Sounds of Making in East London (2012) — 10" Vinyl (Edition of 300)

In 2012 I visited 21 makers of things in East London from a shoemaker to a church bell maker and pie maker. I recorded the sounds of the making of their product with a handheld sound recorder. Terry de Havilland tapping his shoe making hammer, Poet John Hegley typing on his well worn typewriter and the sound of giant church bells being tuned at the now closed Whitechapel Bell Foundry. In fact a number of the businesses I recorded have closed since including the Pie and Mash shop on Broadway Market. Great skills and traditions have been lost. But this record acts as a reminder to their great work and the variety of wonderful making that went on in East London in 2012.

(It's also fun to try to guess what is being made by playing the record at parties I'm told.)

I'll add a link to an mp3 version in the package.

Edition : 300

Commissioned by CREATE 2012

SIDE 1

1. The sound of a reel to reel tape recorder and vinyl record cutting lathe in a vinyl mastering and cutting suite. Curved Pressings (where this record was cut), Hackney. 0:56 

2. The sound of extruding and packaging Sugru - an extruding Machine with small conveyor belt and two people putting the air drying rubber into small packets. Sugru, Hackney, 0.34 

3. The sound F drawing 'Rosemary chicken with sweet potato' For the Times newspaper - looking for a pen in a drawer of pens, using a marker, erases and scanner: Clare Mallison, illustrator. Hackney. 1:38 

4. The sound of making smoked salmon - cutting strips of smoked salmon with a hand-held machine and packaging the salmon into boxes. H. Forman & Son. 'Britain's oldest salmon curers, Fish Island, Bow. 0:38 

5. The sound of making porcelain flowers - cleaning porcelain flowers, laying out the flowers for spray glazing, mixing the glaze, spraying the flowers, sponge cleaning the glaze, closing shutters. Barnaby Barford, artist.

Walthamstow. I:26 

6. The sound of making stir Fried goat with galangal in a Vietnamese restaurant Kitchen. Mien Tay, Shoreditch, Hackney. 0:57 

7. The sound of making 'press knives used to stamp out shapes from leather - bending the knives into the shapes, cutting the metal bars, welding the bars to the Knives, stamping out a shape from leather using a 10 tonne press, hammering a letter strap into a steel knife. Steve Jones, press Knife Maker, Cactus Leather London, Leyton, 1:43

8. The sound of shoe making - hand cutting the leather with a clicking knife, stitching an upper on a post machine, applying hot fix Swarovski crystals onto a suede panel, pulling off the carrying toil from the crystal transfer, hammering the upper edges. Terry de Havilland, 'The Rock and Roll Cobbler', Hackney. 1:48 

9. The sound of spectacle making - various machines making each part of spectacle frames. Wearers of the company's glasses include Harry Potter, Eric Clapton and John Lennon. Algha Works, eye-wear Makers, Bow. 1:21 

10. The sound of writing a song about the poet John Keats- using a typewriter, scissors, Pritt stick and guitar. John Hegley, lyric poet, Hackney. 2:00

SIDE 2

11. The sound of re-tuning a church bell originally cast in 1870 - adjusting the bell clamp, rotating the bell, testing the bell pitch, scraping metal from the inside edge of the bell to change the partial tones of the bell. Bell tuning by Ben Kipling, Whitechapel Bell Foundry (Est. 1570, Britain's oldest manufacturer), Tower Hamlets. 2:13 

12. The sound of making the letters 'È and 'T' in neon light- lighting flare, heating glass tube, tilling glass with gas and clicking of high voltage contactors. Rob Court, Master neon glassblower, Creative Neon, Walthanstow. 0:58

13. The sound of bell ringing in the Ringing Chamber at St. Mary-le-Bow church- first attempt at ringing in remembrance of the Titanic disaster. It is notoriously said that to be boin within the sound of Bow bells was the Sign of a true Cockney. The Ancient Society of College Youths bell ringers lead by Steeple Keeper Simon Meyer, Cheupside, 1:24

14. The sound of beer making-emptying spent grains and cleaning the Mash Tun vessel, pouting a beer from a barrel. London Fields Brewery, Hackney. 1:11 

15. The sound of making plaster heads for the play 'Master and Margarità at the Barbican - mixing plaster, pouting plaster into head mould, removing mould bolts, scaping off excess plaster. Charlotte Austen, propmaker, Hackney. 1:03 

16. The sound of dress making- fabric starching spray, oning,safety ans, patten tracing wheel. Olwen Bourke, fashion designer, Hackney. 0:48 

17. The sound of making pres in a pie and mash shop kitchen - laying out pre tins, adding meat, trimming pastry lids. Bob Cooke (4th gen) assisted by Eddue Brown, F.Cooke (Est. 862), Broadway Market, Hackney. 1:20 

18. The sound of making beigels-kneading dough, cutting chocolate brownies, adding water to the mixes Beigel Bake, Brick Lane, Tower Hamlets. 1:28 

19. The sound of making a Baroque collar -drawing a pattern, cutting fabric, sewing, Alex Noble, fashion designer and visual artist, Hackney. 0:49 

20. The sound of making a book cover- guillotining attaching the acid etched plate to the foiling machine, silver fail debossing, gluing and measuring discussion for the book

"The Erroneous Disposition of the People’ Henninghan Family Press, Hackney. 1:37 

21. The sound of cooking in a Michelin stat restaurant - washing pans, scraping peel from oranges, chopping garlic, de-boning lamb, taking a delivery, Sauschei Chitis describing some ingredients. Viajante, BethnalGreen. 1:34