Cities and Memory - remixing the sounds of the world

"As I was browsing the Cities and Memory sound library, I had an LFO patch quietly looping in the background. When the field recording Lonely Beach surfaced, it fell into place with the glitchy texture I was shaping, just like the sound of ropes creaking on a sailing boat at night!  "From that accidental pairing, the track began to write itself. I took those two elements and let them drift together, along with scattered sounds of the twinkly stars, eventually becoming this warm, sleepy piece." Lonely Beach, Cambodia reimagined by Trees Can Talk.

"Whenever anyone speaks of Auschwitz, I always picture the iconic Arbeit Macht Frei Gate; an image linked to the atrocities associated with the holocaust. I have never been to Auschwitz, but when I heard the field recording I was instantly transported there. I found the sounds so evocative and tried to imagine how it must have felt for those individuals who were taken there in the 1940's, although this is ultimately impossible. What thoughts must have been going through their minds as they approached the gate? These were ordinary human beings, and I often wonder how another person could possibly dehumanise in such a brutal way as the Nazis did. "I wanted “The Bird' to consider these themes and think about the feelings of the people and whether they felt abandoned or simply resigned to their fate as they saw others being beaten or even killed. What must they have thought of the guards who treated them that way? I also wanted to try and represent the futility of such events by using the image of a bird flying, overlooking the camp, seeing the death and cruelty. What would the bird say of such sights if it could talk? I imagine they would be utterly bewildered by the pointlessness of it all.  "The sounds of the field recording are included throughout the whole of the song to ensure the focus is never lost, aiding the narrative and emphasising the importance of the lyric." Arbeit Macht Frei gate at Auschwitz reimagined by Simon Holmes.

At Lonely Beach on Koh Rong, the waves reach the shore in soft, unhurried patterns. Each swell rises and falls with calm consistency, a natural rhythm that soothes the mind. The beach is quiet and open, with only the sea's gentle presence filling the air. It is a place of quiet retreat, where the sound of the ocean encourages rest and relaxation. Recorded by Jake Edwards.

Ambisonics recordings of the sound at the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate to Auschwitz-I.  This soundscape-composition is part of the HEYR project, presenting 3-dimensional soundscapes from special locations, connected to special events.  Find out more by visiting https://www.heyr.no Recorded by Anders Vinjar. 

Trains passing overhead on a overpass at Savignyplatz on a Sunday morning in Berlin, with light rain clearly audible too. Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

"The trains, from the field recording run, whilst the music represents thoughts of waiting for the next train and run between the train sounds. Some mangles train sounds appear amonst the music." Trains on an overpass at Savignyplatz, Berlin reimagined by Simon Woods.

"In the field recording, there was a conversation that felt like reminiscing. I say it felt that way because I do not speak the language. I loved the contrast between that dialogue and a shouting voice at the start and end that sounded desperate for someone's attention. "The shout itself could have been anything, a chant, a protest, or even a stall holder drumming up business, and it truly captured my imagination. "I wanted to create two opposing parts: the past, represented by a granular, ghostly memory, before moving into the 'now' and beyond, recognising that the present will one day become a memory itself. "I used the chant to move between these two states. I wanted it to represent resistance, protest, excitement, and the march of progress all at once, because change can be simultaneously exciting, scary, and sad. "Beyond the voices, I used other sounds from the recording to create granular rhythms and textures, as well as some more percussive sounds for a beat and finally, I worked on including additional synths and some drums."   Guqiting Street, Yangzhou reimagined by Craig Burton.

This intriguingly named street runs along a small river, perhaps now demolished and rebuilt. Once likely a standard six-step-wide street, it's now a maze of residents' makeshift additions, typical of old districts but still clean and tidy. At the junction of narrow alleys, elderly voices drift from homes, chatting over lunch in refined Yangzhou dialect, even more elegant than Suzhou's.  Residents shuffle by in slippers, while a peddler's calm calls echo faintly. Without the Yangzhou accent, this soundscape would likely mirror the daily life most people heard in the past. Recorded in Yangzhou, China by Digimonk.

