1) Harbour atmosphere at night, the constant, slightly harmonic, insistent drone

An audio stream was set up at this point in Braunschweig Hafen (harbour) to hear how the sound of the harbour evolved over approximately 36hrs. It ran from late afternoon April 27 (Thursday) to early morning April 29 (Saturday). All these tracks are recordings taken at various times from the stream. A constant heavy, slightly harmonic, drone permeates the landscape here. All other sounds are heard against this background. Braunschweig Hafen is on the Mittellandkanal - Germany's foremost cross country waterway and inland shipping route. Today it seem half deserted with many run down or derelict buildings. No one stopped us as we walked around. But activity certainly continues. We watched as timber was transfered from a truck to a barge. A container port operates further down the canal. Volkswagen has a big presence on the opposite bank. Heavily laden barges rumble past on the canal and sometimes manouver to dock in the harbour. Mysterious bangs, musical groans and piercing screeches reverberate around the atmospheric spaces and echo from the higher buildings. Wildlife is also present. A kestrel sometimes hovers, a black redstart sings from time to time, blackbirds and nightingales can be heard in the distance and the piping calls of an oystercatcher sound clearly in the evenings and mornings. It is a unique sonic world, fascinating and strangly compelling to listen to for the length of the stream.