Sound map

Key: Editor’s ratings

3 earsWorth a journey 2 earsWorth a detour 1 earsInteresting 0 earsUnrated

21 thoughts on “Sound map”

  1. Question: Is this map still being continued? I’d otherwise open a new one.

    This map is so very important for all musicians in the world. Sacred places of sound have become rare. Please let us share our treasures of knowledge!

  2. Hi Trevor (Cox),

    Disused WW2 oil tanks at Inchindown , near Invergordon. The world’s longest duration echo. Can this place be added to the ‘sound’ map ?

  3. Pingback: Sound Map | YK
  4. Ron, yes. My sound effects partner and I have recorded them extensively, and are always seeking more opportunities to record these wonderful sounds. I haven’t had a chance to compare the vortices at many different altitudes, but they are certainly heard at sea level! Wind and relative humidity affect them, and what they pass through at each location (i.e. trees, shrubs, telephone wires etc) make an unlimited number of variations tonally.

    They are endlessly fascinating!

  5. While working for MIT Lincoln Lab in the mid-1980’s, studying wind shear and its affect on aviation, I had the opportunity to get close to the runways at Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado. When planes landed, passing perhaps within a couple hundred feet of me at an altitude less than 100 ft, I often heard a whistling sound, several, in fact. I’m guessing that these were caused by small wing-tip vortices spinning off the ends of the wings (I was located to the side of the runway, not directly under it). At the time I had no way to record the sounds, and I have never read anyone else describing them, but I suspect planes are still making these sounds, but maybe only at high altitude airports. Someone else might have heard and recorded them. I’d be curious to learn if they have.

  6. I am from Saudi Arabia and happened to read the article “SONIC WONDERS OF THE WORLD” in Reader’s Digest. I think you may be interesting to hear this story. My grandfather had “mortar and pestle” made of brass and it makes beautiful sound “like bell”. He bought it from Baghdad more than 100 years ago. He was Bedouin and he used it to grind coffee beans to make Arabic coffee and at the same time to call for guests who are lost on the desert.

  7. Singing Beach in Manchester, Massacusetts, USA is worth a visit in summer. As you walk on the sand, if you shuffle your feet, the sand will “sing.” The beach is very popular and accessible via train fron Boston so plan your visit for a weekday.

  8. Ringing Rocks Park, in Bucks County, PA, is full of rocks that ring when struck with a hammer. The rocks are composed partly of iron, and each makes a different sound. It would take a few people to play a complex tune, because the rocks are large, and you’d have to climb from one to the next to hit them in sequence.

  9. Couple of questions: Have you heard of composer John Luther Adams earth sound gallery in Alaska? And, has anyone been able to record micro-sounds, like ice crystals forming in water, or snow flakes (not sleet) landing on each other, or electrons in motion? I’ve either heard, or imagined I heard, the sound Northern Lights make in a quiet Arctic night, and fog moving across a rocky landscape. Am I nuts, or would these kinds of friction really make a sound, and if our ears can’t pick them up, are there instruments that could, and is anyone recording them?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.