Field Recordings

“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.”

“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.”