Access Atlanta > The Newcomer > Archives > 2008 > September > 23 > Entry
The Sound of Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I had to concentrate to come up with a list of sounds that make me think of Atlanta: old-timey music at the coffee shop down the street, the honk of an arriving train, puppy sighs, ceiling fans spinning 24/7, keyboards clacking in the office, the hardly noticeable hum of bike chain slipping over a gear.
To isolate a sound and extract what it means requires silencing the cacophony of life around us. Not easy. For that reason, I love Atlanta Sounds on WABE, Atlanta’s public radio affiliate.
The short, focused sound clips began in August, 2007. They’re sprinkled through the day’s programming, “the oregano of our broadcast program,” used whenever spice is needed, says WABE content producer David Barasoain.
They captured otters at Georgia Aquarium, the Seed & Feed Marching Abominable, a pipe organ at Clayton State University and Georgia Tech’s whistle. Among my favorites is a stop inside the AJC pressroom, to capture a sound that makes me think of romance.
“We’ve got a staff of 10 producers and reporters here trying to cover 5 million people,” Barasoain says. “We can’t say this is Atlanta, but we can say that each individual Atlanta Sound is a pixel in the photograph.” (He even wanted to call it Audio Pixels. He was outvoted.)
You can submit your own ideas for Atlanta Sounds, too.
By the way, newcomers, if you want to learn more about what’s on your radio, check out Rodney Ho’s Radio & TV Talk blog and this list of Atlanta radio stations.
Share your ideas in the comments: what are the unique sounds of Atlanta?
Comments
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By BPJ
September 23, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this
The sound of the best-in-the-world ASO Chorus.
The sounds that hit you when you walk in Blind Willie’s, Churchill Grounds, or Variety Playhouse.
55,000 runners going by on the 4th of July.
The recorded voice on the people mover at Hartsfield-Jackson that says, “Caution, the doors do not reopen.”
The hissing of summer lawns (to quote Joni Mitchell), drought or not.
By Honolulu Bound
September 23, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this
I know what sounds I associate with Atlanta, it is the sounds of extremely loud rap music playing from some hoopty car. The bass is loud that the license plate is rattling and my nerves are soon frayed!
By pj
September 23, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this
Gunshots!!!
By ESR
September 23, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
Sirens, way too loud bass in a car or truck; too many accents and car horns blasting becasue some idiot on GA400 is on a cell phone and the stupid woman decides the world oves her something so she just stops her car waiting for some fool to allow her to merge and cheat at the last minute so she won’t have to ewait like the rest of us and go forward, ahead of the line. It’s almost always the same race doing this….yep, do the math. I can’t wait to retire and leave this crappy city. I hate it here.
By Edward
September 23, 2008 9:24 AM | Link to this
The sounds of Atlanta… “Hey yo yo yo, ‘sup?”, the sound of the fifth bike lock being snapped by a bolt cutter on the fifth bike in two years stolen, the drone of three people competing for dominance of the elevator by talking on the cellphone louder and louder, the person at the head of any line at any city government office saying “you got to go to dat udder line an axe dem”, the sound of water from leaking mains running down the street for months even though we’re under water restrictions, the sound of the valet attendant telling you that all of the 500 empty parking spaces in the huge lot are “valet only”….
By BPJ
September 23, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
Judging from the other comments so far, one of the sounds of Atlanta is people who can’t manage sharing our city with anyone who isn’t white….yes, please move ASAP.
By yup
September 23, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this
Cars idling in line for gas…
By Rusty
September 23, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
BPJ, judging by the previous comments I’d call it the sounds of people who don’t appreciate inconsideration and inability to innunciate. Play that ole “race card” much do you?
By frank
September 23, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this
gunshots, horrible rap music blaring, car horns honking
home sweet home
By JS
September 23, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
The sound of cars on an interstate…that lonely, horrible neverending hum.
As to BPJ’s comments of not being able to share the city with people who aren’t white..I don’t have a problem with that, but why must certain people go through a residental area with their bass turned all the way up to the point where it rattles peoples windows and wakes them up? What the hell is your problem? Have you no respect for others? Obviously not, judging from the lyrics of the “music” you are listening to. If that makes me to be a racist, so be it…. I don’t care how freakin loud you listen to music on the main roads, just don’t do it in my neighborhood.
