Wednesday morning (starting from c. 6.15am) springtime residential soundscape from the suburbs of South London during the first lockdown. The recording presents the entire refuse collection sequence from the point of audition of my bedroom. The bin lorry turns into the top of the street, gradually moves down the street passing by my bedroom window where the microphones are positioned, and steadily disappears from within earshot. The bin lorry refuse mechanism generates a noise more in place in Jurassic Park, which a touch of WD-40 could eliminate. Remarkably, I would normally sleep through this, but during the first lockdown the soundscape got “louder” despite the usual incessant drone of traffic noise dropping away.

Winner of the Worst Sound: A sound that should never have been made or that should have been designed better, Sound of the Year Awards 2020. https://www.soundoftheyearawards.com/

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/29938