Bicycle Bells

Episode 14: Public transport along Copenhagen Harbour is done by boat busses which are small electrical ferries that serve pedestrians and bicyclists who want to take a shortcut along the harbour shoreline. It operates like a regular city bus and the price of the fare is the same.I visited a harbour bus stop and recorded both what happens above water with an ordinary microphone (left channel) and the sounds below the waterline with a hydrophone (right channel). Above water you hear the sounds of waiting passengers, the ferry docking and passengers boarding.The harbour bus operates quietly on electricity so the main source of sound below water is the rotation of the ferry's propeller and impact when the ferry docks.

Episode 13 notes: This episode takes place in New Orleans which, for better and worse, is defined by tourism. Surprisingly, the city is still able to retain a lot of its charm, not least helped by alcohol, great music and welcoming citizens.All of the above is encapsulated in this 1mim 40sec episode recorded on Frenchman Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA on a mild January day at 11 AM.Recorded with a Shure MV88 mounted on an iPhone.

Jackdaws are plentiful in many parks of Copenhagen. They are smart, adaptive and opportunistic but rarely make much sound (unlike crows and magpies).When I walked through this busy little park at the Nørrebro neighbourhood it took me a while to realise the complex sound came from a Jackdaw. It is recorded with a Zoom M4 Mictrak recorder I had in my backpack. Location: Nørrebro, Copenhagen.

It is the month of May but the heat is already intense along the riverbank of Jinzou, a river running through Toyama prefecture in the central part of Honshu, Japan. I could hear this sound a block away from the river. First, I thought it was birds chirping but it turned out to be the sound of frogs calling for mates. The calls filled the dense heated air and raised above the background city noise of Toyama. Learn more about the recording context on Instagram

Close to an entrance of the H.C. Ørsted's Park in Copenhagen, contractors are repairing the road before the morning rush traffic sets in.   The park has a rich bird life for a city park, and the beautiful song of the male blackbird can be heard through the beating rhythm of the Jackhammer, if you pay attention. 

Fall is approaching and the plane tree leaves are the first to fall on Jarmer's Plads in central Copenhagen. The crispy sound of leaves swiping over the stone surface blends with the ambient sound of city life on a Sunday in September. Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark.

It has been a hot and humid week. The water sprinklers in the park are working overtime. The dense humid air is dripping on everything much to the children's delight. Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark. June 2021

You probably think you know what a bicycle bell sounds like, but do you really?  In this episode, join me for a walk in the streets of Copenhagen and let us listen to a variety of bell sounds, one step away from the stereotypical "bicycle bell sound". Recorded on a Sunday in central Copenhagen, Denmark.

We are surrounded by sounds which references technologies from the past; a ringing bell symbolising an analogue phone ringing, electric cars recreating motor sounds of a combustion engines to make people aware of their presence, keyboard sound-response when you write on your tablet screen, and not least the sampled camera sound of yesteryear when we snap pictures with our smartphones. The artificial sounds of today makes me appreciate the original sounds and their context even more. The sun is out, and I'll take you a park nearby with a bag full of real shutter sounds spanning 60 years. Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark - Location: Botanical Garden

Some chores are a drag! Returning PET bottles to the Supermarket for recycling is one of them, except for that part where you get to feed the Bottle Eater and get your receipt with the refunded bottle deposit. Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark.