While living in Lisbon, Portugal I spent days walking around recording city ambience and enjoyed all the unique sounds the capital provided. However, the sounds that made my heart jump with excitement was from the other side of Lisbon called Cacilhas. To be honest I couldn’t believe the scary squeaking, tossing, turning sounds that this floating pier created!

All the people passing by me didn’t blink an eye at what I was doing except for two security ladies who wanted me to stop doing what I do. They had no idea what I was doing so I kindly asked them “do you know what I’m doing that you’d like me to stop?”

Their silence and puzzled looks explained it all. I told them that I heard the unworldly sounds that the pier created and that I had to capture the audio of it. That seemed to have done the trick because they wandered off and allowed me to continue capturing the squeaking sounds.

After I finished recording the floating pier I noticed a rusty grid winch a few hundred meters away. It looked like it hasn’t been used for at least 50 years or more It’s hard to tell how unkind the saltwater has been to the metal. With my contact microphone, I stuck it on several locations to get different perspectives while I spun the wheel.