One of my 5 alternatives projects to the topic of ‘space’ was a collection of sounds of different spaces or places, specifically the sound of silence in different places. Every room and street has a different sound of silence, and I wanted to create a catalogue of that. Most of the sounds were recorded between 6 and 7 am. The world wasn’t as quiet as I had expected, but I realized that these sounds can just as well serve as an “Audio Tour” of the little pocket of the world around me. These sounds have very few voices, and are very representative of the ‘background’ of these places. If you could hear a picture of an empty place, I believe this would be it. We often tune out these sounds, but here the background is the centerpiece.
In the 20 sounds below, I take you from my room to the trains, and then on a short tour of the streets around our housing at NYU Berlin. After each sound clip, I’ll try to provide a description of what I heard (I was initially just expecting to record silence, and only later realized that there were so many details to listen for). I’d recommend wearing headphones. If you hear something interesting, comment below!
1.Bedroom:
The room was quite isolated from the sounds outside, since my window was closed
2. Kitchen:
There’s a faint sound from the electronics (like the microwave). You can also faintly hear the birds chirping outside.
3. Bathroom:
There a droning sound that was also audible in the Kitchen. Here we hear it much better, with some faint chirping from the birds outside.
4. Silent Study Room:
We move out of my room and go into a “Silent Study room”. The room is dark. You can hear my clothes and a few creaks from my shoes. The birds are much more audible now.
5. Group Study Room:
Notice how although the room is virtually the same as the silent study room, the ambiance is very different. Other than the change in the background, you can hear the birds much more clearly, there’s a slight breeze coming from the windows, you also hear the occasional car moving on the road outside.
6. Moving outside the building:
As soon as we go outside the building, we are hit with cold breeze and the sound of birds. Midway through the clip, an engine sound emerges, which might be from a truck engine starting nearby.
7. Park:
We move from the building to the nearby park. It’s early morning, so there are birds everywhere. You can hear an assortment of chirps. I hear a crow there somewhere. There’s the sound of a vehicle moving on the road nearby. My shoes make a sound on the gravel.
8. Coffee Point:
At this point, I’m craving a coffee. So we move to the nearby coffee place. The background is slightly different from the other closed room’s we’ve been to. There’s a faint sound from the owner talking to a customer.
9. Police Station:
It’s time to make our way to the trains. We pass by the police station on the way. Here, we can hear my footsteps, some faint chattering of people, the sound of my clothes, and some wind towards the end.
10. Checkpoint Charlie Train Station:
We finally enter the train station. It’s a little windy. There are a few people walking. A train was leaving right as we enter. The sound of my footsteps is clear. There’s the sound of some liquid dripping nearby towards the end.
11. Train Incoming!
Our train is finally here! It’s the U6. You can hear the sound of the wind as it pushes it out of the way, the sound of the wheels on the tracks, and the sound of doors opening at the end.
12. Inside the U6:
Inside the U6, we hear the train accelerating and you can feel the floor moving. There’s a small ‘alarm’-type sound. You’ll hear the announcements on the speakers. See if you can find me clearing my throat.
13. Leaving the U6:
We’re out of the train now, at Stadtmitte station. The sound of the train leaving is similar to the train arriving, but it’s distinctive feature is the fading away at the end.
14. Stadtmitte Station:
Stadtmitte station is quiet compared to Checkpoint charlie. See if you can hear me moving. Here, the mechanical sounds of the station are easier to isolate.
15. Back at Checkpoint Charlie:
We’re back at Checkpoint charlie. There’s a lot of wind coming through the entrance. You can hear the train leaving during the beginning, and the footsteps of people.
16. Walking to get some groceries:
Now we’re walking towards Rossman, a grocery store to get some food. You can hear my footsteps clearly here, the birds are back, the traffic from the road ahead is audible. There’s a little construction work happening.
17. At the Rossman:
Now we’re outside the Rossman. You can hear me say that it’s closed under my breath (of course it is, it’s 6am). The traffic is very audible.
18. Birds and Critters:
On the same road, we find a patch of grass and trees with a lot of birds. The sound of pigeons should be easy to make out. There are other critters too. As soon as I stopped recording, a fat mouse appeared out of the bushes with a huge piece of bread in it’s mouse. We stared at each other for a few seconds and then it squeaked away….
19. El Gino:
Now we’re at the pizza place near the housing.You can hear the cars and the birds. There’s a traffic light nearby, you can here it’s ticking over the background of traffic.
20. Back home?
We make our way back home and try to tap our cards on the sensor to get into the building. But it doesn’t work! I try a couple times till a guard let’s me in and tell me the sensors start working at 8am, so our cards don’t work early in the morning.
Hope you enjoyed the tour.