Ashley Elsdon: Recordings

I recorded this on a train from Wakefield Westgate to Pontefract Tanshelf. Only a journey of 20 minutes, but filled with sounds.

I was in this gallery at an exhibition on the Sussex landscapes. It was quite good overall, so I thought I'd record a short amount of the sonic landscape in the gallery.

This is actually three recordings of the river Thames taken in the morning, midday and afternoon on the 20th of Feb. Enjoy!

When you listen to this you might not know what it is. I was walking in to a local station and I heard this. It was actually the lift to the platform. Normally it would announce 'platform' when it gets to the platform, but something was obviously broken and all it was doing was repeating 'pla, pla, pla, pla, pla, pla, pla, pla'. I was in something of a rush so I was only able to grab a few seconds...

I tend to be in this location once a week and I seem to have fallen into a pattern of standing and looking at the river and recording the sounds there.

I was walking to an event and I could hear this even with noise cancelling headphones on it was so loud. It's only a very short recording, but I thought I'd share it. Recorded with an apple watch.

I've met this guard on the train before. He is so helpful and cheerful he makes even the most mundane trip seem good. He was chatting on this trip and I managed to record a little of him

I made this recording by the Thames, kind of halfway between London Bridge and Cannon Street. It was a bright day and there were people around and tourist boats coming down the river and building work going on. It was recorded on an Apple Watch.

I got this new espresso maker at Christmas and I've been meaning to try it out for a while now. Today was the day and I decided to record the sound of it, or, to be more precise, the entire process. The very loud sound at the beginning is me grinding the beans.

I recorded this yesterday during what can only be described as a torrential downpour. Which was lovely to hear and even better not to be in it.

Boxing day always seems to be a time for playing games. This was a particularly noisy game called 'pit' and as members of my family were playing it I thought I would record them all shouting.

If you can remember Bagpuss the cartoon you will probably remember the mice on the mouse organ. This is their song which I recorded from a Bagpuss toy.

I was out for dinner and used the bathroom in the pub we were eating in. The hand towel dispenser made an interesting noise, so I recorded myself using it. This is very short, but I hope you like it.

We have had a lot of rain so far this November, and some of it very heavy indeed. I recorded this in a heavy downpour.

This is a very short recording I took whilst waiting to speak to my local GP practice, and I'd been on the line for a while before I recorded this.

I heard this during a phone call and asked for a recording of it. I really like how creaky it is.

I recorded this on Monday in the City. The area felt a lot louder than normal for some reason. It is mostly traffic noise, and I have no idea why it was busier and more noisy than I am used to on that day.

This is a very short recording from a hotel lift in Edinburgh. Every time I pressed the button for the floor I wanted it made this sound. A bit like a squeaky toy. I found it hilarious so I had to record it.

We took this ferry back from Craignure to Oban I made a recording of the safety warning, which was quite extensive.

The tram from Edinburgh airport to the city centre is an excellent service, and, more than that, it has some lovely noises too. If you listen carefully you can hear a discussion about the smell of muck spreading very early in the recording, and it was very pungent I can tell you.

Ok, the title of this recording is a little misleading. This is the sound of the tube from Stockwell to St Pancras. The person I was travelling with asked why the tube made this horrible wailing sound, and I replied 'It's the sound of dead commuters screaming'. It was kind of off the cuff, but the sound does make me think of wailing souls.

I had a few moments and took a walk around a small park in London, listening to the sounds of people, dogs etc. As I was walking there was a bunch of children playing football. I think it was organised, at least as much as that gets. But it was a pleasant sound, so pushed record on my watch. I hope you enjoy it, even though it is brief.

This is a recording of just the general ambience from the show.

A brass band at the Sanderstead Horticultural show. This local event has been postponed for a couple of years for obvious reasons, so it was great to see it return.

I was aware that they were there, not far from the automatic door, and every time it opened you got a burst of this really quite lovely singing.