"The original field recording is sparse, with snippets of conversation, people walking, cycling and the occasional jogger passing by. I wondered how this would all sound if it were continually layered over in a continuous loop in the style of Frippertronics.  "I used an experimental dual looper to capture and over-dub the original sounds, with each channel using a different length of audio loop. I then used a modular synth to create some slowly evolving drones and pads, all driven by extremely slow modulation." Sofienbergparken bench soundscape reimagined by Barry Cooper.

Ten minutes sitting on a bench in Sofienbergparken in Oslo, just listening to whatever happens and letting the world pass by.  Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

The busy building and streetscape sounds are granulated and diffused into the pulsing patterns of the Moog Subharmonicon, blurring human activity into a kind of civic harmony. These are the sounds of a society assembling itself.  Construction noise in New York reimagined by Alan Cook.

Lower East Side, Manhattan, NYC. A lively construction site with screaming saws, various impacts and machinery echoing off down the side streets near Essex Market in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Recorded with an X-Y stereo pair. Recorded by Casey Danielson.

This recording is taken with an Open Wave-Receiver, a custom made foxhole radio modded from a Shortwave Collective design. The aerial was strung up to the barbed wire fence around Yanchep Substation; the electromagnetic pulse capturing an invisible soundscape, this community's lifeline to the power grid. Recorded in Perth, Australia by Aliesha King.

"I heard the electronic hum of the substation and the chat from people near it. I supported the recording with a warm drone and proceeded to extract the harmonics and frequencies from the hum and chatter with the MakeNoise Tape and Microsound Music Machine. The improvisations were then edited. A copy was treated with postproduction effects, and both were then mixed together using my Agricultural Terrains strategy." Yanchep substation reimagined by Alan Cook.

A service at Sensō-ji, Buddhist temple in Tokyo, praying to Avalokiteshvara is a highly revered bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, known as the embodiment of compassion.  The congregation are business men. Tourists pour money into the offering box drawing an omikuji. The sound of the money clinking is juxtaposed with the Buddhist priests chanting and ends with a discussion of the tourists visting and trying to understand the meaning of the sermon.  Recorded by Helen Copnall.

"I chose this recording because I've always been interested in reimagining folk music, and I've previously created an album that incorporates elements of Chinese folk traditions. The sample of Japanese Buddhist chanting particularly intrigued me. I noticed that while the chanting itself has a strong rhythmic quality, the background voices and environmental noise were quite messy.  "I therefore sliced the recording, altered its speed and pitch, and transformed it into a hardcore-style piece." Senso-ji temple soundscape reimagined by Sanki (Qianhui Sun).

"Inspired by the description of the experience by the collector of these sounds, Andrea Lynn, I explored this recording of a cold, mysterious place inhospitable to humans, yet home to arctic aquatic creatures who rely on the ice above.  "The original soundscape is highlighted throughout with frequency filtering only, and I created sparse added textures of echoing single lines of piano and nebulous vocals: alone, yet not alone."  North Pole ice recording reimagined by Heather Spence.

In July 2024 at 90° N my acoustic equipment slid into a hole 15 cm in diameter that our team had drilled into the sea ice. Midnight sun tossed shadows at the fog, slowing the wind just enough. My fingers trembled, but not from the frigid temperatures. I couldn't imagine what I might hear here, beneath the ice floes at the top of the world. Science aside for a moment; icy droplets blurred white and blue ice, and my headphones hung in my hand at my side. Awe and wonder gratefully stole time.  The underwater radiated noise (URN) emanating from the icebreaker that brought me to this place dominated the acoustic symphony for only a few seconds before geological and biological signals took centre stage and I listened to the otherworldly sounds of animals that make their homes below and on the crackling ice at the top of the world. As I listened, I wondered how life here was dealing with rising temperatures, with thinning ice ... with way too many melt ponds. Recorded by Andrea Lynn.

Fascinating micro-sounds from Coral Beach, when tiny, slow and quiet waves on this unique beach made of tiny stone, coral and shell fragments creates a beautiful "whooshing" sound with every pass.  Recorded on Coral Beach on the Isle of Skye by Cities and Memory, April 2025.  

