Padova buskers: an Edwardian dream

A field recording from Christmas in Padova, northern Italy – a pianist and a violinist provide some of the most elegant and cultured busking you’re likely to see.

It’s a fitting musical accompaniment for the galleries, open spaces and architecture of a beautiful city like Padova.

For the reimagined sound, we’ve taken a loop from the piece and layered it up, then sent it spinning into the past with various effects.

Several instances of the loop are played back through 1920s and 1930s microphone setups for a vintage sound, while vinyl crackle adds to the effect.

The addition of several deep dub delays flowing in and out makes this a dreamlike sequence, as if you were listening to an extended locked groove from an old shellac record being played on a gramophone, and also provide some motion and movement for the sounds.

City version:

Memory version: