P265. 'Just outside the city of Lancaster in California is a soundmark that creates a rendition of Rossini’s ‘William Tell Overture’. Strangely, no electronics are involved. This is a musical road. It creates the melody from wheel vibrations.'

Sonic Wonderland – Musical Road

P239. 'A narrow, rusting sculpture, 15 metres tall, shaped like a fern in spring beginning to unfurl, forms the most visible section of the wave organ. The sculpture is a popular spot to stop and light up a cigarette because it offers shelter from the wind. When I first arrived, the organ was only letting out the occasional groan. ‘Sounds like a moaning cow,’ remarked a young woman as she walked past.'

Sonic Wonderland – High-Tide Organ

P224. 'A tranquil soundscape has a quality and emotional connection similar to that found in churches: people become very sensitive to the sounds around them, but not in a stressful way'

Sonic Wonderland – Kielder Forest, most tranquil place in England

P179. As I trudged up the sandy slope, my feet made a burping noise in the sand. It reminded me of the first part of Marco Polo’s description. He wrote that dunes ‘at times fill the air with the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments, and also of drums and the clash of arms’.

Sonic Wonderland – Burping Sand Dune

P105. 'To Chris, the seal calls were mesmerising to listen to because they appeared to be from another planet: ‘It’s almost beyond description. To use lots of clichéd terms, it sounds like a choir of alien angels.’44 The seals make long drawn-out glissandos lasting many tens of seconds. I could do a good impersonation with a Swanee whistle by gradually pulling out the plunger. It seems that longer glissandos are more appealing to females, so length (of call) matters.' © Christopher Clark, Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Sonic Wonderland – Bearded Seals

P66. Luray Caverns in Virginia contains the Great Stalacpipe Organ, which entertains visitors and occasionally accompanies brides marching down the subterranean aisle.

Sonic Wonderland – The Great Stalacpipe Organ

Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford and author of Sonic Wonderland, has discovered the world record for the ‘Longest Echo’. The 1970 Guinness Book of Records is the last claim for the ‘longest echo’, when the solid-bronze doors of the Hamilton Mausoleum in Scotland slammed shut, it took 15 seconds for the sound to die away to silence. In researching his new book Sonic Wonderland: A Scientific Odyssey of Sound Trevor Cox discovered a place where the sound echoes around for a full minute longer, smashing the previous record.

Trevor Cox travelled to the oil storage complex at Inchindown, near Invergordon, Scotland. These reservoirs supplied the naval anchorage in the Cromarty Firth at the bottom of the hill. The tanks were constructed in great secrecy amid concerns about the strengthening of Germany’s armed forces during the 1930s and the threat posed by long-range bombers, which is why the tanks were dug deep into the hillside. The vast complex took three years to complete. His guide was Allan Kilpatrick, an archaeological investigator for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

Trevor had to enter the tank through one of the 18 inch diameter oil pipes because there are no doors. The tank could hold 25.5 million litres of fuel and has walls 45cm thick. The space is about twice the length of a football pitch, 9m wide and 13.5 metres high.

Allan fired a pistol loaded with blanks about a third of the way into the storage tank, and Trevor recorded the response picked up by the microphones about a third of the way from the far end. This is a standard technique used in concert hall acoustics; old black-and-white photographs show a gun being fired on the stage of the Royal Festival Hall when they tested the acoustics back in the 1950s.

Sonic Wonderland - World's Longest Echo

Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford and author of Sonic Wonderland, discovers an amazing effect as he walks through the National Theatre railway station in Oslo, Norway. In the cylindrical booking hall the sound becomes distorted, an effect created by the 'acoustic sculpture' that sits there.

Acoustic Sculpture, National Theatre Station in Oslo, Norway.

Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford and author of Sonic Wonderland, takes the opportunity to play his saxophone within the oil tanks at Inchindown, home of the world's longest echo. You can find out more about the science behind these amazing sounds on his blog here: https://acousticengineering.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/playing-the-worlds-longest-echo/


Playing Sax at Inchindown, home of the world's longest echo

Sonic Wonderland by Trevor Cox. An original and compelling tour of the world's most amazing acoustic phenomena and a passionate plea for a deeper appreciation of and respect for our shared sonic landscapes.

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