Missing Sounds Of London

Recording life at London's markets

Before lockdown, Mcasso’s sound designer Tom Martin embarked on a personal project recording life of London, at Columbia Road and Ridley Road Markets. 

He wanted to create an anthropological document of what was once a regular event across communities in London - its markets, now in decline. Recording every 2 hours from 6am to 6pm from set-up to shut-down, he created a 6 minute edit - transitioning every 60s - using ‘time compression’ to give an overview of the day.

These audio time-lapses reminded us of what made our city so great, communities thriving noisily with colour and vibrancy, sounds that we missed in our temporarily quietened world.

We invited artist Oliver Macdonald Oulds to illustrate both scenes for the collaborative project.

Please put on some headphones, take yourselves back to buying flowers, coffee, cakes on a Sunday morning, and enjoy the audio time-lapse of Columbia Road & Ridley Road Markets.

Missing Sounds of London - Columbia Road Market      

Missing Sounds of London - Ridley Road Market


Credits: 
Columbia Road Market:
Audio: Tom Martin
Illustration: Oliver Macdonald-Oulds

Ridley Road Market:
Audio: Tom Martin
Illustration: Oliver Macdonald-Oulds


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