Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Bottling Sounds

For all the fun I've had taking photos of Paris, there are sound and scent memories I want for my scrapbook as well.  Eh voila.  Thanks to the Freesound Project, I've been able to find sound files of some of those little things that will always conjure up Paris for me. (Regrettably after much surfing, I cannot find the perfect recording of French ladies talking.)  So put on your headphones and listen to:

the SNCF jingle which precedes all announcements in French train stations (and yes, I know that this wasn't recorded in Paris.)

The sounds of riding on the metro including the clunk of the doors and the woosh as the train gathers speed.

And then over on YouTube, I found this silly clip with the often heard metro announcement, "Attention à la marche en descendant du train."

What's your favorite Paris sound?

13 comments:

Deb said...

Those are great, Anne!
How about the click-clack of a woman's heels on the pavement walking to wherever she is going with such purpose.
And the infamous police sirens wailing down the street.
The honk of a bus horn.
The truck picking up the recycling containers with all the wine bottles in it from the curbs and hearing that initial "crash".
Great post-deb

Brenna [fabuleuxdestin] said...

I hate that SNCF sound ! Reminds me off all the time i've spent waiting for a train!

Harriet said...

Can't wait to get new speakers for my computer so as to listen to the links - right now I'm sound-less.

MJ said...

I love these. When we go back home, I'll make a mix of Paris sounds and play it at parties. The parties may be lame, but at least I'll be enjoying myself!

Thanks, great stuff. As for smells...we live right above a patisserie. Any way I can bottle the smell of break baking at 5:30am? What a great way to wake up.

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Dan said...

Very nice! That SNCF jingle always makes me anxious and excited. Will I get on the right train? The right car? I used it for my ringtone for a while. There is also a musical version, which you can find by searching for sncf-musique_principale.mp3.

Anonymous said...

The pop of a champagne cork, of course.
[done with more regularity there than in the US]

French Girl in Seattle said...

The local shopkeepers' "Bonjour!" when you enter their store... i miss it, here in Seattle!

Starman said...

Nothing would make me think of Paris more than a police or ambulance siren.

Anne said...

Thanks for these great comments. To me, the sound of a zillion bottles being dumped always reminds me of the apartment I lived in my senior year in college which was across the street from a bar. Every morning, it was the same thing: the sound of the garage door opening, the beep beep as the garbage truck backed up and then the crash of glass.

Later when I was in graduate school, my bedroom faced a street that was the ambulance line for three hospitals. Another association cemeted for life.

Paris Buckeye said...

How about the swish, swish of the green plastic brooms? We're leaving next month after three years and my husband has joked that we'll never get to sleep in all that quiet. So we're planning to record all of the sounds on our busy street to use as white noise in the US;)

Anonymous said...

Whenever I visit, the ricocheting rev of a motor scooter zipping down the street always wakes me up at night!

Amy said...

Notre Dame. Bells.

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