After doing research into Annea Lockwood and her practice. Discovering her river sound mapping project of the Danube and the Hudson and her explanation of why she does it. And then furthermore listening I wish to do one myself.
It won’t be as large in scale as I’m looking at the Thames and I want to do it in one or two days maximum. Before I start the trip I decided to look at the river and consider any key places along the river and what the Thames stands for. Decide a route that is possible and what places I should stop to record.
I started thinking about what the Thames offers London. The Thames meant that London was the capital. Its river access brought goods, tobacco and sugar from the Americas. The Thames was a food source, as well as a way of delivering coal and oil. It’s the longest river in England. The Thames also has a lot of issues currently, it has numerous amounts of untreated sewage still entering the river as well as high levels of mercury making it polluted. The Thames is also giving water to everyone in London. This importance made me feel like sound mapping was worthwhile. I considered where to start and end? I did some research and found the source is in Thames Head which is exceptionally far. I thought that Kew Gardens to the Thames barrier is a good distance to do it. Firstly Kew Gardens and Richmond are the border front of London towards the west. and the Thames tidal barrier is an important part of protecting London from high tides and floods.
I’ve checked along with Google maps and found these as locations of interest all on the south side of the river Thames.
Greenwich Powerstation
Rotherine Tunnel
Tower Bridge
London Bridge
South bank
Battersea Power station
Battersea park
Kew garden
I’ll be cycling along the river stopping when my ears lead me to interesting sounds, taking it slow. It says it’s a 3-5 hour cycle which isn’t bad at all. I’ll be taking a Hydrophone with me, contact mic, Zoom H5 and telephone pick up. I thought about what I needed and I wanted to bring a recorder that was minimal, I’ve used the sound devices countless times and they offer amazing quiet preamps. But this time portability is key. I did do further research into Sony PCM D100 a discontinued portable field recorder with the quietest preamps available at 1dB louder than sound devices but it costs £500 minimum second hand now.
When I get home I’ll be packing my bag for tomorrow, I’ll take a train to Kew Gardens in the morning and cycle from there to Greenwich.