Penang, Malaysia is one of my favorite places on earth! I love the friendly vibe of the locals and the cultural diversity with Malay, Chinese, and Indians living in the area. Plus the food is outstanding with the local diverse cuisine!

I could go on talking about how great Penang is but we should focus on the amazing soundscapes that can be heard. The other side of Penang is the more industrial area of Butterworth. One day I took a ferry (I recorded the machine room and hydrophone sounds on that ferry) and went over to Butterworth to record sounds at the port.

It was a gloomy day with clouds and a few raindrops but that didn’t stop me from exploring the port! I drove to the end of the pier and found several fishing boats docked there. Because of the wind, the waves splashed on the sites of the boats creating incredible sounds! The pier was not really fixed so everything shook around so I had to be careful with my movements.

The sounds I captured were quite unique with both above and below the water! I used my hydrophones to record underwater noises like cracking sounds of the pier and creatures living below.

What you can hear…

Listen to waves splashing on the pier and on the side of the boats, the boats are shaking & hitting the pier, tires (that were fixed on the pier) scratching the boats, very loud scratching & squeaking sounds, boat engines in the distance coming from the industrial port, fishermen in the distance chatting (very quiet), airplane flying to the Penang Airport, squeaking boats, ocean waves splashing, metal hitting on metal, and metallic sounds getting stronger because the wind became stronger.

With the hydrophones, I captured audio of crackling sounds and it almost sounds like a bonfire!