Tags
1/4 inch, audio, playlist, podcasts, quarter inch tape, radio, sonic, sound effects
Updated February 2023
This post is mostly for me. I enjoy a podcast or other audio when I have certain house admin (tidying, dish washing) tasks to do and so to save me searching for where I’ve bookmarked them I thought I’d put them all here and add to them. Most of these are sonically interesting, as well as having interesting content.
Audio about Audio
Tracking the Lincolnshire Poacher (Nov 2006) – Simon Fanshawe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/pip/j2rhi/ (programme website)
– baffling radio broadcasts known as number stations, and what they might be
Knock Knock: 200 Years of Sound Effects (2023) – Resonance FM, presented by Sarah Angliss
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001hxs4 (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hxs4 (programme website)
– “From noises off to the sounds of tomorrow, composer Sarah Angliss and some of the world’s greatest effects artists celebrate 200 years of the awesome power of sound effects.”
The Foghorn: A Celebration (Feb 2011) – Peter Curran
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00yqp5z (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yqp5z (programme website)
– foghorns as warnings, and as musical instruments
Free Thinking, The Radiophonic Workshop (2014) – Matthew Sweet
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b041y0tl (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041y0tl (programme website)
Into the Music Library (April 2011) – Jonny Trunk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b01061hr (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01061hr (programme website)
– incidental music, some of which has become very well known
The Bird Fancyer’s Delight (July 2011) – Sarah Angliss
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0128pyp (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0128pyp (programme website)
– teaching songs for birds to whistle, the original ‘recorders’
Musical Map of Sheffield (Nov 2011) Jarvis Cocker
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016k5t5/episodes/guide (programme website)
– a musical journey through growing up in Sheffield
Frontiers: Forensic Phonetics (12 December 2012) – Rebecca Morelle
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b01p7bxw (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p7bxw (programme website)
– all sound recordings made near anything plugged in pick up the inaudible variable ‘hum’ of the grid’s power supply, can be used as a forensic timestamp
A call from Joybubbles (13 March 2017) – on phone phreaking and community, republished under “The Well of Random” podcast which is full of intriguing audio.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08hlnjq – episode page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p074jpx6 – BBC Sounds page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0742c9q – The Well of Random landing page
The Doppler Effect with Charles Hazlewood (19 August 2017)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b090xv6w (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b090xv6w (programme website)
– get a brass band on a train car playing a single note and see if it drops a semitone as they whiz past you on the station
This programme mentions the Leslie speaker – thankfully there are LOADS of YouTube videos about this, you can see one in action here.
Curio: Quindar tones and talking in space (September 2017) – Brains On podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/curio-quindar-tones-and-talking-in-space/id703720228?i=1000409849325 (Apple Podcasts)
– about the NASA beeps.
Echo in a Bottle (June 2018) – Sarah Angliss
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0b5s5tb (BBC Sounds audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b5s5tb (programme website)
– ways of capturing echoes and their eerie effects
Radiolab – Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab
Making Radiolab (2006)
https://radiolab.org/episodes/91746-making-radio-lab – about how they use sound: “In spring of 2006, Jad and Robert took the stage at the SoHo Apple Store to talk about the making of Radiolab. Jad geeks out on the nitty-gritty of digital sound editing, and Robert discusses the editorial questions raised in creating imaginative soundscapes. And film editor Walter Murch weighs in on the components of storytelling.”
Fifteen inches per second (2004)
Not available. Radio programme about 1/4″ tape (BBC Genome listing). Features also in a 2022 radio programme about sound with Chris Watson, which is also not available but this is its progamme page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gcm3
A special mention to the Quindar tones connoisseurs (5 February 2019) Here’s The Tower podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-special-message-to-quindar-tone-connoisseurs/id1386677566?i=1000429279924
– a one minute explanation of what Quindar tones / NASA beeps are
The Boring Talks: #37 – Watergate Tape ‘Silence’ (11 February 2019) – Sophie Scott
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p070g3mp (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p070g3mp (programme website)
– when a blank tape is informative
– The Boring Talks landing page
New Weird Britain – Radical Rural (June 2019) – John Doran
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0006132 (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006132 (programme website)
– music made ‘in the margins of Britain’ by people priced out of cities
Audio about Other Things
Nancy grows up – Tony Schwartz recorded his niece Nancy from babyhood to teenage and condensed it into this lovely recording of her growing up. The full piece is on YouTube.
https://folkways.si.edu/tony-schwartz/nancy-grows-up/childrens-documentary/track/smithsonian – library record and 30s clip.
Waveguide (from September 1988 to 2001) – BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0338l70 (website for 64 episodes)
– “latest developments in radio broadcasting”. There’s an episode on the Radiophonic Workshop, Morse Code and a series on the effects of sunspots and other solar phenomena on radio transmissions and the ionosphere. Each episode ~9 minutes long.
How to write an instruction manual (August 2009) – Mark Miodownik
https://archive.org/details/HowToWriteAnInstructionManual (audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m4470 (programme website)
Word of Mouth: Stenography (2013) – Michael Rosen
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01phgjq (programme website)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b01phgjq (BBC Sounds audio)
– Word of Mouth landing page
Bunk Bed – six series stretching over several years with Peter Curran and Patrick Marber (and occasionally guests)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0735nh6/episodes/downloads (programme website)
Telling Tales (August 2019) – Peter Curran interviewed about his radio programmes & interviews, 1hr clips programme, fab
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0007rbh (BBC Sounds – audio)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007rbh (programme website)
Other sonic resources
Speechification Vol.002 02 Feb 18 – dig your fins
https://digyourfins.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/speechification-vol-002/
Other audio
Restart Project / Restart Radio (Resonance FM) podcast – fix more, buy less
https://therestartproject.org/podcast/