1. dB Meter

New Cross area
London

Mapping Exercise

Sound map of New Cross

This visual map of New Cross is based off a 40min walk which was recorded through my phone’s mic. I wanted to showcase a route that is ephemeral and personal through the relationship we develop between going places and sound. We all pay attention to sound differently and the outdoor auditaury environment is also unique for each travel. 

The aim of this project is to use a map to visualise anything that was exposed to me from the street. Studying at Goldsmiths and staying in the New Cross area, I recorded a sound track of what the local area could offer auditorily while I walked through its streets.

In order to do so, I recorded through the app dB Meter so that I could collect the data of the sound level depending on the space I was in. I then created a code through paint in which a certain pattern would correspond to a sound.

I then proceeded to paint the map based on my memory and the data that I collected prior to it. What I like about this project is its uniqueness and ephemerality. This is the representation of New Cross through sound and by extension, a map of my audio experience. The code created explains this specifically in response to the 3rd February 2021 in the middle of a global crisis.

The relationship between what is visual and what is audible has always something that fascinated me. I am also intrigued by spaces and what makes each space unique and in this case, through the sounds that New Cross sang for me and thereby filled up the space in my mind.