Field Recordings

“Please find attached a recording and image of an amateur men’s football match in Sheffield on a very wet and gloomy Sunday. If the date in the calendar said 22nd September, everything else said that British Summertime had unceremoniously ground to a halt.”

“The autumn equinox fell on Sunday 22nd of Sept 2024 at exactly 1:43 pm. In the northern hemisphere, this is the moment when the sun is exactly above the equator; when day and night are of equal length. This moment marks the beginning of autumn, when the nights begin to draw in and daylight hours diminish.”

“At the top of a hill in North London, as the Harvest Supermoon rises, the sound of an orchestra rehearsing pours into the night through an open door. Buses, children playing in the distance and wind noise on a bad phone microphone flow in and out of the melody as the conductor stops and starts the musicians.”

“We stayed on the shore of Loch Scridain and the night air brought with it a slightly disconcerting sound. I eventually established that it was not babies being murdered in the woods but a lively heronry.”

“I was travelling with my family on the island of Sardinia. We turned off the highway near Telti, a mountain town outside of Olbia, heading to an Agritourismo for dinner. At first I couldn’t make out what the clamorous sound was…it was both noisy and beautiful in the same moment. The sun was setting over the mountain, so I had to squint to see what was making all that sound. And then I could see an entire flock of sheep, hundreds of them, walking through the field, each with a different bell hanging around their necks. They were clanging at different intervals and pitches; a completely accidental symphony. I climbed over the fence and stuck my recorder out…after I first insisted that my family stay quiet, so I didn’t also have the recording of protesting kids yelling: “What are you doing, Mom?!” It’s a simple, unmodified sound that completely transports me to a whole new place when I listen to it.”

“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 consciously laid the groundwork for the hatred and violence of the past few days and many of the MPs who had spent years pouring bile into this poisonous, racist discourse – across political divides – decried the violence, without acknowledging how the public scapegoating of refugees and immigrants had lit these fires. This Saturday 10th August there’s a national day of protest in England – find your local demonstration here: https://standuptoracism.org.uk“

“It’s a cave at the foot of the hill at Assos under the old Venetian fortress. There’s a sea entrance (the light in the centre) and a small hole that gives access from a small pebble beach.”

“I was on a walk in Chopwell Woodland Park which is on the fringe of Gateshead, and I came across this beautiful pylon. I heard it first fizzing with static among the trees, so when I saw it, I had to get my recorder out and capture it. That evening there was an amazing thunderstorm, which the pylon was clearly feeling hours before I could.”

“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!”

“A journey on the underground. Eight and a half minute field recording. London, April 2024.”

“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.”

“disgusting – shall I put it up? Lol sure. It was so squelchy. Never heard an egg like it.”

“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.”

“We were in a place called Bratch, talking a walk along a canal towpath. We had a big trivial argument, saw some baby moorhens and nice houseboats, and on the way back to the car heard a full-throated scream of “Sweet Caroline! Bababa”

“It was recorded on summer solstice 21st of June in Stonehenge last week, where thousands of people gathered there to wait for the sunrise. Loads people brought drums and all kinds of instruments with them and was improvising together spontaneously. Chaotic but inviting.”

“I made this recording recently whilst on tour in Norway. There was a national alarm test (similar to what we had in the UK a while back) and I was down by the Harbour… Just captured on my iPhone so not the best quality.”

“Don’t know if it qualifies as a field recording–it’s water draining through the pipes after a washing machine spin cycle.”

“In the first week of summer in June 2024, I was out recording some interviews for my radio program on environment at the Curonian Spit National Park. There I visited a group of 11 busy goats, munching on a fresh grass in the meadow, which conservationists would like to see less dominated by reed. That is why the goats have been transported here by a ferry across the lagoon from the farm in the mainland for the summer. They arrived just a few days ago and were still figuring out who is in charge. But as I stood there with my microphone in the sun, they got curious and came closer, but never stopped enjoying their lunch.”

“Waves fizz and crackle on the shoreline”

“Recorded on Saturday 4th May 2024 in Aulus-les-Bains, a little village nestled in the French Pyrenees. I was out for a walk around the village watching the soft colours of the houses take on the faded glow of the evening sun when I came across a field full of donkeys who were running towards food. You can hear the cowbells around their necks sing out as they eat together. In the distance I could hear a wind chime from one of the houses near the fields and together with the roar of the river that runs through, the birds, bees and scuttle of insects, it felt like a brief moment of everyday magic.”

“This is a gibbon morning chorus, recorded in the car park of Fota House, near Cobh, Co. Cork. The car park is seperated from Fota Wildlife Park by a fence. There is also a scattered chorus of birds, some in the trees overhead, some further away. You can also hear children’s voices as they wander the wildlife park. From where I recorded I couldn’t see the Gibbons, but I could see a Wallaby wandering around, within 100 metres of where I stood. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to get a 100% clean recording here as there are always cars arriving and departing from the house and wildlife park, and there is a very busy road within audible range.”

“Created by the architect Nikola Bašić in 2005. Everytime I visited the sea organ it was crowded with tourists. This time – although only for a brief moment – I was alone with the organ and the sea.”

“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.”

“It’s a contact mic recording of a corrugated iron roof sheet rattling in the wind. There was a fisherman in a nearby hut singing and you can just pick him up from time to time during the recording I was squatting on the ground with the mic attached to the sheet via a clothes peg, next to a row of fishermen’ huts.”

“I was in Exeter last weekend and as I walked round the north side of the cathedral this wren was singing louder than the bells.”

“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.”

“It’s a park with marshes, trails and boardwalks. It was in the path of totality, so we traveled there to witness the total solar eclipse — about 45 minutes from where we live in Ottawa, ON. Recording consists of loud spring peepers (a type of frog), and people, some Canada geese. I paused the recording midway when my daughter asked me a question. You can tell when the total eclipse happens from people’s reactions changing dramatically. We were all standing and sitting on a wooden boardwalk, so you can hear that too…”

“…a singing extractor hood in my mum’s kitchen which makes this deep rumbling tone when the wind catches it from outside the kitchen window. It only happens with an Easterly wind.”

“Micro bat (large footed myotis bat) sounds and voice reflections from inside the disused (since 1932) Dularcha Rail Tunnel, Mooloolah, Queensland, Australia. Audible sounds include: bat sounds, bird sounds, footsteps, distant trains (from the current train line) and voice reflections. Sound recording by G R Legge, 32 bit float 192 kHz downsampled to 24bit/192kHz on a Zoom F3 with an Audio Technica BP4025 stereo microphone. Click to hear more”

“The various heritage clocks belonging to parliament are serviced here. The sound of two clock movements on test after repair. Their ticks drift in and out of phase with each other and create some interesting cross rhythms that develop over time.”

“The sounds of a working steam tourist railway as engine 967 winds it’s way from Gympie to Amamoor in the Mary Valley, Queensland, Australia. Sounds include ambiences from inside the Club Car, commentary and engine sounds whilst at Amamoor.”

“In August 2023, I participated as an editor in the 2nd “Encuentro Provincial de Bibliotecas Populares” in Chapadmalal, which brings together librarians, independent publishers, and officials from the province’s cultural sector. The event took place in one of the immense hotels of the Chapadmalal Tourist Unit, built during Perón’s first presidency for the use of working-class families, who had just obtained the right to paid vacations in 1945. The day before the event, it was somewhat cloudy with hardly any wind. I took my recorder and went straight down to the beach, next to the cliffs.”

“When we worked on Monument together in 1993 (the musicalised documentary that launched BBC Radio 3’s Between the Ears), my old friend Ian Gardiner was keen to capture what he called a Singing Escalator. It’s taken me 30 years to find one with the right intonation and syncopations!”

“After nearly three consecutive years of drought (caused by La Niña phenomenon in the surface waters of the Pacific and exacerbated by increasing climate change), El Niño brought relief to this part of the planet, and in January, we were able to enjoy the summer rains again. On holidays, 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.”

“This was recorded in a courtyard of a building on Fort Washington Ave., in Northern Manhattan, a few blocks south of Fort Tyron Park and The Cloisters. The birds sound as if they are fighting, though there’s probably some sort of social ritual being performed. Across the street, some teenagers were playing basketball.”