The Rest Is Just Noise
The Rest Is Just Noise is a monthly podcast exploring the relationship between sound and our cities. Each episode our passionate and excitable hosts (three soundscape researchers) are joined by an expert guest from fields such as acoustics, architecture, and environmental psychology, to discuss their latest work and introduce our audience to the science, beauty, and noise of urban sound.
From the announcement of the 2023 ASA Science Communication Awards for Acoustic Expert Multimedia Winner:
"The Rest is Just Noise Podcast stands out as a remarkable audio journey into the realm of acoustics. With deep knowledge and captivating storytelling, co-hosts Dr. Andrew Mitchell, Dr. Francesco Aletta, and Dr. Tin Oberman explore various acoustical phenomena and their impact on our lives. Through interviews with experts and immersive soundscapes, this podcast educates and entertains listeners, creating a space where the beauty and significance of acoustics are celebrated."
Episodes
46 episodes
Spectres, Camouflage & Unruly Sound with Fiona Smyth
In the beginning there was a morass of Unruly Sound but then came the Acousticians. Pistols were fired.To record the introduction for today's episode, Francesco and Tin went to St Paul's Cathedral in London, looking for a suitable sonic ...
Soundscape Odyssey Québécois with Edda Bild
Ben là, we recorded this episode during the two days in May 2024 while travelling through Montreal, Québec (CA). Edda Bild (la ville sonore) led us from one luring soundscape intervention site to another. Francesco, Tin and Andrew applie...
Urban Soundscapes in Microscope with Usue Ruiz Arana, Richard Bentley, Sarah Jones-Morris et al.
First of all, thanks for coming!Today's episode was recorded in Microscope, Dalston last June at Usue Ruiz Arana's book launch...
Left Ear Right Ear with Lola de la Mata
Left Ear Right Ear Pink NoiseSome listeners may ...
#WiA special series with Jude Brereton
Welcome to Episode 7 of the special series of Women in Acoustics podcast. Today we have the fabulous Prof. Jude Brereton from the University of York. Jude is a professor in audio and music technologies. We are going to talk about her intere...
#WiA special series with Mariana Lopez
Welcome to the Episode 6 of the special series of Women in Acoustics podcast. Today we have Professor Mariana Lopez with us. Mariana is a Latin American researcher based in the UK, specialising in sound design and accessibility, as well as acou...
La ville sonore avec Catherine Guastavino
For today's episode, our hosts Francesco and Andrew met up with Prof Catherine Guastavino in Ottawa, during the May meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.They will be talking about the science and beauty of Sounds In The City - l...
#WiA special series with Reena Mahtani
Welcome to the Episode 5 of the special series of Women in Acoustics podcast. Today we have a very special guest with us - Reena Mahtani. Reena is a Senior Acoustic Engineer at Sandy Brown Associates. We shall delve into Reena's personal ...
Soundscape Gentrification with Bethan Prosser
...If you're sitting, come to me...In today's episode we meet the soundscape trespasser and researcher, Dr Bethan Prosser, who is resisting the never-ending waves of gentrification on the English seaside through sound and parti...
#WiA special series with Alice Eldridge
Welcome to the Episode 4 of the special series of Women in Acoustics podcast. Today we have a wonderful guest with us - Professor Alice Eldridge from University of Sussex. Alice is a Professor of Sonic Systems (Music) and a musician. We are goi...
Complex Auditory Scenes with Maggie McMullin
For this episode, Andrew recorded an interview with Maggie McMullin, a researcher at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Indeed, this episode is about complex (natural) auditory scenes, but - what makes them so complex? Why we need machine ...
Sensory Urbanism with Jieling Xiao
Sounds, and then soundscape and planning and then urban sensory planning.We are expanding on our usual scope on sounds towards smell and sensory environments.Today's guest is Jieling Xiao, a Reader in Architecture and Sensory En...
#WiA special series with Helen Sheldon
Welcome to the Episode 3 of the special series of Women in Acoustics podcast. Today we have a very special guest with us - Helen Sheldon from RBA Acoustics. Helen is a charted engineer and Director at RBA Acoustics, who actively promotes ...
Listening to Landscapes with Usue Ruiz Arana
In today's episode we have some big words in the title and with Usue Ruiz Arana, a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Newcastle University, we are going to revisit some of concepts we have talked about very often:What is a soundwal...
Radio Utopia: La Biennale di Venezia 23 with Carlotta Darò and Nicolas Tixier
Welcome to The Rest Is Just Noise, a monthly podcast about what do architects & acousticians, researchers & artists, engineers & academics have to say about the science and beauty of sounds in cities and landscapes. So, is there a b...
#WiA special series: Sustainable Careers with Angela Lamacraft
Welcome to the Episode 2 of the special series of Women in Acoustics podcast. Today we have a very special guest with us - Ms Angela Lamacraft from Sustainable Acoustics. Angela is working on how to make buildings acoustically pleasing for peop...
Cities and Memory (and Microphones)
For today's episode we went on a walk through a maze of alleyways in Central London to meet Stuart Fowkes, the founder of Cities and Memory, and to learn firsthand about this fantastic international platform for promoting urban sound and its im...
Urban Sound Symposium 2023
Your hosts Francesco, Andrew and Tin went to the 3rd edition of the Urban Sound Symposium, locally organised by researchers at La Salle Campus Barcelona this April.As expected, it was a truly lovely event featuring the protagonists of t...
#WiA special series: Bubbles Everywhere with Eleanor Stride
Today we celebrate the #INWED23 with the first episode in our new special series Women in Acoustics #WiA, led by Dr Hasina Begum, EDI Champion for the UK Acoustics Network (UKAN+). But what have bubbles to do with it? Apparen...
Engaging with Everyday Sounds and Marcel Cobussen
Stop - listen to the sounds around you!Our today's guest is Marcel Cobussen, Professor of Auditory Culture and Music Philosophy at Leiden University. Marcel has recently published his book 'Engaging with Everyday Sounds'. It's a journey...
Sayonara Soundscapes
How do we implement soundscape design in practice? What tools are available for a soundscape designer? And when should it even be considered? And what's the difference between a landscape design approach and an engineering approach? All this, a...
Aural Diversity with John Drever
Today we talk with Professor of Acoustic Ecology and Sound Art, John Drever, about what aural diversity is in the first place and how it all started, from paper towels to Kafka.Fi...
Engineering Soundscapes
Recently Andrew defended his PhD thesis so we came up with this episode to celebrate him. Andrew has stepped down from his hosting role, for this episode only, and came along carrying his jazz trombone to record one or two licks and talk his co...
Highlights of the Acoustics of Ancient Theatres Symposium
In early July 2022 Tin attended the Acoustics of Ancient Theatres Symposium in Verona, Italy. In today's episode, we took a nostalgic look back and talked Greek and Roman ancient theatr...
"Urban Roars" with Jordan Lacey
We've talked about "musical drones" in one of our previous episodes. Well, this time we decided to investigate this idea a bit further as we look into Melbourne's underground and seek out the soundscape potential a humble air conditioning unit ...