Sonic Worlds of Kids and Teens by Laura Llaneli

For more than 10 years, I have been part of Sons de Barcelona, a collective of artists that has been running workshops for teenagers and children with the aim of showing them the value of sound as a tool to imagine new worlds. Through these workshops, participants explored sound devices such as handheld recorders, contact and electromagnetic microphones, hydrophones, synthesizers, foley techniques, and various software tools—always from the perspective of freedom and open-source technologies.

They became sound explorers and art creators, expanding their listening and collaborating with one another in everything they did. There is also something beautiful in the fact that the recordings are not perfect: some are saturated, you can hear the click of the recorder, or unexpected sounds that accidentally enter the take. What remains is the trace of a beginner’s hand, a certain amateur quality that makes these sounds even more authentic and precious.

The results of these amazing journeys were uploaded to Freesound, where you can now find a wide collection of sounds created by the participants. This playlist is a carefully curated selection of their sonic worlds, featuring both raw sounds and collective compositions.