An Earmap of the Federal Republic
September 20, 2016 12:20 PM Subscribe
I'll be spending a week in Germany at the beginning of October. I have a ton of free time and the willingness to go anywhere that's rail-accessible. So, I beseech you: What are some of the coolest-SOUNDING places or things in Germany?
I'll be traveling around with my field recording gear, and a lot of my life's work depends on me collecting fascinating sounds that will later reproduce beautifully in headphones.
Examples of sounds I find cool:
- Locations with particularly interesting "native" ambience: a natural reverb/echo/delay effect; a rising sound from another nearby locale (e.g., the way city noise can diffuse into a canyon from afar); an effect or accident of architecture / geology / etc., that doesn't depend on me having to make a noise into it. (That is, I don't want just a recording of myself clapping into a cistern.) Tell me about places where you could listen and be transported to that place in your imagination without a word.
- Sound-specific installations like wind harps, sea organs, or other things created for the purpose of making noise by interacting with nature.
- Unusual birds, particularly owls and cranes and other kinds with truly striking or distinctive calls. (I'm OK with camping out in a forest or wooded area if this will get me what I want.)
- Industrial sounds: Factories, steamworks, rail classification yards. Particularly those that have very distinctive hums or drones. Bonus points if they have other electronic sounds mixed in. (The gold standard for this is the American Music Club track which consists solely of an eerie factory tone.)
- Faraway train horns. I grew up in the American Midwest, so I probably have a very specifically romantic sound in mind here, but I do love the sound of a train horn or whistle echoing over a landscape. Does this happen in Germany?
- Any other miscellaneous drones, tones, "long sounds", etc., that may not fit the above categories.
I'll be traveling around with my field recording gear, and a lot of my life's work depends on me collecting fascinating sounds that will later reproduce beautifully in headphones.
Examples of sounds I find cool:
- Locations with particularly interesting "native" ambience: a natural reverb/echo/delay effect; a rising sound from another nearby locale (e.g., the way city noise can diffuse into a canyon from afar); an effect or accident of architecture / geology / etc., that doesn't depend on me having to make a noise into it. (That is, I don't want just a recording of myself clapping into a cistern.) Tell me about places where you could listen and be transported to that place in your imagination without a word.
- Sound-specific installations like wind harps, sea organs, or other things created for the purpose of making noise by interacting with nature.
- Unusual birds, particularly owls and cranes and other kinds with truly striking or distinctive calls. (I'm OK with camping out in a forest or wooded area if this will get me what I want.)
- Industrial sounds: Factories, steamworks, rail classification yards. Particularly those that have very distinctive hums or drones. Bonus points if they have other electronic sounds mixed in. (The gold standard for this is the American Music Club track which consists solely of an eerie factory tone.)
- Faraway train horns. I grew up in the American Midwest, so I probably have a very specifically romantic sound in mind here, but I do love the sound of a train horn or whistle echoing over a landscape. Does this happen in Germany?
- Any other miscellaneous drones, tones, "long sounds", etc., that may not fit the above categories.
Best answer: Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) sounds like it would interest you. It's a church organ in Halberstadt that's in the process of playing a John Cage piece over the course of 639 years.
posted by Prunesquallor at 12:46 PM on September 20, 2016
posted by Prunesquallor at 12:46 PM on September 20, 2016
Best answer: Can you get to Salzburg? You can tour the salt mines there.
If you're going to be in northwest Germany I can give you directions to an observation spot outside a NATO airbase where a bunch of heavy, loud aircraft take off. You can get to within a few miles of the site by train and then will need to either rent a car or a bike I think.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:54 PM on September 20, 2016
If you're going to be in northwest Germany I can give you directions to an observation spot outside a NATO airbase where a bunch of heavy, loud aircraft take off. You can get to within a few miles of the site by train and then will need to either rent a car or a bike I think.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:54 PM on September 20, 2016
nthing Teufelsberg. Not hard to get there but kind of a weird crust punk meets extreme cyclist vibe up there though.
posted by Beardman at 1:32 PM on September 20, 2016
posted by Beardman at 1:32 PM on September 20, 2016
Best answer: Trevor Cox wrote a book about interesting aural phenomena called The Sound Book: The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World. He also maintains a web site called Sonic Wonders, which catalogs such wonders. There are only a couple in Germany and only one not mentioned above. He's also written a more recent book and some of Amazon's "you may also be interested in" suggestions seem like they might be worth checking out.
posted by stuart_s at 3:16 PM on September 20, 2016
posted by stuart_s at 3:16 PM on September 20, 2016
For me, two of the most characteristic sounds of Germany are Fußball matches, and Fußball fans singing in beer halls, beer gardens.
posted by at at 3:31 PM on September 20, 2016
posted by at at 3:31 PM on September 20, 2016
In the early 90s I visited an art installation sound park in Germany. It was probably either near Berlin or somewhere in Bavaria. I don't know if it still exists nor do I know the city name or installation name, but perhaps you can locate it.
However, Ait Bourne is a current sound installation project in Berlin.
posted by littlewater at 4:20 PM on September 20, 2016
However, Ait Bourne is a current sound installation project in Berlin.
posted by littlewater at 4:20 PM on September 20, 2016
Slightly at a tangent to your actual request, but I found the experience of DIALOG IM DUNKELN in Hamburg fascinating - a tour of several detailed interior/exterior spaces (including a spice warehouse) in complete darkness, guided by a blind person who identifies members of the tour group by voice only. Before you leave you get to order a drink at a bar and pay in cash from your wallet - they always give you correct change! This is designed to bring home to you what life as a blind person is like ...
posted by kairab at 4:52 AM on September 21, 2016
posted by kairab at 4:52 AM on September 21, 2016
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posted by athirstforsalt at 12:29 PM on September 20, 2016