The Aeolian Soundmap

Aeolian:
i – Relating to or arising from the action of the wind
ii – Relating to Aeolus, the Greek God of wind.

The Aeolian Soundmap was created by Kathy Hinde and Ed Holroyd, and was inspired by the Aeolian Harp, a stringed instrument that is played by the wind. Recordings of sounds that have been generated by the natural phenomena of the wind can be added to the soundmap to build a rich Aeolian soundscape.

You can compose with overlapping Aeolian soundscapes by ‘playing’ the soundmap like a scrolling musical score. Move around the map, zoom in and zoom out – frame the sounds you want to hear, then click ‘play’. Explore other possibilities by customised the playback settings and filtering the selection of Aeolian sounds.

The Aeolian Soundmap is part of the series of ‘playable’ soundmaps by Kathy and Ed, which includes twitchr for birdsong and echo-location for soundmapping through sound-recording and listening walks.

Play the Aeolian Sound Map

help-play Press the PLAY button and a line will scan across the map playing sounds as it passes markers

Change the direction of the scrolling line here

Use the filters to customise playback

You can use filters to refine the selection of active markers on the soundmap, consequently refining you soundscape to fewer sounds. You can filter the results by date, user and Tags. To filter by Tags, select a word from the Tag Cloud, and only recordings with those tags will remain active. You can select more than one tag.

help-filter The clear filters button removes any date, user or tag filters you have selected.

help-loop Loop playback

help-audio Select if you want to play the tags like a music box, just hear the sound recordings, or combine the two.

help-speed Change the speed of the line

Select the scale and start note for the music box notes

Help

Why don’t all the markers play a sound?

help-markers

We have limited the number of sounds that play at any one time. This is so that the Aeolian Soundmap runs smoothly. The ‘active’ markers at ‘drop pins’ and the inactive markers are small circles. You can zoom in and reframe the map to activate different markers.

Why do sounds keep playing after I’ve clicked pause?

help-pause

The play and pause buttons only affect the movement of the playhead. Any sound that is playing when you press pause will continue to its conclusion. To stop all sounds, use the stop button.

How do I upload recordings?

You can find out how to upload recordings on the Upload page.

How can I find out more about each recording?

If you click on the marker for a recording, an info box will appear. You can then click on the link to that recording on Audioboo.