Recording fun & authentic urban farmers market sound effects in Denpasar, Bali!

Hello from Bali,

The last four earthquakes and the constant rain in Ubud made it pretty hard for me to record more outdoor sounds but I do have an upcoming rain album. That was possible but everything is unpredictable right now. I recorded ocean sounds at night and was so excited to continue to record and finish the album but if you stay on a beach and you have an earthquake under your shoes? Not worth the risk. I do have already several cool recordings and will publish them. Seven recordings are already in my “Complete Library”!

About these urban farmers market sound effects

I went to this market three years ago. Everything is very local and rural. I personally love hanging around these urban atmospheric places just feed of the energy of everything that surrounds me. It’s fun to be here. The market itself called “Kumbasari Market”.

When I arrived I thought of doing some binaural recordings but skipped it.

Maybe something to mention about safety is if I get a strange feeling or just something doesn’t feel right to me I stop what I am doing and leave. I mean, before I start taking out my equipment I always walk around to get a feeling how the overall vibe is. Are the people friendly? Are there any “bad” people spying and hanging out in corners?

I make eye contact with vendors and have a quick conversation and buy fruits or vegetable. Just to blend into the environment and people knew me and also taking automatically care of me because you are alone but not really anymore.

I experienced if I follow these simple steps over and over again everything is just easier and makes much more fun especially if you are alone.

I skipped my binaural recordings after a few takes because the real magic happened on the open air plateau after all the trucks arrived. What a scene!

Listen to the binaural bonus track “5”. I walked up the ramp and people started yelling at me and the truck driver behind me. These trucks need to drive with speed up the ramp if they want to make it. The driver just kept on driving and he almost drove me over and that’s the moment when the people started yelling. He stopped the car, I turned around and saw him right behind me. What a story and you can hear it in this track. 🙂

The second binaural bonus track “6” is when I walked into the market hall (nothing going on by the time) and a speaker spoke in Indonesian trough the loudspeaker or megaphone. I loved the reverb of it.

After I left the hall I went back up to the plateau! Here is the exact location where I recorded on four different spots!

Personally, I think these are currently my favorite market sounds because of the busy overall vibe and the incredible variety of different sounds.

I recorded between five and six minutes on four different areas. My equipment was the the Zoom F4 with the DPA 4060 microphones ( New audio equipment is on its way to Singapore)

Urban Farmers Market Sound Effects and what you will listen to

Position Number One

I placed my self between 2 trucks and people started unloading vegetable, selling food and of course lots of chatting and roaming around.

Position Number Two

Now the people started to realize what I am doing and got curious but kept smiling and laughing. At one point I gave one of the sellers the headphones and you should have seen her eyes. Super cool.

Besides this, I recorded sound effects like unloading and start selling the products. There is a huge construction in the background & you will listen to a lot of plastic bag sounds. A man walks by trying to sell bag & other things.

A small truck tries to find his position and comes up next to me and stops. You can listen to the handbrake being used plus open & closing the truck doors.

After a few seconds, he parks the truck right next to me.

In the meantime, you can listen to the market in the background and one man comes up to me and tells something to “Wayan” about me. Super close to the mic.

A park guide tries to coordinate another truck into a parking spot. You will listen to backing up, acceleration & stopping the truck.

Position Number Three

Now I moved to the other side of the plateau and here is it a little bit quieter. A motorbike is running to my left but drives away after a few moments.

The sellers and costumers bargain, moving stuff & buying grocery. Tons of plastic bags sounds,

In the background, you can listen to a butcher chopping food. More in recording four.

A few birds chirping in the background. So maybe a little bit quieter but not really :)!

Position Number Four

This is the position where I I had the people yelling at me and the truck before.

I am closer to the butcher vendor now and you can hear the chopping even better. Birds hanging out and watching the people cheering up the truck drivers. They all need to speed up so that they can make it with all the vegetables and other truckloads they carry. The park guide is always shouting and the trucks are honking. Super cool recording.

That’s it! I packed up my stuff & took a moment to reflect the last hour here on the market in Denpasar. I was super happy with the recordings drove back to Ubud. Now you can listen to it and get a real feeling how a market in Bali sounds like and what I had experienced!

I hope you enjoy these urban market sounds and that you can use them for your next projects. Monday we are at least two months in Singapore and I recording sounds of course!

Download Urban Farmers Market Sound Effects from Bandcamp

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