The Soundtrack of Australia

Full Episode description

In 1977, we sent a Golden Record of the sounds of Earth into space with NASA’s Voyager probes.

This ‘cosmic’ calling card inspired the program team to make this – a golden record of Australian sounds.

It varies from Nature Track – there are human made sounds and there are human voices, these soundscapes are layered sounds from all over Australia – they’re not natural soundscapes.

To create the soundscape for our vinyl record – our teams recorded over 200 bespoke sounds – many of which have been arranged into the final composition.  Sounds were gathered from as far as the Perth Canyon (20km west coast of Rottnest Island) and as remote as Warramunga in the Northern Territory.

Ann’s listening notes:

01:00 The beach, above and under the water. 
03:00 Pygmy Blue whale song
06:00 Catching a ferry in Sydney
07:20 A plane, there:s always a plane. 
08:30 Catching a train
09:00 Can you hear Tom Thum, the beat boxer here? Also you can hear street sounds from Newtown in Sydney. 
10:10 A snippet of a conversation that has a swear word in it. 
10:30 Iconic Australian pedestrian crossing with the sounds of the city. 
11:40 Cicadas buzz, a lyrebird sings the taps are Kristian Benton searching for trees to fell to make a yidaki.
16:00 Natural Sounds are often marred by the sounds of leaf blowers, whipper snippers and other machinery. 
21:15 Car on a country road with cow and cockies. a typical Australian scene.
22:30 The Orange Agricultural Show – announcements, motorbikes, chickens, shearing and whip cracking. 
24:30 A wood chopping competition. 
25:30 Driving on a dirt road – hear the dusty texture and the corrugations.
27:15 Warramunga Seismic and Infrasound Research Station – one of the quietest places on earth.
31:15 Wild cockatiels calling.

RECORDINGS: Nick Peterson, Leo Sullivan, Peter Lenaerts, Sarah Henty, Dr Capri Joliffe
SOUND DESIGN: Peter Lenaerts
SERIES PRODUCER: Elle Gibbons
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Penny Palmer