sgsr_042

recorded 2015 / 2019

bangkok is a city in constant motion — built on contradictions, choked by traffic, lit by thousands of fluorescent halos. these recordings were made across two visits, four years apart, tracing a loosely woven pattern through temples, intersections, shopping arcades, back alleys, and overpasses. beneath the chaos, there’s rhythm. beneath the rhythm, something stranger.

as in many global cities, the machinery of capital is loud: street vendors displaced by luxury condos, prayer rituals drowned out by generators, heat and haze punctuated by slogans of progress. and yet, in the cracks, things persist — sound as memory, sound as resistance.

these are uncompressed binaural recordings. best experienced through high quality headphones. editing has been kept minimal — mostly to remove handling noise, wind overload, or unwanted interference. dynamic range is preserved. some moments are loud, others almost silent. listen accordingly.

field notes

Rangnam Road Phayathai - a typical daytime recording on rangnam road near the victory monument; you can hear a nice array of traffic sounds merging with the street food vendors (who have since been discouraged from working on the road).

21 Living Place - a somewhat less chaotic recording taken from the balcony of my apartment five floors above rangnam road. you can hear the street, of course, but also the sounds of birds and children at the nearby santiphap park. this recording represents a typical day heard from my apartment.

Santiphap Park Part One - a relaxed daytime atmosphere in the park, combining natural sounds with some pleasant thai pop music broadcast over loudspeakers. some very excellent birdsong can be found here.

Peterson Music Academy (Band Practice) - it was very hard not to laugh while recording this, as you can hear a band of children really struggling to play the same notes in their scale exercise at the same time. making matters more hilarious is the solo tuba rendition of the star wars theme song that is being played in another room. i could have recorded this all day.

Lumphini Park Birds - a wonderful recording of some very talkative (and loud) birds, taken at midday in the middle of lumphini park. i remember being in search of a stiff drink due to the extremely hot weather, but wanted to pause to capture these incredible sounds.

Santiphap Park Part Two - while lounging around santiphap park one day, i happened to be present when the thai national anthem was played over the ubiquitous loudspeakers. this happens every day, and for the few moments while it plays, every person suddenly stops what they’re doing and stands up straight and still. i’d never seen anything quite like it, and made a note to return the next day and get a solid recording of the experience. i managed to get a bit of sweet thai pop music as well.

Terminal 21 Ambience - bangkok is known as home to some of the largest shopping malls on earth, and terminal 21 is one of the largest that i visited during my time there. i was amazed not only at the sheer size, but the vast reverberations creating a drone like sound of human activity throughout the building. there’s a good range of motions captured here, from the immense food courts to the narrower alleys of stores, to the expanse of escalator banks and the massive space required to hold them. truly a place to shop til you literally drop (from exhaustion).

Water Taxi to Grand Palace - one must-have experience in bangkok is taking a water taxi from saphan taksin to the grand palace. it sounds like a lame touristy thing to do, but i’ll admit it was quite a thrill for me. being out on the river, you can escape the heat and noise of the street, and it’s certainly more fun than a taxi. be careful to take a reputable boat, it’s easy to get scammed by unscrupulous people offering private rides (it happened to me once, but not in this recording).

Grand Palace - while it’s surely considered a tourist trap in some regards, there are a lot of compelling reasons to visit the grand palace, provided it’s relatively uncrowded. the architecture is marvelous, and nearly everything is photo worthy. this recording, though it clearly sounds extremely busy, was actually taken on a day where the crowds weren’t unmanageable.

Wat Pho Part One - wat pho is surely worth a few hours of your time, this particular recording captures the temple of the reclining buddha, which is the largest statue of the buddha in all of thailand (it has to be seen to be believed), and also one of the few existing statues where the bottom of the buddhas feet are exposed. the clinking sounds here are coins being dropped into a series of collection boxes to contribute to the maintenance of the temple.

Wat Pho Part Two - this recording continues a trek across the grounds at wat pho, both near, and inside, the temple of the emerald buddha. you can hear both prayer bells, as well as maintenance construction happening in another part of the grounds.

Railway Crossing - taken on a sweltering day walking along ratchawhiti road, i was struck by how pleasantly musical this railway crossing alarm was. when the train finally crossed, it was about four cars long, which seemed quite hilarious considering how long the crossing alarm was active.

Don Muang Airport Ambience - a fairly representative recording of the interior at don muang airport, the former military airport that now handles domestic flights within thailand. this was captured while waiting to board a flight to khon kaen.

Chatuchak Night Market Ambience - taken during a stroll through the chatuchak night market, weaving amongst the stalls of food, trinkets, and other ephemera. certainly a place worthy of a visit, though i’ll admit i was a bit put off by the sales of live animals (for food or pets).

Bangkok Mall Bathroom - for some reason i am quite taken by the metallic drone and rhythm of this series of fans that i found in a mall bathroom. i tried to get a lengthy recording, but felt increasingly weird standing about in a mens room, hence the somewhat short duration.

Airport Rail Link - i find virtually everything about the BTS rail system to be rather enjoyable, but particularly i like the sound of the female announcers voice. rattling off the stations in both thai and english, there’s something about the accent that is just fantastic. this is captured on the way to suvarnabhumi airport.

Poolside At King Power Hotel - the king power is a luxury hotel seemingly purpose built for wealthy chinese people who are in thailand for cheap shopping. they have an excellent pool, with a great bar, that is seemingly ignored by most of the hotels occupants. i put it to great use during my stay there, often having the entire place to myself. around sunset there are some fantastic bird sounds that i wanted to capture here, they seemed to come from all around me, even though it was often difficult to see any birds at all.

King Power Hotel Main Lobby - one of the notable features of the king power hotel and shopping zone, is the giant geodesic dome just off rangnam road. even though the interior is fairly banal, featuring a starbucks and other western outlets, i found the acoustic properties of the dome rather compelling, so i captured this recording on my final day in bangkok. 

the tracks are freely downloadable and available for use in film or other media under the creative commons attribution share-alike license. if you use them, please provide credit.

this is not documentation. this is what leaked through.