Recording inside an open air vent inside the two metre-thick wall of the concrete bunker building that forms the Boros Collection. The space has a fascinating past as a shelter, a prison for political prisoners, and a techno and sex club - and now it hosts a conceptual art exhibition.  The sound captures both the muffled sounds of museum-goers on one side, and the passage of air and the sounds from Berlin outside on the other. Recorded by Cities and Memory, September 2025. 

"Taking Brian Eno's chopped tape ambient recordings as inspiration, I chopped up sampled loops of Chopin's 'Nocture C sharp in minor,' creating long and short sequences that I then initially synced, before letting them run in and out of time with each other, gently applying FX along the way.  "The field recording inspired this notion of a paid session pianist sitting amongst the chaos and noise of a grand museum, playing to no one, ignored and quietly letting themselves get a little weird just for their own amusement." Boros Collection soundscape, Berlin reimagined by Dominic Palmer.

Aboard a tourist boat from Loch Coruisk to Elgol, with different tones, speeds and intensity of engine noise blending with the sound of waves. Recorded on the Isle of Skye by Cities and Memory, April 2025.

A quiet and nice village besides Yellow River at Lanzhou City. QinQiang opera from the loud speaker in the village and this is very local sound. Happy birds are busy on working. What a wonderful soundscape. Recorded by Digimonk. IMAGE: Sigismund von Dobschütz, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

"'In Passage' was inspired by the field recording “Boat engines roar, Loch Coruisk” by Cities and Memory. I love this field recording of a tourist boat and wanted to enhance it with additional recordings from my library, including boat and shoreline field recordings, a contact microphone recording of a metal park gate, and sonic excerpts of other forms of travel: train, horse carriage and helicopter.  "The original field recording was edited into three parts, linked together and supported by my recordings." Isle of Skye ferry trip reimagined by Edward Ruchalski.

"I put the original recording through a bit of distortion, listened to it for a while, and then went over it with some text from my phone notes that felt like it fitted the original sounds. My practice involves extended vocal techniques, I tried to treat the original recording as a collaborator in the same space as me to some extent." Lanzhou City soundscape reimagined by Yol. IMAGE: Sigismund von Dobschütz, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

"This six-minute composition combines the Isle of Skye Coral Beach recording with my own field recordings of water and hands passing through shells of an invasive species, from Lake Michigan at Europe Bay (in Northern Wisconsin) near where I grew up. I've been developing several compositions about waves, and movements across geographies - the Isle of Skye beach recording was quite subtle and rhythmic.  "I paired these field recordings with overdriven, distorted melodics granular sampling of the recordings too, that remind, perhaps, of distant engines of seafaring vessels - a sonic memory-music of two huge bodies of water and shorelines." Wave on Coral Beach, Skye reimagined by Gregory Scheckler.

"I've never been to the Dolomites before, but a close friend was recently there. He showed me his photos of the mountain range and told me about the locals and hikers he met along the trails and in the backcountry. Seems amazing. His stories supplemented the original field recording in a way that enabled me to start working on the music.  "I knew I wanted to use an acoustic guitar as a key driving element for the feeling I was going for. I also knew that I would keep the original field recording unadulterated to provide more realistic context." Birdsong and insects in the Dolomites reimagined by Eulipion Corps.

Taking a break next in a pasture on a hike in the Dolomites, while we admire the view we can hear birdsong in the trees surrounding us and the gentle buzz of insects. Recorded by Cities and Memory, July 2025. 

"My first ever autumn was in Berlin and I also worked for a year in German train stations, so this field recording has an emotional weight for me. The title refers to unused train stations that were closed due to the division of the city during the Cold War.  "It means 'Ghost Stations' in German. For me, the memories of those train stations are like ghosts that haunt me during melancholic and nostalgic hours; this is what I try to capture in the piece through the lens of who I am now." Berlin Hauptbahnhof reimagined by 8110118.

A walkthrough of Berlin's main station, with announcements drenched in the huge reverb of the station hall, then the classic sounds of trolley bags, escalators, passengers as we explore this vast station and make our way underground to the U-bahn.  Recorded in Berlin by Cities and Memory, September 2025. 

"A captivating field recording of fog machines in an outdoor setting was fed into a number of granular synth engines. This resulted in crackles, reverb shadow and drift. Different colours and movement ( fog drift) in the reimagined track emerged.  "I built and recorded a number of different passages settling on a drifting, arpeggiated loop which allowed the field recording to move in and out of focus. Layered and distressed the track finally was completed." Fog installation in the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin reimagined by Andy Billington. 