By McCain Rules
September 23, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this
Since Atlanta is such a bunghole, I think the sound of the city is really just one really long smelly fart that leaves a brown stain on everything it touches.
By sounds
September 23, 2008 12:09 PM | Link to this
The most common sound I hear is that rattle of an old rickety 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass outfiitted with cheap crappy rims and $2500 worth of other assorted nonsense…
By Garden Hills Native
September 23, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this
The sound of news helicopters buzzing 150 yards in the air over residential areas, and then the constant droning when they get to the scene they are covering.
By BPJ
September 23, 2008 12:29 PM | Link to this
The “race card” had already been played (e. g., “always the same race doing this”). It’s “enunciate”, by the way.
I don’t like excessively loud sound booming out of cars, either, whether it’s rap or country or whatever. What really disappoints me about the comments is that when Ms. Gumbrecht poses a thoughtful question, the same group of naysayers always turns it into their there’s nothing good about Atlanta theme song. I tried, with my first post, to suggest the kind of observations about our city that might be interesting to hear, but no, the “Atlanta stinks” crowd won’t stand for that.
Any positive observations out there about Atlanta sounds?
By Jerry
September 23, 2008 12:40 PM | Link to this
Car acidents
By T
September 23, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this
Well, if you get past the BS, it depends what you are looking for. Jazz festivals are nice. It was really nice to have the festivals at the parks, oh well. Some of the bests sounds are out where hopefully some of these people do not frequent. Tailgating, walking around the city shopping(where you can) it’s a buzz and humm of daily life.
By Eric
September 23, 2008 1:38 PM | Link to this
I agree with BPJ.Life really is too short.If you don’t want to be in Atlanta, move.It really is that simple.If you’re going to be here, take pride in your city.
I, too, was looking forward to reading about some positive familiar sounds of Atlanta, and am dissapointed in what this thread has become. It’s not about playing the race card; it is what it is. I’ve got news for you. The face of America is changing.
Anywho…here are a couple of familiar sounds: 1. Childen running around and laughing at the fountains at Centennial Olympic Park 2. The screeching sound as the Marta bus pulls to a stop.
By white marta rider
September 23, 2008 1:41 PM | Link to this
I love the sounds of numerous cell phone conversations by Tamaqua and others as they get louder when Marta goes through a tunnel. Also love the sounds of TI being blasted on someone’s IPOD while several babies are screaming and crying all at the same time.
By Patrick
September 23, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this
MARTA TRAINS
By TC
September 23, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this
That dang CSX Train and Construction
By The South is a Cesspool
September 23, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this
Rusty: The word is E-N-U-N-C-I-A-T-E.
BPJ: Excellent points. Nothing’s ever 100% perfect but you’re right, the same tribe of naysayers always jump at the chance to bash Atlanta. I guess it’s much easier to wallow in hate than to have an open mind…
For me the sound of Atlanta is “Peachtree.” No matter what the conversation, “Peachtree” — we’ve got a million streets with that word in it — always figures into the conversation.
Other than that…The children at Centennial Park screaming their heads off in the fountains…The rumbling of MARTA…the rushing of the Hooch…
By brian
September 23, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this
barack was right…..you people are uneducated and bitter……
By Corey
September 23, 2008 3:01 PM | Link to this
The sound of the MARTA train motors as the trains pull away from the stations, Whirrr! The giddy kids frollicking in the fountains at Cent. Park. The sweet sounds of jazz in Piedmont during the Jazz Festival. The eclectic sounds (jazz, blues, pop and hip hop at the Sweet Auburn Festival. The bash the blacks crowd no matter the topic on these blogs. Peace.
By Mainframe
September 23, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this
Atlanta has a lot of African Americans and if anyone can not stand to be around that, they should leave. But does being African American give you people a pass to act like you have no sense, rude, ignorant, no morals, bling bling, hairstyles, and clothes as your only values? Answer that fellow ATL people.
By the way, I already left for a City more civilized. There are African Americans here, but for some reason, they don’t act like ATL, thank goodness.