Portobello Soundwalk

About

Portobello promenade runs along the Firth of Forth, three miles east of Edinburgh's city centre. It benefits from a rich collage of natural, human and mechanical sonic environments.

Soundwalks encourage engaged listening for sounds that characterise a route and are a means to a richer understanding and sensory engagement with the environment as a whole. Each walk reveals its own unique set of sounds depending on the time, season or weather. Recorded soundwalks capture each moment just as photography captures images.

The soundwalk was recorded binaurally, so while listening through headphones you will hear a spatialised representation of the sonic events along the route.

Along thirteen different points, the Portobello soundwalk was recorded on a bright day in February 2013. The sound of the sea, wind and human activity prevail, emphasising the endearing charm of this happy, seaside community. There is a poignancy to this Portobello Soundwalk, since its making there has been considerable regeneration of the route: the bowling club is now a soft play centre and an amusement arcade demolished to make way for apartment blocks.

CARPARK

The route of this soundwalk begins in the free Bridge Street carpark. The sound of a car door closing signals the start of the walk and the transition from busy city life to the recreational spaces of the promenade. Walking through the carpark, listen to how the Figgate Burn makes its way to the sea.

INDOOR BOWLING

The indoor bowling arena provides shelter from the wind but once inside there is a fine sense of community activity.

RIVER MEETS SEA

The burn enters the sea through a tunnel, with a different mood every day. At the time of a full spring tide, the sea will try to push the burn back into the tunnel. Walking closer to the sea there is the first crunch of seashells underfoot.

Seaside

Standing near the water, the sea's energy ebbs and flows- lapping, crashing, trickling back across the sand leaving the fizz of spume.

Groynes

The timber groynes make a rhythmical visual statement along the beach, preventing coastal erosion. The force of the sea is held in check by the wooden panels then sloshes through and over the wooden slats.

Amusement Arcade

The outdoor ambience is engulfed by music, electronic beeps, animated chatter and the clatter of coins. The monogrammed carpet has a strange dampening effect on the acoustic, while the cacophony of the machines creates a sense of a hyper soundscape.

Playpark

A rusty fish shaped gate opens into the playpark and here is a chance to participate with the sound environment, scratching, scuffling scrambling over different surfaces. On this day, in the distance there is the sound of a pavement accordionist drifting in and out from the distance.

Benches

The benches offer a point for reflection and on the day of the recording, the walking school bus passed as the children left the school.

The BEACH HOUSE

There is a squeaking hinge on a sign outside one of the beach cafes and inside the clatter of spoons and the accents of the close up chatter of conversations at tables gives a sense of location.

Sailing

The rigging of the little dinghies tug happily in the wind in anticipation of summer days out at sea. The perimeter fence of the club invites a stick or keys to be played against its bars like some kind of harp.

Toilet

The manmade plumbing inside this futuristic loo contrasts with the sigh of the sea and the clatter of the Penny Falls in the amusement arcade.

Intertidal

The sound of the sea along Portobello's sandy bay is a defining feature of this sound walk. Try some sound making by stamping feet in the damp sand of the foreshore until a puddle of water is formed under foot.

Heading Back

Turning to walk back to the carpark, stop and think about all the different sounds heard along the route, listen for the serendipitous as well as the quotidian sounds.