the_riel_thing

STADSRUIS - CITYSOUNDS #01 Den Haag

STADSRUIS - CITYSOUNDS is a collection of sounds, edited and mixed to give you an impression of parts of, or spaces in a city. 

In this episode you are listening to locations and spaces in Den Haag (The Hague), the Netherlands. 

The part of Den Haag you will listen to is under major construction. A new entertainment area will be built, and the old theaters (only 30-something years old) are being demolished as I write this. Former ministeries are being replaced with new ones, recreating the centre of a city in a decade or two. It is great work, urban planning. 

All this demolition, construction and renovation is going on in a very busy area. One thing I remember about the recordings I made was that I had to lower the gain of my recorders quite often, something that I only have to do in a storm, or other situations with high wind speeds. Noise is a constant backdrop to the great views Den Haag has to offer. 

The recording session was a joint effort of Michel Campfens and me. Michel is a professional photographer, and his pictures of some of the recorded locations are featured here. You can find Michel’s work at: http://www.michelcampfensphotography.com

Recorded locations, in order of appearance:

1. Den Haag Centraal, busses, cars and streetcars (Start to 1:00)
2. Hall Den Haag Centraal Railway Station, passsengers, announcements, trains and streetcars (0:50-8:40)
3. Prins Bernhardviaduct, pneumatic drill and passing cars, looped (1:00-2:50)
4. Intersection Utrechtsebaan/Juliana van Stolberglaan, passing bus, cars, motorcycles (1:20-2:40)
5. Escalator (1) Streetcar Station Ternoot (3:05-3:15)
6. Tramviaduct near Royal Library, cars and streetcars (3:15-6:20)
7. Partikel Tramviaduct Turfmarkt, granular synthesis of streetcars passing through a tunnel, own composition (3:30-8:10)
8. Synthesizer track, own composition (4:15-6:10)
9. Schedeldoekshaven, demolition crew working with aluminium siding (4:30-5:40)
10. Escalator (2) Streetcar Station Ternoot, original and edited sound, simultaneously, looped (7:10-8:50)
11. Dr. Anton Philipszaal (demolition started, October 2015), air vent (7:55-8:30)
12. Parking Garage Schedeldoekshaven, exiting car (8:30-9:10)

***********Listen with headphones********

Some of the sounds cannot be reproduced, because the buildings no longer exist.

The locations can be found here: