A Note

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few months. I guess I never made an official announcement, but I’ve actually left Korea and am now in grad school in Chicago. I still have a bunch of sounds that I recorded before I left and hope to post them soon. Time is a bit of an issue, so you might have to wait just a little bit longer. No promises, but I’ll try to get some new ones up once winter break starts in a few weeks.  Stay tuned!

P.S.  I’d be thrilled to be able to post some more reader submissions from those of you who are still in the land of the morning calm.  If you’ve got a recorder and some interesting sounds to share, I’d be happy hear!  You can contact me from the link in the sidebar.

232 – 분당공원에 새소리 (Bundang Birdcall)

A beautiful bird call from a slow Sunday afternoon at Yuldong Park (분당 율동공원) in Bundang. (232 – Bundang Bird Call)

Recorded 5/20/12, 4:49PM (local time)

231 – 성난 아파트 주민들의 항의소리: 2부 (Angry Villagers, Pt. 2)

More enraged citizens from that summer night, recorded from the window of our 12th story apartment. (231 – Angry Villagers 2)

Recorded 7/24/11, 11:58PM (local time)

*See also: 230 – 성난 아파트 주민들의 한의소리 (Angry Villagers)

230 – 성난 아파트 주민들의 항의소리 (Angry Villagers)

An angry gathering outside the hi-tech company building across from our new apartment in Anyang city.  Quickly pointing the blame for a sudden late-night power outage, the local residents gathered and demanded answers from the owners of the much-maligned firm. (230 – Angry Villagers)

Recorded 7/24/11, 11:44PM (local time)

Call for Submissions!

I want to give one more special thanks to Pavel for his contribution to yesterday’s post.  If you haven’t had a listen to it yet, you can find his recording here.  This was the first ever community submission for Seoul Sounds, but hopefully it won’t be the last.  As I’ve been doing this blog basically alone for the past three years, with the occasional help of my wife or another friend, I’ve realized that there are far too many sounds for one set of ears and one microphone to ever capture.  What was once a mission to find a unique interpretation of normal everyday life has began to sound more and more like, well, “normal life” the longer I’ve stayed.  I’m still finding great sounds, but it’s just not as easy as it once seemed to be.

That’s where I hope you can come in.  To go off what we just started, I’m challenging you, the reader, to help me collect sounds.  You don’t need any special abilities or background to do it.  All you really need is a set of ears, a way to record (not too difficult in the days of smart phones), and an imagination.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to collect a whole new group of sounds for this page and be able to extend our sound map well beyond what I’m capable of doing myself.  Besides, as I will be leaving Korea in the next month (official announcement coming soon), it would be great to keep this thing going after I’ve left.  And that won’t be possible without your help!

Anyone and everyone is invited to join, and I’ve even created a “Community Submissions” section in the top menu bar to help navigate to those sounds that were provided by our readers.  Feel free to email through the “contact me” link on the bottom right side of the page with questions or to send your recordings.  Don’t worry about editing them or anything like that, as I can do that easily before posting anything online.

Thanks for your help!  I look forward to hearing what you can come up with.

And, as always, thanks for listening!

-Steve

229 – 강남에 있는 매미 (Gangnam Cicada)

A special thanks to Seoul Sounds reader Pavel, who provided today’s recording.  It’s summer in Korea again, and here is the sound of Seoul’s yearly cicada invasion, as captured along a busy street in Yeoksam-dong. (229 – Gangnam Cicada)

Recorded 7/17/12, 2:33PM (local time)

*See also: 123 – Summer Cicadas

228 – 고속도로 휴게소 (Highway Rest Stop)

The quintessential sound of a Korean road trip, each and every rest stop on the Korean expressways has a booth with someone selling 트로트 음악 (‘Trot’ music).  I can’t say for sure exactly where this was recorded, but I can tell you it was somewhere along the bus route between 강릉 (Gangleung) and 서울 (Seoul). (228 – Highway Rest Stop)

Recorded 5/28/12, 8:07PM (local time)

227 – 사투리 과일 트럭 (Dialectal Fruit Truck)

Another recording from last month’s trip to 강릉시 강원도 (Gangleung city, Gangwon Province).  Here is a fruit truck like the many others that I’ve posted before.  Unlike the prior recordings, however, this one is done in the local Gangwon dialect.  Have a listen and see if you can hear the difference. (227 – Dialectal Fruit Truck)

Recorded 5/28/11, 12:29PM (local time)

*See also: 046 – 낙성대 Fruit Truck, 139 – 낙성대 Fruit Truck 2, 150 – Used Electronics Truck, and 181 – Window Screen Repair Truck

226 – 대게찜솥 (Crab Steamer)

A king crab steamer doing it’s thing outside 경기해변횟집 restaurant near 경포해변 강릉시 강원도 (Gyeongpo beach, Gangleung city, Gangwon Province).  We didn’t try to eat any, but it sure sounded good. (226 – Crab Steamer)

Recorded 5/27/12, 7:58PM (local time)

225 – Children’s Taunt

Sorry for the long delay since my last post.  I’ve been very busy with work and visa preparations that it seems like I haven’t spent more than five minutes at home over the past two weeks.

But here I am again with a sound that anyone working anywhere near children in Korea will easily recognize.  It’s the typical Korean children’s taunt (comparable to the American “Na-Na-NaNa-Naaaa!”).  The boy in the recording is teasing his fellow student and calling her childish names, but the words are alterable and can be applied to nearly any situation. (225 – Children’s Taunt)

Recorded 5/22/12, 6:08PM (local time)