Ambient Sounds of Nothing App for Android

July 15, 2016 1:48 PM

I'm not sure where I originally heard about this (podcast? radio?) but I'm in search of an (Android) app that is a compilation of real-world ambient sounds of "nothing". The examples played in the interview I remember were simply recordings of the ambient sounds of various locales around the world. (The sounds of droning highway, city traffic/sirens, etc... from different areas around the world).

In my searches for this, I have found the Sounds Around You Project, which might be related... but no Android app in sight.

NOTE: I'm not looking for apps with white-noise, thunder-storms, babbling brooks, etc.

any direction would be appreciated!

posted by jimmereeno to Technology (10 answers total)

Response by poster: Also, very similar to "Record The Earth", but I'm looking for something that will *play* these sounds and not record/submit these recordings.
posted by jimmereeno at 1:57 PM on July 15, 2016

There's an app called White Noise (there is also a free version) that has a companion market app where you can download recordings and mixes created by others. There's a map too, so you can choose the locations of the recordings.

This app was apparently featured in Consumer Reports this past February, so maybe that's where you heard about it?
posted by kindall at 2:53 PM on July 15, 2016

Best answer: Field Recordings by Thijs Geritz?
posted by asockpuppet at 4:11 PM on July 15, 2016

I think Coffitivity might be what you're looking for!
posted by thebots at 2:51 AM on July 16, 2016

WAIT, I misread your question. Coffitivity is still a good app but definitely not worldwide sampling.
posted by thebots at 2:54 AM on July 16, 2016

Best answer: you might be looking for Radio Aporee which is a beautiful collection of found sounds (but the android app was kinda buggy last time I tried it). You can also access alot of this by doing a search for field recordings on archive.org
posted by velebita at 9:31 AM on July 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

oh wait! radio aporee updated the app since I last tried, it's called 'miniatures for mobiles' now and I bet it works much better
posted by velebita at 9:46 AM on July 16, 2016

Best answer: Is it this app based on John Cage's 4'33"?
It was on an episode of the TLDR podcast.

It lets you record your own 4 minutes and 33 seconds of ambient sounds, or listen to others from around the world.
It doesn't seem to be available on Android, though.
posted by exceptinsects at 1:47 PM on July 17, 2016

Response by poster: That's was it, exceptinsects! Fantastic. (except for the no-android part. grrr.) I'll definitely try out the other recommendations and come back to mark best answers.

thank you everybody.
posted by jimmereeno at 2:28 PM on July 17, 2016

Response by poster: Okay... after some initial frustration that 4'33" isn't available on android, I used the suggestion above to search on the term "field recordings" (which seems to be exactly what I wanted, but didn't know that it was actually a thing) in my favorite podcast app. paydirt! (including the one listed above by Thijs Geritz).

Once again, score one for metfilter.
posted by jimmereeno at 3:05 PM on July 17, 2016