements; the occasional slip in the rhythm of my steps as I slide. The marble-like qualities of a frozen surface… a hard clacking sound.
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