Save Our Sounds

Historians often remind us that in order to understand the present and the future we have to understand the past, otherwise we learn nothing about ourselves.

I’ve commented before that there is, sadly, a tendency among some people in radio management (especially in the commercial sector) to dismiss the past as “irrelevant”, with the result that large quantities of (often valuable) archive recordings have been in danger of ending up in a builders’ skip as the ‘heritage’ ILR dumps its, er, heritage. I’ve heard countless horror stories of people rescuing valuable archive material, only to find themselves being asked to lend it back to the same station some years later because it’s needed for birthday celebrations.

What about those distinctive sounds we hear in everyday life and, most probably, take for granted, though? They are not usually the sort of thing that might get recorded and saved for posterity but that is changing as the BBC World Service is on a quest to celebrate the familiar sounds around us and, through its recently-launched ‘Save Our Sounds’ project, getting people to send in recordings of the defining sounds from where they live.

Kate Arkless Gray, who rejoices in the title of ‘Resident Save Our Sounds Micro-blogger’ has been talking to acoustic practitioners and audiences online via the website - www.bbcworldservice.com/saveoursounds - as well as Facebook and Twitter (@BBC_SOS), and building a community around the project.

Kate says she is setting ‘Sound Scavengers’ challenges on the website to give people some ideas of what to record. “Things like "bells", "transport", "9am" which they can interpret how they like. Another that is working nicely is a sort of lonely hearts type thing “Desperately seeking sounds” where people can email in a little story about a sound from their home town that they miss, or something from childhood that they can't get hold of anymore and we'll try to find that sound, source it from our listeners, and match-make them.”

The website also has an interactive map which enables people to hear a variety of sounds from around the world.

As part of this season of programmes a two-part documentary, ‘Discovery: Save Our Sounds’ is being broadcast on the BBC World Service on Wednesday 8th and 15th July at 2030 BST. Presented by Professor Trevor Cox the series will “examine the impact of sound on people’s lives, and question whether some distinct noises, from street markets, to bells and street hawkers, are actually at risk of disappearing, drowned out by new technologies and generic sounds like cooling fans and traffic.”

I think ‘Save Our Sounds’ is a really great idea; there are many sounds that we often associate with a particular place or occasion.

For example one of my favourites, believe it or not, is that of the recorded announcements on Vienna’s public transport system; a two-tone gong followed by details of the next station or tram/bus stop, which are read by someone with a very distinctive voice. After having spent much time in Vienna, either working or just as a visitor, that sound, to me, has become as much a part of that city as the Habsburg’s palaces, coffee houses and the music of the Strauss family. In fact I never feel as though I have truly arrived in Vienna until I have heard it.