White Noise Lounge

City street

DJ Justin Somnia — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:24:15 +0000

I enjoy living in the city. I enjoy having two big bay windows that look out over Pine Street and let in copious amounts of light. But there is a downside: street noise. We’re lucky. We live on the downhill slope of a one-way street in a fairly residential neighborhood. There’s not much people noise, but when the light turns green at the crest of the hill before our block, a peloton of cars whooshes by, intermingled with the occasional squeal of a cab’s brakes. There’s also the twice weekly garbage collection that sounds like a wrecking crew and the hospital deliveries next door that block off a lane of traffic, creating a chain reaction of sudden lane changes and honking cars. It’s a symphony really. It’s also why I wear earplugs to sleep.

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Mt. Tamalpais grass

MC Soleil — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:31:23 +0000

During the summer months, the North Bay turns golden which accentuates the contrast between the dry grass, the sky and the dispersed trees. Mount Tamalpais is a recurring example of this beauty, in addition to the spectacular elevated ocean views.

Today, hiking the coastal trail, we enjoyed summery temperatures, beautiful sunshine and a mild breeze which ran through the dry grass creating a special hiss.

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Les grenouilles

DJ Justin Somnia — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:05:59 +0000

The title of this post is in French because these are French frogs croaking—and because grenouille is such a fun word to say: gren-OO-ee. Unfortunately it’s a really hard sound to photograph without stumbling upon an actual frog in the dark. So I’ve taken the liberty of pairing it with a lathyrus latifolius flower, also known as a perennial pea (or a gesse à larges feuilles in French).

The frogs were recorded at night in Le Cannet. The photo was taken in the hills above Èze-sur-Mer. I think they complement each other nicely.

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Waves in Nice

MC Soleil — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:03:05 +0000

This is a very familiar sound to me. The beach along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice was a soothing and invigorating place during my college years. The entire beach is made up of small polished stones, which are not only hard to walk on, but also sound like a rainstick when the wave washes back.

Bonus sound: With the airport pretty close to the beach, about halfway through the track, you’ll hear an airplane fly by. Typique!

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Riding BART

DJ Justin Somnia — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 07:21:20 +0000

MC Soleil and I are taking White Noise Lounge on the road—to France! So posting might be a bit irregular, depending on the good sounds we find along the way.

To get in the spirit of travel, I took a recording on BART between Daly City and South San Francisco, on the way to the airport. It’s not as “pure” as I’d like, you can hear people talking and the occasional cough, but I suppose it adds something to its vérité. For anyone who’s never ridden on BART before, it can be surprisingly screechy, especially at high speed underground. Gives me a newfound appreciation for the Paris metro’s tires.

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Food Court

MC Soleil — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:42:58 +0000

After hours of shopping at the San Francisco Westfield Mall, we had pasta and a gigantic salad from the gourmet food court. The decor is pretty retro hip, but the tile floors emphasize every little sound, from people chatting to chairs sliding to silverware clinking to heels clomping… creating an interesting mélange.

By the way, White Noise Lounge is now available as a podcast in iTunes. Check it out!

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Vespa LX150

DJ Justin Somnia — Mon, 19 May 2008 07:26:26 +0000

I tried on two occasions to record my scooter while I was zipping around the city, but the mic’s foam windscreen let too much wind noise through. That and the frequent stop-and-go city traffic made for a jarring listening experience. So in the interest of “white noise” over realism, I recorded a few minutes of my Vespa’s 4-stroke, 150cc engine just idling.

Click on the photo for a new “immersive” visual experience.

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Golden Gate Bridge joints

DJ Justin Somnia — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:09:30 +0000

At either end of the Golden Gate Bridge, there are ribbed joints in the surface of the roadway. I don’t think they’re expansion joints, I think they simply connect the surface of the approach to the surface of the bridge itself. Since they’re about two feet wide, the ribs add traction to the metal surface in wet weather. They also make a really neat sound, especially in rush hour traffic. Like mechanical (or maniacal?) barking sea lions.

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Cable car cable

MC Soleil — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:57:54 +0000

One of San Francisco’s characteristic charms is the cable car. Mostly ridden by tourists, it is still one of the locals’ chosen commute methods.

What is striking about the cable car is that, well, it’s pulled by cables… still blows my mind! The cables run continuously under the street, sometimes making a ringing sound. 10pm on a weeknight at Hyde and Washington is a prime time to experience it.

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Electric shaver

DJ Justin Somnia — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:52:18 +0000

My dad uses an electric shaver, so when it came time for me to shave, I also chose an electric shaver. I tried an actual razor once in college, and I felt like it took off a whole layer of skin on my face. Even with an electric shaver, I only shave every other day (or lately every 2 days) to prevent my skin from getting too raw.

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Handwashing dishes

DJ Justin Somnia — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:21:25 +0000

First of all, welcome to White Noise Lounge. A week ago MC Soleil and I had this wacky idea to broadcast white noise over the internet. So we decided to start an audio blog of the ambient sounds in our environment and on our travels. Not strictly white noise, but in the same vein. This is our first post.

This afternoon I did the dishes. Washed by hand because we don’t have a dishwasher, and because I actually enjoy washing the dishes by hand. Two people don’t make that many dishes, but there are always a lot of glasses to wash. We mostly drink water, and since they all look the same, we’re constantly forgetting whose glass is whose.

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