Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

Cities and Memory remixes the world, one sound at a time - a global collaboration between artists and sound recordists all over the world. The project presents an amazingly-diverse array of field recordings from all over the world, but also reimagined, recomposed versions of those recordings as we go on a mission to remix the world. What you'll hear in the podcast are our latest sounds - either a field recording from somewhere in the world, or a remixed new composition based solely on those sounds. Each podcast description tells you more about what you're hearing, and where it came from. There are more than 6,000 sounds featured on our sound map, spread over more than 120 countries and territories. The sounds cover parts of the world as diverse as the hubbub of San Francisco’s main station, traditional fishing women’s songs at Lake Turkana, the sound of computer data centres in Birmingham, spiritual temple chanting in New Taipei City or the hum of the vaporetto engines in Venice. You can explore the project in full at http://www.citiesandmemory.com

Episodes

May 13, 2024 4 mins
A very close-up recording of traffic whizzing past on a classic Roman tiled section of road, making a very particular sound, while typically Italian pedestrian crossings beep periodically above us. 

Recorded by Cities and Memory.
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"A man tries to cross a road choked with traffic--cars, trucks, scooters. The stream of traffic ignores the pedestrian crossing signals as the man gets more and more anxious. Eventually he gets ready to make his move, thanks to a short meditation, only to find that he has forgotten that it's a train crossing as well."

Traffic noise in Rome reimagined by John Tenney.
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May 7, 2024 4 mins
Live music in the Drinkery bar on Bourbon Street, New Orleans.

Recorded by Alex Clifford.

IMAGE: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons


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May 7, 2024 2 mins
"It's spring, humidity and temps. are high. Off in the Bayou, through the Spanish moss. The gators are restless.

"Bass, sax, and drone sounds are from the original recording. Swamp and birds are of my own design using Ambigen and creaking pier sounds."

Drinkery in New Orleans reimagined by Joel Graham. 

IMAGE: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikim...
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"The constant tapping of heavy rain is accented by deep thunder. The rain so heavy it caused floods. You can still hear people driving in this weather. The pictures were taken shortly after the rain."

Recorded in Hanoi, Vietnam by Kit Wilmans Fegradoe.


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May 7, 2024 6 mins
"I combined the storm in Hanoi with the output of some iOS music apps (Rings FX, Other Desert Cities, PaulXStretch, Relic Flow, Rymdigare and BounceBud to imagine a storm heard both inside and out."

Vietnamese rainstorm reimagined by Roland Pyle.
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May 3, 2024 4 mins
"The composition is made up of samples cut from the original field recordings. These samples were: Voices, gears, doors, announcements etc.

These samples have been mangled in sequencers, wavesynths and any other gear they could be put in. 

Synths were added to taste."

Paris metro line 3 reimagined by Simon Woods. 
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May 3, 2024 4 mins
On the Paris metro, travelling from Pere Lachaise to Parmentier - train noises, platforms, doors opening and closing and announcements in French.

Recorded by Cities and Memory.
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May 3, 2024 4 mins
Industrial port noises and drones heard at a distance next to The Great Light, with gentle wave sounds and the occasional seagull. An oppressive, industrial soundscape.

Recorded by Cities and Memory. 
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May 3, 2024 5 mins
"The original recording had a nice drone to it which I heightened with resonators. There was also some wind booms which I isolated and looped. I then mixed this down and did some live looping with it, adding dubby delays and reverbs too."

Belfast port soundscape reimagined by Wave Debb.
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April 25, 2024 5 mins
"I wanted to capture the rolling rhythm of a water in the original field recording so I've used a series of pads and synth sounds to create that feeling. I also used a repeating piano melody to mimic the sounds of the water going over rocks etc. I tweaked the original recording to bring up the bird song."

Vermont bird soundscape reimagined by Richard Watts. 
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April 25, 2024 3 mins
In this scene in Berkshire, Vermont, a small babbling stream takes center stage as a variety of birds can be heard singing both near and far.

Recorded by Chris Ruprecht. 
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April 16, 2024 4 mins
"Inside the church of San Stae, the right wall contains altars with works by Niccolò Bambini, Giuseppe Camerata, and Antonio Balestra. The three chapels on the left house works by Giuseppe Torretto, Pietro Baratta, Francesco Migliori, and Jacopo Amigoni. 

"There are seven distinct synth sounds within the piece - each representing a different artist whose work can be found within the church, layered on top of one anoth...
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April 16, 2024 7 mins
The iconic sounds of the Grand Canal in Venice, as heard from outside the Chiesa di San Stae. The low thrum of vaporetto taxis and smaller boats, the lapping of water on the sides of the canal, the conversations of locals zipping up past us on boats, all on a warm, sultry summer afternoon. 

Reimagined by Cities and Memory. 
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April 16, 2024 5 mins
"A walk through the Spice Market and the surrounding area in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.  It's 11 a.m. on September 7, 2019."

Recorded by Azadeh Nilchiani.
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April 16, 2024 5 mins
"My track “Pointe-à-Pitre” is based on a field recording from a spice Market in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. I was drawn to the field recording because it captures the magical atmosphere of the city. I can imagine being taken away by the smell of the spices, fruits and vegetables at the market on this Caribbean paradise. 

"It is this feeling that I have infused in this reimagined music, of being in the heart of Guadelo...
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April 16, 2024 2 mins
"Reimagined the streets of Montmartre as haunted from the ghosts of the past."

Montmartre street recording reimagined by VVHΛLTHISИEY.
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April 9, 2024 4 mins
"My recollection of this field recording was standing in Campo San Giacomo di Rialto at 4pm, after an entire day of recording the sounds of Venice - my favourite urban space in the world for sound recording. The sun was warm and mellow, and the campo was unusually quiet and empty considering its proximity to the Rialto Bridge, one of Venice's most popular and crowded tourist spots. 

"The trickle of water from a small ...
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April 9, 2024 4 mins
A walkthrough across Venice's iconic Rialto Bridge, through the market at the bottom of the bridge, and out into Campo San Giacomo di Rialto. In this quiet square just away from the hustle and bustle of one of Venice's most popular tourist spots, all we can hear is the gentle trickle of a water fountain, and the bells chiming for 4pm. 

An unusually contemplative and mellow end to a soundscape of what is often one of t...
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March 29, 2024 14 secs
"The sound of the migrating terns is replaced by violins playing a the same rhythm as a short loop of the field recording. This pattern is faded in and out with other orchestral string instruments playing similar tern patterns."

Migrating terns reimagined by Simon Woods.
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