What are your favourite sounds?

Question

I am interested in sounds and how they relate to our memories and I'd like to know:

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds?
2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood?
3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in?
4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text?

Thank you!

S

Answer 1

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds?

Rain and distant thunder, metal resonances, tires on snow and my children laughing.

2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood?

Growing up in Maine, I have vivid memories of very specific sounds, including: Blue Jays screaming, Chickadees deep in the forest, tractors in the field, loons on the lake and whipporwills singing with crickets at night.

3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in?

Southern California has the same blanket of urban noise common to most other metro cities. What sets it apart from the rest? The wild parrots at sunrise and sunset, and the crows vocalizing in the trees, among other things.

4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text?

The PALAOA hydrophones underneath the Antarctic ice streaming thru iTunes. http://www.awi.de/de/aktuelles_und_presse/hintergrund/palaoa_wie_klingt_das_suedpolarmeer/livestream/

Answer 2

1. Some of my favorite sounds: Hard hits (like a percussion hit with a heavy LFE), classical piano, cats meowing, the sound of a fan at night, the ocean, seagulls, the sound of a sailboat fully under way. Generally, I like musical or soothing sounds. Although I do like the sound of a good gun shot or explosion from time to time.
2. Sounds that strongly remind me of my childhood: The high pitched sound of a tube television turning on, the sound of a Volvo car horn, Sounds from video games I used to play when I was young, seagulls
3. Currently I live in Orlando. The sounds you hear here (heh...): Airplanes (we have like 5 airports), sirens, traffic, thunder, wind, heavy rain. Nothing too distinctive though.
4. As I was typing this, I could hear my fan next to me, but that's about it. Now I can hear my fan and myself typing, and nothing else. No one else is home and I'm resting my ears after a long day...

Answer 3

1. Some of my favourite sounds are birds twittering, palm leaves bristling in the wind, children laughing in the distance. I am a fan of calm sounds!
2. My childhood? Sounds of a busy swimming pool where I spent most of my childhood, dogs barking, crickets and cicadas chirping away in the bushes at night!
3. I live in the outskirts of a Manchester so generally I hear lots of sirens, harsh voices and accents, brash music played loudly on mobile phone speakers at the back of the bus.
4. As I was reading and now while I'm typing, I hear cars going past (travelling quickly, so I know rush hour hasn't started yet!) and classical music from my radio!

Answer 4

1. some of my favorite sounds are those that occur midway between sound & music... sound FX that repitched or altered have the emotional pull of music and vice versa...

2. two sounds from my childhood, first I grew up on a farm which produced grain (wheat, barley etc) and the natural reverb in the empty grain silos before the harvest was AWESOME - you could jump & make thunder!! I played in there a lot! Second sound, there were massive bluegum trees near the sheds on the farm and their branches hung over the shed. At certain times of the year they would drop their bluegum nuts, and if you were in the shed you would hear them hit the roof and roll down the big roof & drop off.....

3. i live in wellington, new zealand - a very windy city, and i have recorded many many winds here... scary 120+ kmph gail force winds and lovely slow warm winds... i used to live in a house up on the cliffs looking out to sea & when there was a strong southerly wind, if I opened the doors on one side of the house & let the wind in, i could open a door on the other side just a fraction and 'play' the wind as it exited - I have a big library of tuned wind drafts...

4. i can hear traffic, 4 stories below... & i can hear internal sounds, like my neck clicking & popping as I roll my head around & the sound of me swallowing lovely cabernet sauvignon...

Answer 5

1. the delicate noise of leaves rustling on large and very old trees.
2. the sound of kids playing, echoing between buldings + distant traffic noise.
3. descending airplanes and suburban rail trains.
4. traffic, tv+high-pitched whine, laptop fans, keyboard, quiet hiss of monitors.

this morning something was making the most interesting sound outside, but there was so much background noise, also a large truck engine left idling, that i just gave up and didn't record it :/

Answer 6

1: Resonance. I love hitting on objects and hearing their tone. It works on everything (I avoid people)... I do it all the time!

2: Formula 1 sounds. I grew up in Monaco, and once a year they have the Grand Prix in the streets. The intensity of all these incredibly power machines racing throughout the city is just indescribable, and it keeps going and going for four days.

Here's a video so you can get an idea:

[youtube]kQKH-6foXFY[/youtube]

3: Taxis hooting (honking). I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa at the moment. The taxi drivers hoot at people in the street to pick them up, but also to get other drivers out of the way.

