For this exercise, I decided to listen to a recording from back in Liverpool but found that there weren’t very many at all, but I found this recording of the Liverpool harbour (https://aporee.org/maps/?loc=41732&snd=47583) to be quite inviting.

The soundscape has a constant hiss of wind and washes of water with an underpinning engine hum drone which gives the recording a very cold atmosphere. Filling this space is a kind of alarm that is being set off in several different places, some further away from the microphone than others and some in the left channel, some in the right, which creates a kind of lulling hypnosis with the non rhythmic patterns that it moves between each alarm. Of course because of the location there is all kinds of machinery whirring and metal containers being banged against and making soft thuds, while the lifting machinery can be heard winding softly, making this cold industrial experience.

I listened to this recording 4 times, which I found very easy to do because of how soft and inviting the sound is, and found it quite a relaxing experience to sit with an atmosphere for a while and decypher the sources and try and articulate how they sound and feel like to me, as well as having a nice break hearing what an area of Liverpool sounds like that I have never had the inclination to go anywhere near.