SOMETHING VERY COOL

This evening I was listening to an artsy-fartsy Australian podcast when I learned of a fabulous website out of the Netherlands. (I know what you're thinking, and you're absolutely right: "That Matthew Workman certainly is a worldly and sophisticated gentleman.")

The site is called Sound Transit and I'm completely addicted to it. The site is a huge library of field recordings taken from all over the world. That alone probably wouldn't move me, but it's what they do with the recordings that's so cool.

The site is set up much like Travelocity or Orbitz. Users book audio trips selecting starting and ending points. The site spits out itinerary with possible connections. On my first trip, I decided to travel from Burma to Canada. (I chose those two countries because they seemed so different.)

Once the itinerary is settled on, the site creates an mp3 file with your trip. Sound Transit didn't exactly book me on the most direct route. I started in Burma, then flew to Boston. From there, it was off to Zurich before finally landing in Montreal. (You can listen to my trip here.)

The trip starts with the sound of goats being herded near a temple site in Burma. Soon, the noisy streets of Boston's Chinatown can be heard, followed by a the sound of a lone tree near Zurich (yeah, it actually makes a noise). Finally, listeners hear cars passing over the Champlain Bridge in Montreal. The whole thing takes about six minutes.

It seems like a simple thing, but I find it completely engrossing. First off, many of the sounds have a hypnotic quality. A recording called water under boats captures the rising tide lapping across pleasure crafts at a Greek harbor. I love that sound. I don't know why, but I love that sound.

But the site turns these sounds into something bigger. During your customized audio trip, the sounds of your various destinations slowly fade into each other. Listening to the sounds using a good set of headphones feels like floating over the Earth as you drift from destination to destination. It's very, very cool.

I love to travel, but being a parent has put that habit on hold for a while. I really want to get back out and see more of the world. But for now, I'm happy to book a few more trips on Sound Transit.