Sonify... your package's journey

There’s different ways of sonifying data, and it’s often hard to strike a balance between making it musical or “listenable”, and translating the data into sound in a correct manner. We’ve seen different ways of sonifying data before in this “Sonify…”-series. With FedEx’s SoundTrack, they very clearly went for music. Which seems logical considering SoundTrack is a marketing gimmick.

FedEx Soundtrack takes a tracking number, or asks you to create a fictional package, and then sonifies this. Everything from the route, delivery type, package’s weight and dimension will influence the composition. A heavier package will for example create a track with a more intense bass track. For a multinational courier company, it is quite a fun feature that will certainly get them some attention.

Urban Resonances

The beautiful snowy Macedonian landscape

I am currently visiting Macedonia for the Urban Resonances project. With a group of artists and teachers from the Utrecht School of Music and Technology we travel from our home base Skopje through the country for concerts and master classes at schools and faculties of music. 

The project is an initiative of the Zoey foundation for arts and culture in the Netherlands and Public Room in Macedonia. You can read more about the project at their websites: ZOEY / Public Room. 

Click to read more ...

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Paddling the quiet lakes and breathing the fresh forest air of Sweden was wonderful again this summer. While living in the city I tend to forget how peaceful. Next stop was Berlin, full of people and transportation, and I can hardly think of a bigger sonic contrast between two places.  

The Berlin Hauptbahnhof must be one of the busiest spots of the city, flooded with people, day in, day out. With the S-bahn, the U-bahn and national and international trains passing by, there is not a moment of silence, not a minute without a departure. Here is an impression of the station’s ambience:

Photo by Spigoo

Portimão: Praça Manuel Teixeira Gomes

It has been a while since I shared the sound of a place I visited in the places category, but now I am in Portimão, I have a good reason to start doing it again! It is remarkably hot and sunny, even for spring in southern Portugal. I never visited this country before, and it is welcoming me with a beautiful blue sky. 

Here is what Praça Manuel Teixeira Gomes sounds like on an average Monday morning in spring. It is quite a sonic surprise. While lots of birds sing their song in the olive trees, I pass a cheesy Native American music performance on one side while on the other side the fountains rustle:

Click to read more ...

Quiet lakes and rumbling waterfalls

After a month of silence on Everyday Listening, I’m back and ready to hear and write about new and inspiring sonic experiments! If you know of any, or work on something yourself you’d like me to write about, please contact me.

During July I travelled to what appeared to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Via Germany and Denmark we drove into Sweden, to travel halfway up north and then west, into Norway.

Sweden is a land of extended forests, beautiful lakes and the further you drive up north, the quieter it gets. The perfect place to breathe some oxygen after a year of city life, if you can handle the mosquitoes.

Norway is a bit more overwhelming. I didn’t expect it to be so impressive. Norway is loud and strong, nature showing us her all her pride. Thousands of waterfalls covering the steep mountain walls.

In the Netherlands there is no place were you can’t hear the constant humming noise of a highway somewhere in the distance. In Norway it seems like there is always the sound of water rustling somewhere not too far away. I prefer the latter.

Here's a little slideshow with some of the amazing landscapes we encountered. And what does it sound like? I'll give you some examples later!