Here's a video, it's insane but not uncommon:

[youtube]ddwTM1Hkc-s[/youtube]

4: The worst music ever and it's drowning everything (including my soul)! I'm sitting at a coffee shop, and if I try to switch off to the music, I can hear: cars. It's not busy streets so it's not like a wash of traffic, each car is distinct; chit-chatting; Cutlery (crockery); A powerful Coffee machine. Massive air con or air vent in the distance.

Here's an audio clip recorded now from my iPhone and posted on audioBoo. Forgive the copyright violation for recording the music. But it's worth hearing how overpowering it is! How I wish the world wouldn't slap on music over everything, especially bad music.

[audioboo]102525-the-worst-cafe-ambience[/audioboo]

Answer 7

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds?

The resonance of vibrating metal and flowing water.

2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood?

One above all others: The sound of an American kickball. Nothing sounds like it.

3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in?

At home, birds and freeway noise (think American Beauty). At work, crazy people yelling and ambulances (think Seven).

4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text?

My cat purring and Autechre on the hi-fi. :-)

Answer 8

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds?

Rain, gentle waves at seashore, wife and cat breathing when sleeping

2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood?

Funfair, children at swimming pool (splashing, running, shouting)

3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in?

one o'clock gun, bagpipes, wind

4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text?

Typing, computer fan distant traffic, breathing, chair creaks

Answer 9

1:Favourite sounds, rain on the roof, fire crackling, crickets, champagne cork popping, my husbands car coming up the drive. 2:Bikes on dusty roads, rivers flowing, people having fun at the beach in the distance, tractors. 3:Church bells on Sunday, school bells during the week, children playing, apple trucks in the early morning, fire sirens on Monday evenings, the local donkey. 4:The kids playing an imaginary game, eating oranges, tommy making motor bike noise's, the fire roaring, me swallowing and breathing.

Answer 10

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds? water - flowing, waves, trickle...

2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood? parrot and mother's car

3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in? I am living in Belgrade. Sounds of a whistles.

4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text? TV in background, car passing by through open window, cat playing around, keyboard and mouse :)

Answer 11

This list looks a lot like the Five Sound Questions I ask sound artists and sound designers on my blog Everyday Listening.

Did it inspire you or did we think of the same questions at the same time?

Answer 12

1. What are some of your favorite sounds?* I love the sound of water - rivers running hard after a big rain, waves at the beach at night with no other sounds. I also really like the ambiant sound of fields and forests in the dead of winter with a lot of snow on the ground, crisp air with muffled every other sound.
2. What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood?* Bees! I used to watch bees pollinate the bushes in front of our house for hours. The buzzing and then the sudden stop as they land. I also really loved the sound of tree frogs at night. They just came out in the past few weeks here and it's a great sound. Can't wait for the bullfrogs.
3. What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in?* I'm in a small coastal city, so I feel like sea gulls, boat horns, lots of foot traffic, tourists murmoring are what I feel match the town.
4. What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text?* Lots of white noise from the office sound masking system. Occasional footsteps or paper shuffling, but not much besides that.

Answer 13

The amplified tines of the Fender Rhodes.

Answer 14

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds? Girls laughing, and water flowing over stones in a small creek.

4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text? tinnitus; my breathing as it whistles in my nose and rumbles in my chest and throat. (I'm wearing a pair of isolated headphones, and typing.

Answer 15

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds?

Whistling wind, bar chimes

2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood?

Sound of sand underwater, actually any sound I hear underwater when I go to the beach and swim

3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in?

Karaoke (something corny at that)

4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text?

Snoring, aircon hum

Answer 16

1.) What are some of your favorite sounds? Wind in the leaves, owl (if possible both at the same time) 2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood? crackling in the radiator 3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in? boat motors passing by 4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text? I'm hearing the cooling system of my computers. :)

Answer 17

1.) What are some of your favourite sounds?

• Purring cats
• Stilettos on tile flooring
• The engine starting in my 1995 Geo Prism

2.) What are some sounds that you relate strongly with memories of your childhood?

• The sound of chalk on pavement
• The sound of new shoes scuffing

3.) What are some sounds that, in your opinion, are strongly evocative of the city/town that you are currently living in?

(I live in Greater Philadelphia)

• The female Septa voice saying "this route has multiple fair zones"
• Train brake screech (very different from NJ transit brakes)
• "wudder"

4.) What are some sounds that you can hear right now as you read this text?

• Air ventilation system
• Typing
• Drawers opening
• Sighs
• Distant jet engine

Answer 18

Trains being coupled in train yards in Parkersburg WV

Barges on the Ohio River