15 Amazing Places with Unique Acoustics

Sound designers all over the world are constantly looking for places with a special sound to use in their productions. And there are plenty of them. But where are they, and what makes them unique? Join us on a sonic expedition to 15 amazing places with extraordinary acoustics. 🌎🔈

1. Tvísöngur Sound Sculpture, Iceland

Located on a mountainside overlooking a fjord, Iceland’s Tvísöngur is a sound sculpture that anyone can visit. The ensemble of five domes, which together form a network of vaults, is remarkable both architecturally and acoustically. Each dome is designed to amplify a different resonant frequency. As a result, the entire space reflects the Icelandic musical tradition of five-tone harmony.

Tvísöngur sound sculpture in Seyðisfjörður, East Iceland

2. Sound Installation at Times Square, New York City, USA

A triangular steel grid marks a permanent sound installation on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets. Beneath it, electronic sound generators and loudspeakers emit eerie humming noises that mix with the sounds of the subway. The installation dates back to 1977, and its creator, Max Neuhaus, is often credited with being the first person to use sound as a primary medium in contemporary art.

New York Out Loud: Max Neuhaus’ “Times Square”

3. Fertőrákos Cave Theatre, Hungary

A quarry is certainly a very unusual place to stage an opera. But it is precisely because of their unique acoustics that more and more big caverns are rediscovered and repurposed as performance venues. Take the Hungarian cave theatre Fertőrákos, for example. Within its towering walls, the sound resonates in a kind of interplay of light and shadow.

Wonders of Hungary – Fertőrákos Quarry and Cave Theatre

4. “Forgotten Songs” Sound Sculpture, Sydney, Australia

A canopy of 180 bird cages hovers over Angel Place, a pedestrian zone in the Australian metropolis of Sydney. Walking below them, you can hear a truly mesmerizing variety of bird calls. The installation is intended to reproduce the natural sounds of bird life, from the twittering at dawn to the songs of nocturnal species. The result is an oasis of natural harmony just a few steps from one of Sydney’s busiest shopping districts.

Forgotten Songs Installation, Angel Place, Sydney

5. Āli Qapu Palace Music Hall, Iran

Another example of the use of unusual architecture to enhance the traditional music of a nation can be found in Iran. In the music hall at Āli Qapu Palace, mud bricks form an overhead canopy of alcoves, thereby creating a space with a particularly short reverberation time. The hall is therefore an ideal venue for intimate music and Iranian ballads in particular.

Music room at Ali Qapu palace

6. Klankenbos Sound Forest, Neerpelt, Belgium

Extraordinary sound experiences await visitors to the Klankenbos Sound Forest in Neerpelt, Belgium. Sonar pulses travel through the air in a huge cylindrical chamber. Audio amplifiers highlight even the quietest environmental sounds. Moments later, a tunnel-shaped enclosure blocks out the sounds of the forest and immerses the listeners in otherworldly silence. Sounds emerge from surreal sources, for example from old timber huts that hum with energy as if they were alive.

Klankenbos neerpelt

7. Prenzlauer Berg Water Reservoir, Berlin

The historic water reservoir in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district has been the site of spectacular sound installations on numerous occasions. The acoustics of the huge building seem unreal and develop a life of their own, so to speak. What’s unusual is that the space tends to throw off the listeners’ sense of orientation. At times, it is hard to tell where the sound is coming from – from loudspeakers, from outside or directly from the walls of the water tower. Several works that wouldn’t work anywhere else were composed especially for this reservoir, making this unique location with a dark history the site of magical sonic works of art.

The Prenzlauer Berg water tower and tanks in Berlin

8. “A Sound Garden”, Seattle, USA

This big sound sculpture sits on a hilltop on the grounds of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. The structure consists of 12 steel towers. Suspended from each tower is an organ pipe attached to a wind vane. Wind blowing through the sculpture produces a variety of sounds such as whistling, moaning, and howling, depending on the strength and direction of the wind. This can range from surreal and beautiful to creepy and eerie.

