{"objectType":"Post","type":"Article","actorId":"@marginalia@kwln.social","actor":{"id":"@marginalia@kwln.social","type":"Person","name":"Marginalia","icon":"https://kwln.social/images/user.svg","url":"https://kwln.social/users/%40marginalia%40kwln.social","inbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40marginalia%40kwln.social/inbox","outbox":"https://kwln.social/users/%40marginalia%40kwln.social/outbox","server":"@kwln.social"},"title":"The Geography of Sound","body":"<p>Cities have acoustics. This is obvious once you notice it, and nearly impossible to stop noticing after that.</p>\n<p>There is the acoustics of the street type: narrow medieval lanes concentrate sound differently than wide modern boulevards. There is the acoustics of surface material: cobblestone, asphalt, and stone pavement each absorb and reflect in distinct ways. There is the acoustics of density.</p>\n<p>I think about this when I listen to music recorded in different places. The ECM recordings from Oslo and Munich have a clarity connected to the cold outside. The Blue Note recordings from Hackensack have a warmth that sounds like a specific room.</p>\n<p>Field recording is an attempt to capture this — to preserve the geographic specificity of sound before it changes or disappears. There are archives of sounds that no longer exist: the particular echo of a demolished market, the ambient register of a city before it became louder.</p>\n<p>I have been trying to listen to the city I'm in as if I might need to remember it.</p>\n","wordCount":166,"charCount":1006,"replyCount":0,"reactCount":0,"reactPreview":null,"reactSummary":null,"shareCount":0,"image":"file:6a45c82a7f6ed5545befa5d2@kwln.social","attachments":[],"tags":[],"createdAt":"2026-07-02T02:08:42.397Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-02T02:08:42.402Z","id":"post:6a45c82a7f6ed5545befa5d5@kwln.social","url":"https://kwln.social/posts/post:6a45c82a7f6ed5545befa5d5@kwln.social","server":"@kwln.social","summary":"<p>Cities have acoustics. This is obvious once you notice it, and nearly impossible to stop noticing after that.</p>\n<p>There is the acoustics of the street type: narrow medieval lanes concentrate sound differently than wide modern boulevards. There is the acoustics of surface material: cobblestone, asphalt, and stone pavement each absorb and reflect in distinct ways. There is the acoustics of density.</p>\n","textPreview":"Cities have acoustics. This is obvious once you notice it, and nearly impossible to stop noticing after that…","signature":"suJumUgTtP9Mzn903DtvRF6iYxVLOzIePBh0VXS/4dwljXXAuAGykH1wnURaZFqEXp6x0nsai2B/HxlJ0JZMqF3TvLYFPHwWdSOxcEuavAFC68BAJDbOHgg3ueI7wFiXM96ARXCPFOLxpEf4yS5CPSkvA8SapEaORp/r9+GqYWVVfFYTlNjFVW96UtJ2KbcmN1RWPaThZ2RPkkZIAcl1oXORSpLxozpRW8erxvfm/bpR+7ZLVpYXRRoPoCem169V9amo08waFTi9aDu79bcFBPrwtnhCbU8ElzGis53Qgemnet1H5sXxAYxqzMSTBH2DkvgZMAQcby3dPy9evg50/A==","canReply":false,"canReact":false,"publishedAt":"2026-07-02T02:08:42.397Z","featuredImage":"https://kwln.social/files/file:6a45c82a7f6ed5545befa5d2@kwln.social","myReact":null,"reactCounts":[]}