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Field recording · United Kingdom

Driving along the IDR and passing under the really noisy bridge

A329, Reading RG1, UK

A 2-minute field recording by Felicity Ford made in Reading, United Kingdom on 21 March 2014, in the afternoon. Soundscape: streets & traffic, trains & stations and construction & industry.

Listen

Driving along the IDR and passing under the really noisy bridge
2:07CC BY-SA 3.0by Felicity FordInternet Archive
2:07

Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.

Recordist's notes

This is the sound of driving around the Internal Distribution Road in Reading. I know traffic sounds are generally frowned upon, but since they are such a regular feature of daily life I often wonder what can be gained by analysing and documenting them? At 01:25 you hear a specially echoey resonance; this is the sound I think of passing underneath the railway bridge. It's thrillingly loud under there and as a pedestrian of the city, the only way I can deal with it is to reframe it as a permanent noise installation created by some Futurist machine enthusiast. In fact re-imagining it as this means I enjoy the sudden burst of noise when I pass beneath it, because it is a reminder that with imagination I can change how I feel about any sound.

Written by Felicity Ford on radio aporee ::: maps.

About the place

Reading is a city of about 318,014 people in England, United Kingdom. OttoAnna lists 153 field recordings from here.

Recorded nearby

More by Felicity Ford

More streets & traffic recordings

Sources & credits