A field recording of two minutes of silence.

July 15, 2005 2:08 PM

Is there a field recording of the two minutes of silence yesterday honoring the London bombing victims?

I read a blog post describing the moments leading to the two minutes. The writer described the cacophany of the city suddenly becoming quiet. It seems to me that a recording of that event would be interesting to hear.

posted by grefo to society & culture (9 comments total)

Ok, so, just to clear this up, you're really looking for a recording of the transition to silence rather than a recording of the silence itself? :)
posted by socratic at 2:32 PM on July 15, 2005

I'm sure there's still ambient noise from animals, cars, etc - I think the transition from that + voices to just that and back again would also be striking.
posted by phearlez at 3:13 PM on July 15, 2005

This isn't entirely what you're looking for, but the sixth story (A moment of silence for bombing victims) is a montage, and is very interesting. At first I thought there was something wrong with the sound in the video player, but there (apparently) wasn't.
posted by socratic at 3:25 PM on July 15, 2005

Seek out Kenotaphion by Jonty Semper on Charrm Recordings. It's a 2CD set of minutes silences.

Available from Forced Exposure and Aquarius Records.

He's also released the 1 minute silence from the funeral of Princess Diana on 7".
posted by nylon at 3:45 PM on July 15, 2005

And to specifically answer the question, there's video and audio of the London bombing two minutes available on the BBC (see the right of the page)
posted by nylon at 3:59 PM on July 15, 2005

Oops, duh, sorry Socratic - I now see you've already posted a link to a montage. I can't tell whether the BBC one is the same, because CNN won't let me watch theirs.
posted by nylon at 4:03 PM on July 15, 2005

NPR did a story on it this morning, and it began with the tolling of a bell (I would say Big Ben, but you know, I'm not entirely sure that was it) and some ambient sound. Search the Morning Edition page for today.
posted by Miko at 5:31 PM on July 15, 2005

Yes, I am looking for a recording of the transition to silence. Including the silence as well, if possible.
posted by grefo at 6:39 PM on July 15, 2005

The guardian has this:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/audio/2minsilence.mp3
posted by handee at 3:57 AM on July 16, 2005