Save our Sounds

Roman posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 | Uncategorized

Except for their horrible, horrible iPlayer, the BBC rules. Case in point: Save our Sounds hosts an interactive map that allows users to upload field recordings and help create an audio map of the world. Many are what you would expect, like the fog horn off the Golden Gate Bridge (lovely, but very expected), but my favorite so far is Julia Longacre’s recording of a handheld pencil sharpener in Portland, Oregon. You may be asking yourself, what does a handheld pencil sharpener have to do with the sounds Portland, Oregon? Very little, I suppose, except that this audio post points out that Portland is home to a woman who thinks the sound of a handheld pencil sharpener is so great, that she decided to share it with the world. That does say a lot about Portland. You can follow SOS on twitter, too.