Get Ready To Record City Sounds

Belfast citizens have been called upon to record and upload the sounds at their favourite spots or on their route to work.

It will help researchers build an audio map of Belfast as part of a community project called Sounds of the City.

Queen's University professor Pedro Rebelo is leading the project. He said: "We know how our city looks, but do we really pay attention to how it sounds? Sounds can be very powerful in terms of their association with events in people's lives. They can evoke strong memories and emotions. Older members of the community told us that one of their most powerful sound memories was that of horns from the shipyard, factories and mills across Belfast calling tens of thousands of people to work each morning."

He said mobile phone sound recorders would do the job nicely, and could be uploaded to the sound map at www.belfastsoundmap.org, where anyone is welcome to listen in.

The map forms part of the Sounds of the City exhibition, which runs at the Mac in Belfast until June 28.

Sound installations featured in the exhibition were developed by the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s, involving PhD students Rui Chaves, Matilde Meireles and Aonghus McEvoy, along with members of Dee Street Community Centre in East Belfast and Tar Isteach in North Belfast.

(NE)