The plight of the urban bird

It's well documented that urban birds are forced to change how they sing in order to try and cut through our awful human-made city soundscapes. The original recording is a classic example of birds chirping at a high pitch, their calls desperately poking through holes in the soundscape between car horns, sirens, pedestrians and the dreadful throb of constant engine noise.

The reimagined piece sets out to help our little feathered friends recover - first of all, some EQs, compressors and wideners come in to cut out some of the traffic noise and make the bird calls more audible.

But that's still not enough - the birds are still really struggling to make themselves heard, so we give them a helping hand, gradually replacing the din of central Paris with the aid of some birds from a more tranquil setting in a country park, until eventually the city has disappeared, and the birds are finally left alone. 

Part of the Future Cities project.