# Any interesting soundmarks where you live?



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

> Soundmark - a sound which is unique to an area.


This requires a bit more thought than landmarks.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I wish I knew what bird it is but in my home in Lima there is an awesome sounding bird that I've only heard there...as far as here in south Florida right outside my window I usually hear the sound of very loud speaking cubanos and the sway of the many palms I've planted


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I think I probably hear the clink of a bicycle lock more often than most.


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## Stasou (Apr 23, 2011)

Not always, but recently, cicadas.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Where I live there is always the sound of traffic on the bypass which encircles Oxford. However, during the heavy snowfall before Christmas it ceased entirely for several hours.

The absence of the usual sound was more noticeable than the sound itself. There's something John Cage-like about that, I think.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

A squirrel in our backyard making this noise:





<3 Squirrel in distress.
(I didn't make this video, FYI)


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

There are woodpeckers living in my neighborhood who apparently think they can find insects by banging on the metal rain gutters along people's roofs at 5:00 in the morning. I have seen them doing this. But birds' beaks cannot pierce metal, so all they manage to do is very convincingly replicate the sounds of a gunfight.


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## hemidemisemiquaver (Apr 22, 2011)

Right now I hear some industrial sounds of unknown origin. It is very meditative. I especially liked creaking window cadenza.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

At night: coyotes, owls, peacocks and herons.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

hemidemisemiquaver said:


> Right now I hear some industrial sounds of unknown origin. It is very meditative. I especially liked creaking window cadenza.


I walked past a container lorry unloading some liquid nitrogen on a nearby industrial estate the other day. The noise of the machinery was a nice, low soothing hum that kept a regular rhythm.

There's also a factory on the same route, that emits a kind of 'pressing' hydraulic sound at very irregular intervals. That's a nice listen when taken in contrast with the repetition of your footsteps.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I think it's interesting soudmark when you can hear sounds of exotic (here) animals combined with passages of various instruments. It's because in my city ZOO and music school are in closest neightbourhood, simply side by side and you are standing by the cage with bear hearing someone practicing on clarinet etc. I wonder what these poor creatures are thinking when they hear all these things.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Lots of toads & frogs (it's their season now), mostly lots of wind and sounds of leaves, when not: lots of bird-singing and at some distance: the sound of the sea. Sometimes the sea on distance sounds like an unending train passing by.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Stasou said:


> Not always, but recently, cicadas.


Is this a worldwide phenomenon, does anyone know?

Not sure where you are, but I felt I should elaborate on this. In the southern USA at least, the 13-17 year cicadas have come out by the billions - literally billions. Every tree is covered. They don't last long, but the sound of all those large insects singing together for miles upon miles sounds other-worldly and very loud. The chorus and echo effect of all these combined is less like cicadas and more like a cheesy 1950's flying saucer. Still I find it a comforting sound. Reminds me of when I a kid and summer lasted forever.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Weston said:


> Is this a worldwide phenomenon, does anyone know?
> 
> Not sure where you are, but I felt I should elaborate on this. In the southern USA at least, the 13-17 year cicadas have come out by the billions - literally billions. Every tree is covered. They don't last long, but the sound of all those large insects singing together for miles upon miles sounds other-worldly and very loud. The chorus and echo effect of all these combined is less like cicadas and more like a cheesy 1950's flying saucer. Still I find it a comforting sound. Reminds me of when I a kid and summer lasted forever.


I never knew of cicadas before I visited the U.S. a number of years ago.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Because I am very bad at tuning out background noise, the last time I visited New York during the summer, I had to wear earplugs to be able to read--the cicadas were that loud even inside. But when I actually _wanted_ to listen to them, I was aware that they made very interesting sounds. Also, the insects themselves are beautiful. When I saw dead cicadas that had fallen from the trees, I was amazed at the ornate and colorful patterns on their backs.


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## hemidemisemiquaver (Apr 22, 2011)

Weston said:


> ...the sound of all those large insects singing together for miles upon miles sounds other-worldly and very loud.


Wikipedia says that _*their song is technically loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss in humans*_ - oh you remorseless cicadas!..