A Sound Garden – Seattle, WA – With a GoPro Max

9. Whispering Gallery, St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK

On a walkway high up in the towering cupola of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, visitors can whisper to each other from opposite ends of the hall and still hear each other – hence the name “whispering gallery”. The sound is reflected along the circular wall and carried to the other side. Interestingly, the architect hadn’t thought about the acoustics at all when designing the gallery. The phenomenon was only discovered later by visitors. Since then, the visually striking corridor has become the site of numerous legends and mysteries.

Whispering Gallery, St Paul’s Cathedral, London

10. Greatstone Sound Mirrors, Greatstone, Kent, UK

The “sound mirrors” in Greatstone, a village on the coast of Romney Marsh in Kent, England, were once part of the British defence strategy. Built between 1927 and 1930, these structures acted like giant ears. Thanks to their curved shape, they captured sound waves from the sky over the English Channel, which were then picked up by a microphone so they could be amplified. The facility consists of three reflectors: a 200-foot curved wall, a 30-foot parabolic dish, and a smaller 20-foot flat dish. Clearly, sound can save lives.

Visit to the historic Sound Mirrors of Denge on the Romney Marsh in Kent

11. Sagano Bamboo Forest, Kyoto, Japan

To fully experience the mesmerizing sounds of the Sagano bamboo forest in Kyoto, you should choose a quiet time. Unfortunately, the sounds are often drowned out by crowds of tourists. When the wind blows through the forest, the bamboo plants compose their very own ethereal music with creaking wood, murmuring leaves, and the hollow knocking of the trunks. Standing in the middle of it all, you really do feel like you’re in another world.

Sagano Bamboo Forest – Kyoto, Japan

12. Underground Sound Sculptures, Loches, France

For many years, visual artist and musician Will Menter has been creating sound sculptures that explore and blur the boundaries between natural sounds and music. Some of these can be found at Carrière de Vignemont in Loches near Tours in France. Originally a quarry, the huge tunnel system was later used as a mushroom farm before becoming a sonorous tourist attraction.

Résonance minérale – Carrière Vignemont – Loches

13. The Clocktower Project, Massachusetts, USA

“The Clocktower Project” is a permanent installation created by German composer, sound and performance artist, professor, and flutist Christina Kubisch in 1996. To do this, she restored a hundred-year-old factory clock and began playing its chimes like musical instruments, brushing and striking them with mallets, her hands, and other objects. She then used a digital recorder to capture the sounds and installed solar panels to play different chime sequences depending on the weather and time of day. The atmospheric installation can still be experienced at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

14. Inchindown Fuel Tanks, Scotland

Imagine clapping your hands and still hearing the reverb almost two minutes later. This is exactly what happens inside the old oil tank at Inchindown Fuel Depot in Scotland. Once built for storing fuel oil, the huge tank holds the record for the longest reverberation time in the world, an incredible 112 seconds. Some of the tanks are about twice as long as a football pitch, 9 metres wide and 13.5 metres high. Forget any attempts at singing karaoke in the tank. You wouldn’t stand a chance with this much reverberation.

Inchindown Oil Tanks: Behind The Scenes

15. Parthenon, Athens, Greece

Visitors to the Parthenon in Athens often claim they can hear the sounds of wind and whispering voices coming from the columns. Whether the builders deliberately designed the architecture so that the columns reflect sound in a unique way is unfortunately unknown. After all, we’re talking about one of the monuments of ancient Greece, the so-called jewel in Athens’ crown. But somehow it seems reasonable to assume that the ancient Greeks already knew more about acoustics than we believe.

Acropolis (Parthenon)

Amazing Places with Unique Acoustics: Your Feedback

What about you, have you visited unusual places to capture unique samples for your productions? Let us know! We look forward to your comment.

Lawrence started playing the electric guitar because of his passion for rock music. Back in the day he played in a metal band, but now plays more for himself.

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