Geoff Gersh has compiled a collection of field recordings made during the Covid-19 quarantine period in the neighbourhoods of New York.

“A couple of days into NYC’s coronavirus quarantine, I realised the city was entering a period where it would be the quietest it's ever been in modern times,” Says Gersh. “It was amazing to consider that the sound of the city, where people, cars, trucks, buses, trains and planes are active all hours of the day and night, reached a near halt on 20 March.” Gersh compiled a list of 40 locations, and by the time he was halfway through, he decided to do every neighbourhood in all five boroughs of the city.

“I started doing some research, and while the exact number is a topic for debate, I came up with around 375 neighbourhoods that I would need to visit.” Between 23 March and 7 June, Gersh drove to each location and while remaining in his car, stuck a mic out the window and recorded for five minutes.

You can find each volume, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, on Bandcamp.

Elsewhere, Alan Licht examined the value of another recent NYC field recording release, this time by New York Public Library. Read about the anthology of nostalgic field recordings, Missing Sounds Of New York, in In Writing.