sgsr_033

recorded 2015

These recordings were made in and around Mazatlán, Mexico during the winter of 2015—a city suspended between local routine and the seasonal churn of tourism. What you hear is what was there: the overlapping rhythms of a place balancing economic necessity with the illusion of leisure.

As with all recordings in this series, these are presented in binaural stereo and are best experienced on quality headphones. Edits were made only when required—to remove handling noise, wind distortion, or intrusive interruptions. In several cases, tracks have been left untouched, preserving the full texture of the original sound environment, imperfections and all.

field notes

morning bird chorus on pedregoso - recorded from a balcony overlooking the sea, which you can hear in the distance. imagine waking up to these birds every day at sunrise, in a room with bare windows, light pouring into your closed eyes. you can pull the blankets over your eyes, but you can’t close your ears, so you may as well wake up and get the day started.

plaza machado band rehearsal - recorded mid-day in the plaza machado, outside the music school. you can hear the tourists walking by as the band cranks up it’s volume. something quite interesting happening in the binaural recording which gives the whole recording a psychedelic feel.

tamales truck scene - recorded on calle benito juarez, centro historico in the mid afternoon. you get a sense of the traffic passing by on this somewhat busy thoroughfare.

mega supermercado - recorded at the mega supermercado, during midday. quite a ‘live’ environment, full of people and machinery.

night time on calle pedregoso - recorded around midnight while walking back along calle pedregoso. as you can tell, people are still relatively active at this time, as the night time temperatures cool down considerably. automobiles, animals, and televisions are all still very much a part of the soundscape.

malecon daytime walk - recorded during an early afternoon walk along the malecon, approaching zona dorada. plenty of human activity and radio music from passing traffic, and you can hear the ubiquitous whistle coming from the pulmoneda drivers as they try to pick you up for a ride. some excellent examples of mexican dance music are audible.

plaza machado deep jazz night time - recorded after dinner, outside pedro y lola’s, in the plaza machado. this is a fantastic example of the thriving jazz scene in mazatlan, which is possible to hear just about every evening.

passing delivery truck - recorded midmorning in centro historico, walking to the beach.

aquarium aviary - recorded in the bosque de la ciudad, at an aviary quite near the aquarium. an amazing array of very vocal birds, chattering away all day. unfortunately, the aviary abuts a busy street, so automobile noise spoils what would have been a brilliant recording of the birds.

centro night time scene - recorded during a late night stroll across the centro historico. once the temperature cools down, it’s nice to get out and explore in the dark.

beachside breakfast band - recorded at breakfast along playa gaviotas, this eight player band walks from palapa to palapa, taking requests and belting out high volume high energy mexican music.

el faro summit - recorded at the summit at el faro. after a long hot climb to the top, you’re rewarded with spectacular views of the ocean and the city.

water delivery truck and street scene - recorded midday heading to lunch in centro. this is an amazing recording of the water delivery truck which blares this rapid-fire recording on a continuous loop.

cathedral square night time - recorded late in the evening in the plaza republica, where you can hear the cathedral bells ringing, as cars and young lovers pass by.

museo de arte gallery ambience - recorded in the museo de arte, this was a relatively empty gallery hall with some excellent live reverberations.

night time insects and dogs - recorded late at night on calle pedregoso, the sound of the insects was ceaseless, no matter where you went. you can hear the dogs distantly barking across the canyon below ice box hill.

bosque zoo - recorded mid day in bosque de la cuidad, you get a wide variety of animals making noises from their cages. unfortunately, the zoo is very close to a busy street, so automobile noise intrudes on what would otherwise be a very nice recording. my attempts to engage the jaguar in conversation went ignored, sadly.

mazatlan airport lounge - recorded in the airport lounge waiting to return to the united states. better to not have recorded this at all and simply stayed in mexico... 

These recordings are offered freely, without gatekeeping or scarcity logic. Use them in your own work—films, installations, broadcasts, whatever helps you erode the spectacle. If you do, please acknowledge the source, in the spirit of Creative Commons’ attribution share-alike license: a minor gesture toward commoning in an age of enclosure.