Field Notes: Reverberations of an ever changing city

The overhead metro stations being constructed around Kolkata has given birth to these short tunnels for traffic. Due to huge reverberations these concrete structures produce, when you enter them, it suddenly feels like the vehicles have slowed down. Even the most common vehicle sounds different, like the signature sound of the Yellow Ambassador Taxi feels otherworldly. During night, when heavy vehicles are allowed and the general traffic reduces, these vehicles sound eerie and ghostly. The rattles of the huge trucks carrying construction materials pound through your heart. The heavy reverberations stay with you for a while, like remnants of the transient vehicles.

I spent some time observing and recording such a tunnel on the midnight of 4th December accompanied by friends Chandan, Ritam and a huge number of mosquitos.

Here's a short excerpt from the long recordings with a spectrogram view.

Microphone- Sennheiser MKH 8060

Recorder- Sound Devices Mixpre 10ii

Photo courtesy- Ritam Sarkar (@ritamsarkar)