A remarkable fog installation in the sculpture garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, by Fujiko Nakaya. This site-specific installation activates once per hour, and fills the garden with vaporous fog, playing with the architecture of Mies van der Rohe. Fog formations emerge from different sides of the garden, blending with the trees and permanent sculptures, before slowly dissolving into the sky.  The moving fog appears at various densities, at times at a nearly tangible volume, at others as a translucent veil. And it's an interesting sonic experience too - and fascinating to be the only person there focusing on the sounds, instead of the remarkable sights.  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

Inside the Boros Collection bunker, listening to a sound installation of distorted bells on a speaker suspended by chains, made by Eliza Douglas. The space has a fascinating past as a shelter, a prison for political prisoners, and a techno and sex club - and now it hosts a conceptual art exhibition. The sound captures both the muffled sounds of museum-goers on one side, and the passage of air and the sounds from Berlin outside on the other. Recorded in Berlin by Cities and Memory, September 2025.

"I have a long history with Berlin, and this contemporary art bunker represents very well everything the city means for me. It's deep, dark, yet lively and hopeful. This is my love letter to Berlin." Boros Collection sound installation in Berlin reimagined by the figurehead.

"The sound of calling to prayers from mosques is featured in the original field recording; it's a very vague and distant call accompanied by street sound and people chatter, but it's still breathtaking. It's even more fascinating that the exact timings of this chant vary daily based on astronomical calculations. I've never been to Turkey and not religious either, but I am still deeply drawn to the epic like spectacle that the chant can create in a simple recording.  "My composition is based on the call and it's a re-imagination of how this chant works its power to connect all beings, locations, landscapes and senses in a wider field. To echo this, and reflect on Istanbul's geographic position connecting two continents and two seas, I have merged elements of mosque soundscape, Turkish Saz, drone, and ship horns from the sea in the composition. It's the music that is born from the location and departs from the location." Call to prayer in Istanbul reimagined by Shan Lyu.

Visiting Istanbul for the purpose of recording was fascinating because one could find locations in the city without too much car sounds. This was in 2013. I wanted to go to the Asian side of Istanbul to Kadiköy. There I found a small side street and recorded. I am not religious in any way but still always enjoyed the call for the prayers.  Recorded by Sirpa Jokinen.

"I've always viewed and listened to the ocean in a special way, and the sounds of the field recording inspired me to create this piece. I called it Impermanence for a couple of reasons… just like our lives and our consciousness, the waves are both individual and part of the ocean at the same time - all and one. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, as is said in Buddhism. "At my mother's funeral a couple of years back, as is part of our culture, we scattered her ashes into a river, which flows into the ocean. So I always think of her when I look out into the sea, wherever I am in the world, as she's now a part of it. I managed to get some sampled recordings of her, from an old video recorder my brother had playing with my niece some 20 odd years ago, which I've placed in the middle of the piece… hopefully conveying my memories of her within the sounds of the ocean waves. "We all have different beliefs which of course should be respected, but I believe we as humans are both temporary (in conscious existence) and permanent… our atoms, which are indestructible, go back into the earth and sea. It's a dichotomy which I find quite humbling. Our consciousness is short-lived and fleeting, yet we're all connected and part of a vast and (probably) eternal Universe… much like the waves in the ocean. "This is the message I wanted the piece to convey - that we are all part of One, despite our temporary existence, and the memories of my mother, whom I'll never forget when I look out into the sea and the waves." Sunset shoreline on Malapascua Island, Philippines reimagined by Jaspal Singh Bhogal.

The sunsets on Malapascua Island in the Philippines feel like explosions in the sky — wild, breathtaking, and almost unreal. But beneath that blaze of colour, it's the sound of the waves that holds you — soft laps against the shoreline, repeating like a forgotten lullaby. I stayed there alone, wrapped in the rhythm of the sea, as if time had unraveled and tomorrow didn't exist. The sky burned in hues I didn't know names for, and the ocean spoke in its slow, endless tongue. In that moment, sound and color were equal — and both were everything. Recorded by Rafael Diogo.