Argus said:


> I walked past a container lorry unloading some liquid nitrogen on a nearby industrial estate the other day. The noise of the machinery was a nice, low soothing hum that kept a regular rhythm.
> 
> There's also a factory on the same route, that emits a kind of 'pressing' hydraulic sound at very irregular intervals. That's a nice listen when taken in contrast with the repetition of your footsteps.


Wow, polyrhythmic chance music is certainly not something that you commonly hear  I like this sort of things, especially when roadworks or any other ambient noise contributes to the music I'm listening to. I remember how I once wanted to wash my hands, and there were drops falling from a tap once in a while - tempo-synced with my music, they made me postpone the original hygienic procedure for two or so minutes :lol:


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

These guys sit in the oak tree at the back of the house and produce long series of cracks and liquid whistles:


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## Serge (Mar 25, 2010)

hemidemisemiquaver said:


> I remember how I once wanted to wash my hands, and there were drops falling from a tap once in a while - tempo-synced with my music, they made me postpone the original hygienic procedure for two or so minutes :lol:


Were you also watching your hands at the same time, wondering how they were huge?


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## hemidemisemiquaver (Apr 22, 2011)

Serge said:


> Were you also watching your hands at the same time, wondering how they were huge?


Let me think....










...uhm.... no. I don't remember this to happen.

:lol:


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## Suwannee Tim (Jun 6, 2010)

My neighborhood is kind of quiet. One soundmark is a rifle range about five miles away. Interesting, the sound may be very faint or quite significant depending on the wind and whatever else, (humidity?). When I'm there, it is never faint. It is LOUD. My old neighborhood was LOUD. Damn fire engines and trains. I used to routinely dream that the trains had come off the tracks, up the street and were coming through my yard. At least it sounded like they were that close. The RR here is far enough away that the trains are charming. We do have a braying jackass a half mile or so away. Amazing how loud they are. I'm glad he's a half mile or so away. Too many loud mouth dogs. Always too many loud mouth dogs.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> These guys sit in the oak tree at the back of the house and produce long series of cracks and liquid whistles:


Very nice! He's more interesting than our birds (clueless woodpeckers aside).


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Yes. Anna Netrebko.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I got a train just far enough that when I have my windows shut and it's perfectly silent, I can just hear it purring against the tracks in the distance...windows open with the same conditions and it can overtake your whole conciousness with the steel grinding and wheels going clickity clack.


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## Philip (Mar 22, 2011)

if you like low frequencies, military base tank shooting range is the place to be.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

The big red beechtree in our backgarden is night and day ridden with young & very noisy jackdaws. Can anyone help?


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## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

I recorded this today at a local rubbish tip, largely disused.






These things are scattered over it, presumably to let the gas out. The sound is hypnotic....after a minute you hardly notice the sulphurous niff. On a calm day you can hear the combined aspirations of several of them. It's almost musical.


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## Keychick (Jun 9, 2011)

I live in the country and i wake everyday @ 4a.m. to the sound of the birds
starting there day. Its beautiful music indeed.
My cat thinks so too...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Some years ago during the summer months with the living room window open I could sometimes hear the over-loud tannoy system of my ex-place of employment from about a quarter of a mile away - hardly the sound you wanted to hear on your days off when it was too hot to close the window.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

I forget to mention that I live close to a very popular Rugby Club. So there is always the sound of men shouting encouragement and instructions, refs' whistles, the tannoy, and on tournament days various national anthems and of course the haka:


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## Suwannee Tim (Jun 6, 2010)

One soundmark conspicuous by it's absence is the sound of people, mainly children. In my childhood a couple score and then some years ago, any summer evening when it wasn't raining was loud with the sounds of children. I guess they don't go outside anymore.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

@ elgar's ghost and mamascarlatti: In your 2 most recent posts on this thread you both used the word *tannoy. *Could you explain what this is? Thanks.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

samurai said:


> @ elgar's ghost and mamascarlatti: In your 2 most recent posts on this thread you both used the word *tannoy. *Couldyouexplainwhatthisis? Thanks.


Loudspeaker. I think it's one of those brand names used as the word itself, like Hoover for vacuum cleaner (in the UK anyway).


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

@mamascarlatti, Thanks so much for your explanation. I'm sorry I had scrunched all the words together in my original post. In future, I shall try and do a better job of editing my posts before submitting them.


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