Lost and confused on the New York subway
Just as the Underground is one of the iconic sounds of London, so the metro is one of New York City’s keynote sounds.
New York native Richard Matthews sends us this immersive field recording of an entire journey on the New York subway, travelling from 110th St in Manhattan to 138th St in the Bronx.
Andy Lyon, a long-standing Cities and Memory contributor, has taken on this sound and reimagined it, titling his piece the ‘lost and confused remix’, as he explains:
“The idea comes from travelling on a subway when you’re a bit stressed because you’re lost and not really sure where you’re going.”
“As a result you’re not really listening to the announcements (even though you should be) and then you can’t remember if you’ve heard them or not, or even if they are in the right order.”
“The remix uses only the original sound source with extensive use of Cataract and Polygon by Glitchmachines to process (mangle) the sound and also reverb and delays.”
City version:
Memory version: