Field Recordings

“Here is a little recording of our local spring. We hiked through 2ft of snow in the -10 temps to the head of our local creek. Due to the deep cold we are in, the ice formations around the spring are spectacular. The quiet babble of the creek makes this such a special place.”

“It was a lovely, bright morning. The birds were loud, trying to compete with the sound of passing planes heading to Heathrow airport.”

“Recorded using a contact microphone at Queen’s Park pond on the Southside of Glasgow, during a cold snap in January. The pond had frozen over (which doesn’t happen often), and people were walking and skating on it. One person asked if I was measuring the thickness of the ice. I handed my headphones round a group of kids, and it was fun to watch their reactions to the sci-fi noises. The faint mechanical sound at the end is a boy driving his remote-control truck across the pond.”

“From a country town called Deniliquin. We stayed at a caravan park down by the river, and at about midnight, I snuck out with my mic and went down to the bank.”

“As soon you walked into the park it was like someone was playing the noise out over massive speakers… It was like a giant congregation point before they headed off for their final resting place of that evening, which is usually under the pier.”

“The surf was about 2.5m with a strong on shore breeze. The beach we recorded on was protected from the wind and made wonderful recording conditions. The beach is in Ecola State Park next to Cannon Beach. I recorded this clip with a stereo pair of Clippy lapel mic’s and a zoom H5. This was recorded Jan 11 2025.”

“The drones are from the enormous petrochemical plant that dominates the skyline of the Immingham docks on the Humber.”

“Lovely quiet winter morning, next to one of the two water mills.”

“I went for my daily walk along the Neris river one sunny afternoon last year. It was all frozen just a couple of days ago. The weather had changed overnight. As I was approaching, I saw these amazing ice cakes slowly drifting along and spinning around making the coziest squeaky sounds. I just stood there with my phone and observing in awe. And a couple of passers by did the same. And their dogs too. I came back the next day with my proper recorder but it was gone.”

“My dog Toby joins in by digging in the earth next to me.”

“Walking across some snowy fields with my dog, Toby, who joyfully runs up and bites the wind sock on my mic as he runs by.”

“Walking with corduroy trousers into frozen puddles.”

“I stood on the doorstep to look at the stars because of the ice bright visibility and heard them calling to each other.”

“Three minutes of fireworks recorded from 23:59 – 00:01 on New Year’s Eve. They get louder and more intense as midnight approaches. I leant out of a top-floor window and heard the rumble of distant fireworks bouncing off the trees behind the houses, then the closer bangs and party squeals from a few doors down. What you can’t hear are the panicked crows swooping around the treetops.”

A slow weave of some of the past year’s Field Recordings, from a thunderstorm in Buenos Aires to whistling wind rattling the windows of a lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides. Summer storm, Vedia, Buenos Aires, Argentina in January 2024 – by Joaquín Conde “I left my recorder one afternoon under the sheet metal eaves of my parents’ house, anticipating the storm: you can hear the incessant thunder, the rain, the neighbour’s children playing, the wind, the birds, and much more…” Stone mill milling corn, a village near Otočac, Croatia, on March 17th 2024 – by Marta Medvešek “When I asked if I may record, the lady said of course – she loves the sound, too, and plays it back from her phone when she’s away from the farm, it helps her fall asleep. She also said she sometimes dozes off while working in the shop, which is in the room next to the mill.” Changing of the Guard, Royal Palace, Stockholm, Sweden on 6th April 2024 – by Alan Hall “On the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning Eurovision” Frogtown, Los Angeles River, USA in April 2024 – by Alan Weedon “I made it around dusk as I wanted to get the call of the Baja California frogs that live on this stretch of the river… it’s a part of the river which hasn’t completely been trapped in concrete as the water table is too high, and as such, the concrete bottom was never able to stick here. It’s a peculiar, but in my opinion stunningly surreal part of LA.” Gibbon morning chorus, recorded in the car park of Fota House, near Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland in April 2024 – by Damian Drohan “This is a gibbon morning chorus, recorded in the car park of Fota House, near Cobh, Co. Cork. The car park is separated from Fota Wildlife Park by a fence. There is also a scattered chorus of birds, some in the trees overhead, some further away.” Dawn, Chewton, Victoria, Australia in April 2024 – by Camilla Hannan “I recorded this while Easter camping the other week at my friend’s place in Chewton, Victoria. Nothing like sleeping in a tent to get you up early! But this was totally worth it.” Two minutes before the total eclipse, McGill Campus, Montreal, Québec at 3.24pm on 8th April 2024 – by Cristal Duhaime Solar Eclipse, Montreal General Hospital, Montreal, Québec at 3.24pm on 8th April 2024 – by Suzie McCarthy Evening waves, La Napoule, France on 9th April 2024 – by Mira Burt-Wintonick Early morning, RSPB Lakenheath Fen, Suffolk, UK in May 2024 – by Talia Randall “An early morning wander through RSPB Lakenheath Fen, Suffolk, on a bright May morning. According to my bird identification app, throughout the recording, you’ll hear sedge warblers, blackbirds, a pheasant, a great tit, rooks, chiffchaffs, a wren, and the unmistakable call of the cuckoo.” Waves on a pebble beach, Hvar, Croatia on 26th May 2024 – by Eleanor McDowall “Waves fizz and crackle on the shoreline” Bamboo in the wind, Fire Island, New York, USA in June 2024 – by Will Coley Cowbells, Dolomites, Italy in early July 2024 – by Alex Lewis “Around the Dolomites in Northeastern Italy, you frequently come across herds of cows. Munching on grass and wagging their heads, their cowbells echo around the mountain valleys like wind chimes or gamelans.” After the election, Cours Julien, Marseilles, France just before midnight on Sunday 7th July 2024 “People gather to celebrate in Place Jean Jaurès hours after the Nouveau Front Populaire (an alliance of left wing movements in France) beats both Emmanuel Macron’s centrists and the far right to become the largest bloc in the National Assembly” Pétanque, Saint-Savin, France on 20th July 2024 – by Siddharth Khajuria “Full of chaotic bells from an 11th or 12th century Abbey in the town we’re staying in. Listen out for one of the Pétanque players stepping away from the game to admonish / check in on her dog!” Fog at Swallowtail Lighthouse, Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada in July 2024 – by Lu Olkowski Stop the Far Right, Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau, London, UK at 8pm on 7th August 2024 “Hundreds of people gather in solidarity at one of the locations threatened by far right violence last night, as anti-racist groups across the UK respond to a list encouraging attacks on immigration centres. This followed a week of domestic terrorism from far right groups, fuelled by a poisonous political and media discourse in this country, which had seen violent attacks on communities – rioters storming hotels housing asylum seekers, targeting mosques, burning a library, hurling bricks and fireworks. On the morning of the 8th August, BBC Radio 4’s Today programme still chose to euphemistically refer to these far right rioters as, “anti-immigration protesters” in their news bulletin, with BBC News previously talking about one far right gathering as a “pro-British march”, newspapers like the Daily Mail and the Express praised the “anti-hate marchers” who had “faced down the thugs” on the 8th despite printing years of dehumanising, racist and Islamophobic headlines which had c

“On a cold December day, birds duet with a brass band”

“Climbing to the top of a lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides, wind sings through the crack in a window”

“Timid water soothes and refreshes the thirsty kelp, which gratefully responds with a crackling chorus of tiny algal voices.”

“On the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning Eurovision”

“The tide was very high and choppy, hitting the side walls. You can also hear planes coming and going from the nearby London City Airport.”

“I was in Powys for a few days, staying in a converted barn for a long weekend and was unexpectedly impacted by Storm Darragh. At first the heavy winds and rain hit woke us up in the dead of night on Saturday morning, increasingly battering the roof until we lost power from late morning until Sunday. Here is a brief recording of the winds from inside the barn before it really kicked off. I have to give a lot of respect to the people who worked tirelessly clearing fallen trees and debris, and the engineers who worked relentlessly to get the power back on for so many communities across the UK. It can’t have been easy; I hope they’re putting their feet up today.”

“I don’t know their species, but we nicknamed them baby cows. Perhaps you’ll hear why.”

“My father and I got into the car and hurried to the railroad crossing, willing to get there in time to record: just minutes earlier we heard the distant sound of a train about to leave town. We got there seconds before the locomotive rushed past us saturating the microphone. The freight cars picked up speed as they pulled away from the station but everything went silent at the peak of this crescendo. Only echoes remained, the ghost of a train heading west and the night gradually reclaiming its habitual sounds. This recording is a statement of principles advocating for the preservation and improvement of my country’s state-run railway system, amid efforts by the national government to dismantle it.”

“Every year in September and October is the deer mating season, you can hear them all over the natural park. It is something unique, especially when you are fortunate enough to also see them.”

“It’s the rainy season now, and at night frogs would show up and start making sounds—somehow it was like they’re talking to each other, forming a busy temporary town under the dark landscape of tall bushes. Rain caused high streams of water flowing, joining the crowded soundscape. I stood at a distance enough to observe, while a few motorbikes passed by, and the smell of the abating rain emerged. I really cherished this sound, as it was tickling my ears these past few days (and that’s why I decided to record and send it).”

“Here is a recording of snow falling on the recorder and into a small stream that feeds into the River Dart. Plus a bonus call from the Jay that nests nearby!”

“I made it around dusk as I wanted to get the call of the Baja California frogs that live on this stretch of the river… it’s a part of the river which hasn’t completely been trapped in concrete as the water table is too high, and as such, the concrete bottom was never able to stick here. It’s a peculiar, but in my opinion stunningly surreal part of LA.”

“Walking around Walthamstow Wetlands in late October, moments before the area was shut down due to a threat from an armed person.”

“I made this crappy phone recording late one evening, passing through Shadwell on my way home. I was admiring the quaint docklands architecture along Cable Street (and the clear skies – I think it was a full moon that night) when I approached a stationary London bus. The sound coming from it was so peaceful and unexpected. I inspected the bus; it was empty, and the driver had propped himself up against a small wall outside and was smoking a cigarette. My first thought was that he was playing some music, and I thought about approaching him to ask what it was, but got shy. Instead, I stood there for a few minutes, taking in the atmosphere and texture created by the mystery sound, punctuated by the occasional passing car or cyclist. I later read that this is the sound London’s new electric buses make when they’re stationary. They’ve been especially designed that way as a safety feature, given that electric vehicles are nearly silent by default. I had never heard this sound before, but really like the thought of a future where it’s a regular feature in the city’s soundscape.”

“The sound of birds, constantly falling leaves mixed with very light rain, some forestry work in the background and the odd plane above.”

“A field recording of Melbourne city from a cyclist’s perspective. This is the combination of two recordings that were made simultaneously. One was made with a contact mic attached to the seat post of my bicycle just in front of the chain. This was to record the sound of the operation of the bicycle. The atmos was recorded with the inbuilt microphones of a Zoom H5 portable recorder covered by a windjammer. I mounted the portable recorder in the middle of my bike’s rear basket using two elastic straps so it could move freely through the air without touching the sides or bottom of the basket. This was to avoid recording a bang whenever I hit a bump in the road. Then I rode from the Arts Centre past Flinders Street Station and up Swanston Street. I passed a number of buskers, pedestrians and trams on my journey. I like how I captured the changing sonic landscape for a cyclist: as I’m riding the sound is a blurry wash punctuated by bike noise, and then the atmos drops into perspective when I stop.”

“We rented a small boat for the day to explore the island. We found several coves only accessible by sea. While anchored at one of these coves I noticed how wonderful the sound of the water hitting the boat was and had to capture it.”

“After all the day tourists have left and the evening starts to set in Haworth becomes very quiet and eerie. With the church and Brontë parsonage to one side and fields to the other the beautiful cemetery stands deserted. Just birds and livestock populate the area. This is my favourite time for a visit.”

“Cobh, February. A slimy slipway with uncertain footing. A microphone collects a rasping tone as the tape, holding it to a barnacle encrusted hand-rail, gives way. Secured, it reveals a metallic, reverberant, sonic world, brought forth by the percussive action of waves. The rail-end slips below the green, foam-topped water, and seeks to convey the holder to the depths.”

“Here I’m at a late night tennis match. I think it started just before 8 PM and went until around 10:30. It was at a tournament in North Carolina”

“Recording taken from the streets of the Old Town in San Sebastian after the final race of the Bandera de la Concha rowing regatta. This day was the final race of the summer and, to celebrate, all the local towns in the Basque region descend on San Sebastian to cheer on their local skiff boat and then pack the bars of the old town to celebrate/commiserate (mainly celebrate).”

“Recorded on a Sunday morning at the glorious Tooting Bec Lido where swimmers were enjoying the last of the summer sun.”

“A metal tube, maybe 30cm long, 3cm diameter, is threaded by a weathered rope whose hair-like filaments protrude in multiple directions. The rope sags in places and is taut in others as it describes a tired quadrilateral. Here and there hang other lengths of pipe. They used to form a handrail around a deck of sheared and twisted planks. The deck ends in a set of treacherous wooden stairs, where uneven steps lie in booby-trap patience for unwary visitors. The deck fronts a ruined hut where sun and wind have etched a hectic patina of colour. A clamped microphone extracts from the pipe, a plaintive song of wind and loneliness, salt, time and metallic tears.”

“From October 2023 to May this year, the Government issued over 100 new licences allowing UK companies to sell arms to Israel. On the 2nd September David Lammy revoked just 30 licences of the 350 currently granted. The licences revoked did not include the continued supply of spare parts for F-35 fighter jets, a key part of Israel’s military operations. On Saturday afternoon 300,000 people marched on the streets of central London against our Government’s continued support of this violence. Three days prior to this march, a group of 99 healthcare workers who had served in Gaza since 7th October 2023 released an open letter to US President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, ‘This letter and the appendix show probative evidence that the human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population… Children are universally considered innocents in armed conflict. However, every single signatory to this letter saw children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them. Specifically, every one of us who worked in an emergency, intensive care, or surgical setting treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head or chest on a regular or even a daily basis. It is impossible that such widespread shooting of young children throughout Gaza, sustained over the course of an entire year is accidental or unknown to the highest Israeli civilian and military authorities… We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.'” Read the open letter – https://www.gazahealthcareletters.org/usa-letter-oct-2-2024

“An early morning wander through RSPB Lakenheath Fen, Suffolk, on a bright May morning. According to my bird identification app, throughout the recording, you’ll hear sedge warblers, blackbirds, a pheasant, a great tit, rooks, chiffchaffs, a wren, and the unmistakable call of the cuckoo. A little bit of sonic sunshine for these grey afternoons.”