Via the Salt Box: a 20-second recording of authentic Victorian street sounds. Part of The Sound Archive at the British Library. Somehow this short clip, with its anonymous voices, clip clopping, and white noise demonstrates the miraculous power of recorded sound more effectively than most anything else I can imagine.
Also available at the link above are sound effects from a “17th century battle,” which is fascinating, but I’m not clear on the recording technology that would have been in place in the 1600s; the catalog entry muddles the matter further by describing the item as 17-19th century, which is a rather wide latitude . . . still, I have to assume it’s authentic (I mean, the British Library is one of those sites I’d tell my students to trust).
Update (in response to my query as posted in the comments):
Posted by mgk at April 27, 2004 09:06 PM
Dear Matthew G. Kirschenbaum,Thanks for your enquiry. You’re right that the catalogue entries for these sounds are ambiguous and should more clearly state that they are modern recordings of authentic sounds (ie. re-enactments using original locations, machinery and equipment). Both sounds formed part of a CD which we published some years ago (now deleted) called ‘Period Backgrounds’ which was essentially aimed at production companies looking for atmospheric sounds so the provenance was not an important issue. However I agree that the catalogue entries require some editing.
Yours sincerely,
Rod Hamilton
Reference Specialist (Sound Archive)
An update . . . just fired off the following to the BL:
Hi,
Are the "Victorian street" and "17th century battle" sound effects available at [URL] authentic or are they reenactments?
This is not at all clear from the Web page. Moreover, the catalog description offers no information as to the technology or process by which these recordings were obtained--I find this lack of attention to provenance surprising and disturbing in a library collection.
I'm particularly confused as to how one could have obtained a recording in the 17th century as the techniques for recorded sound were not available until the late 19th century.
Thank you--
Posted by: MGK at April 27, 2004 11:35 PM | Link to Comment