"A woman writes a message during her daily tram commute to work. Seemingly insignificant details, like selling a table or a couch, hide a deeply personal story about love, and the fragility of the hope for new beginnings." Melbourne tram journey reimagined by Cristina Marras.

This recording from 2025 captures a short commute using Melbourne's iconic trams in the city centre. It's not unusual for trams to be packed and this afternoon was no exception as many people were also heading to a football game.  The clatter of the trams mingle with conversations and crosswalks, bringing the Melbourne CBD to life. Recorded in Melbourne, Australia by Janina Castro.

"Invisible Anchor is a downtempo ambient track centred around a seismic field recording of an electricity pylon, this served as the primary background pad. The field recording was tuned to the track's key using Temperance Pro from Eventide and it matched the track length precisely. For the overall character, the master mix was run through Air Music Tech's FlavorPro with a tweaked cassette tape preset to introduce a lo-fi vibe. All music elements originated from Sonic Charge's Synplant II and the Air Music Tech DrumSynth." Electricity pylon in Wytham Woods, England reimagined by Karhide.

This is a recording made with a seismic microphone attached to an electricity pylon in the English countryside in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire.  The sounds come from the wind vibrating the entire structure, as captured by this specialist microphone. Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"Thinking about the ascent and the vastness of Gran Sasso Park I stretched sounds to hold the sound of the water and this suggested voices so Caruso takes a trip to the park." Gran Sasso park in Italy reimagined by Stuart Wilding.

Living with an isolated Shipibo indigenous family in the Peruvian Amazon, this recording features an ícaro titled "Yoi Jacon" ("another world") by curandera Ronin Mea. The chant speaks of a realm beyond our own, filled with ancient wisdom, amidst the backdrop of a disappearing way of life due to deforestation and modernization. Recorded by Rafael Diogo.

The gentle tinkling of cowbells in a field among the Dolomites at the end of a long summer afternoon. Recorded in Colmean, Italy by Cities and Memory, June 2025.  

"The field recording is a completed song, sung to the backdrop of a symphony of sounds apparently arising from the Peruvian Amazon setting where the performance and recoding took place. The chant/song repeats and winds upwards in tonal centre as it journeys through a call and response form.  "My composition takes shape as a tribute to the eternal, calm yet elegant and alive feeling and state of mind that I experienced with the field recording. The oud is performed as a single extended gesture of surprise and awe, playfully speaking to the song's landscape with juxtaposing textures and rhythms." Shipibo icaro in Peru reimagined by Mastaneh Nazarian.

"I liked the tonal qualities of this recording. There is a constantly varying pattern of sound: the cars, trucks and buses never pass over in the same configuration so the tones will always combine differently. Each time I improvised this musical re-creation was also unique. The different patterns of sound could have gone on for eternity, but here I have just reimagined it twice." Hawthorne bridge, Portland reimagined by Philip Gibbs. 

The Hawthorne Bridge, built in 1910 is the oldest vertical lift bridge in the USA and the oldest highway bridge in Portland, Oregon. I stood beneath it one sunny summer day, as the traffic passed over the open steel grills of the carriageway creating the rushing tones in this recording. Recorded by Paul Stephens-Wood.

"I thought about the cows maybe wanting someone else to jam along with in the Dolomites, and then a bunch of choristers turn up with a wannabe DJ in tow, and they end up getting it together just in time for milking." Cowbells in Colmean, the Dolomites reimagined by Rod Dykeman.

Persistent, detailed creaking wood and metal sounds coming from the floating dock structure on Hovedoya island, Oslo, along with gentle wave sounds underneath, September 2025. Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

"I really liked the calmness of the sea which contrasted with the harsher sounding creaking wood and metal sounds. I created a track that features and contrasts between these two sounds.  "I used a variety of samplers, loopers, delays, reverbs and other effects to create an ambient, tape-loop, drone type of track with a stilted - wonky - rhythm created from drum-like sounds and the creaks created from the recording.  "It came out a bit darker than intended, I started trying out recording a few ideas and really liked the result so kept the original one-take live recording." Creaking dock on Hovedoya islands, Oslo reimagined by Andy Lyon.