Field Recordings

“A strong wind blows across the canyon, rustling trees. The sound of crickets can be heard all around.”

“Through this sound, I was trying to find a connection to the historical context of the beach, and to link it with the idea of the distant groan of glaciers.”

“Recorded on a late night in August, up at my brother-in-law’s house in Westchester, north of NYC. Heavy cricket and cicada season, but also on a flight path for a regional airport.”

“When I went to Los Glaciares National Park in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, I had the chance to leave my recorder by the shore of Argentino Lake for a few minutes; facing the imposing walls of Spegazzini Glacier. It was a cloudy day, not too windy, and a light drizzle was beginning to fall. Occasionally, the engine sound of a tourist catamaran can be heard at a distance.”

“I recorded this landscape on a summer afternoon, in a pasture land where a canal and a country road intersect; around 5 kilometers away from the center of town. Over the steady sound of the frogs and insects, one can hear the calls and songs of the different local birds: the pampa finch or “verdón” (Embernagra platensis), the rufous-collared sparrow or “chingolo” (Zonotrichia capensis), the rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus), the red-winged tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens), the southern lapwing or “tero” (Vanellus chilensis), the freckle-breasted thornbird or “tío-tío” (Phacellodomus striaticollis) and the house wren or “chochín criollo” (Troglodytes aedon). A few silent wild cavies or “cuises” (Galea leucoblephara, probably) walk by near the recorder, and some vehicles pass by the road.”

“We woke up at 6am on our last day in Mallorca to squeeze one final sea swim into the trip. We were the first ones in at the local beach and whilst it was raining we were kept company by the birds who were just finishing their breakfasts.  We placed our mic on the beach as close as we could get to the water without splashing the phone.  Sam & Louise, 90 Minutes Or Less Film Fest Podcast  @90minfilmfest “

“I was out in the fields by the River Thame yesterday morning and the geese were clearly excited by the amount of water across the meadows and were making a huge racket as they flew around in gaggles. Possible best listened to with headphones to get the stereo effect.”

“A binaural recording of an electrical storm followed by heavy rain from a back garden in East London at 1am” Image credit: The Rebecca Project

“These are the church bells of St Bartholomew in the town of Lostwithiel around 8.30pm on a still evening. The next morning I put my foot in it by congratulating my bell ringing neighbour on how great they’d been sounding, only to be told that they were taking the summer off and last night’s ringers were from the neighbouring village of Tywardreath.”

“The Tigre Delta is among the world’s largest, and it is one of the only major deltas in the world that does not empty into a sea or ocean. It flows instead into the Río de la Plata, which separates Argentina and Uruguay, after the Río Paraná splits into several smaller rivers and forms a multitude of sedimentary islands covered in forest and grasslands.”

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/24/italys-mounting-attack-lesbian-parents “In January, Italy’s right-wing government ordered state agencies to cease registration of children born to same-sex couples. Now they’ve taken it a step further: a state prosecutor in northern Italy has ordered the cancellation and re-issuance of 33 birth certificates of lesbian couples’ children, endangering access to medical care and education. Non-gestational mothers are receiving letters informing them that they are being retroactively removed from their children’s birth certificates. New birth certificates are being issued listing the name of only one of the child’s mothers. “ https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/08/03/london-protest-over-italys-abhorrent-move-to-strip-lesbian-mums-from-birth-certificates/

“Every 4th of July in my neighborhood, there is an hours-long competition to see which corner can launch the most illegal fireworks. It gets quite intense, and I recorded it this year with binaural mics. I guess this is the diametric opposite to the stereotypical field recording of a quiet rural meadow–but I thought I’d submit it, in case it catches your interest.”

“Via Balilla is a small street in Rome where people gather together once a year to celebrate the local community. Back in the days the street was famous for containing within it, apparently, several conflicting living realities. It all started in 1993 when the inhabitants decided to meet and get to know each other better. Everyone brought what they could; chairs and tables, typical food and drinks, music and games. Since then the community has grown and has become an example of civil coexistence. The annual festival is there to remind us the power of a good inclusive community.” www.immersedinsounds.wordpress.com

“About 20 drummers and hundreds of festival goers gathered around the fire at the centre of the stone circle and played throughout the night. This recording was made at 4am just before the sunrise.”

“at a friend’s cottage on lake michigan. it was early evening & i wanted to capture the sounds of water breaking on the shore, and of our kids playing—singing to themselves—nearby.”

“Here are some Dutch bells from last week. I was cycling from Amsterdam to Lille and stayed overnight in Gouda where I went to the market square just before 11pm and caught the carillon of the church of St John, with a background of people drinking in the cafes and, near the end, a passing cyclist. Best listened to with headphones as it is a binaural recording.”

“I was in Greece last week, on my first full day there I was on an early morning walk when I started to hear this distant sound of bells but couldn’t see where it was coming from. Then out of nowhere, I started to see so many mountain goats with bells around their necks. It felt really quite magical, and such a beautiful sound.”

“Thousands of protestors gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice to call for the decriminalisation of abortion. Abortion in England and Wales still falls under criminal law in 2023 – specifically the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. 67 people have faced legal prosecutions in the past decade alone. A few days before this protest happened, Carla Foster was sentenced to more than two years in prison for procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit. Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, one anti-abortion protestor stands on a small ladder next to the crowd, shouting through a megaphone. As the thousands of protestors begin to move through the afternoon heat, onlookers cheer, stare and film on their phones, with occasional cars honking their horns in solidarity.”

“I was having an afternoon dose on Monday when the stormy weather rolled in around South London. My room is situated within a block of flats, and the courtyard reflects all outside sounds into a reverberant soundscape. I like to keep my windows open and let in all the sounds from outside. I thought this storm would make for a good recording whilst I doze. Persistent rain and rippling rumbles are so comforting when you’re nestled indoors.”

“12.06.2023. Caught in a thunderstorm on a hot London day in Abney Park cemetery. A passer by on her mobile phone remarks ‘not soaked, soaked…'” 

“The history of the Wolzenalp chairlift, in eastern Switzerland, goes back over 50 years. It was built in 1965. The slow journey from the valley to the mountain takes a good 20 minutes over meadows, trees and 400 meters in altitude. We had to take the chairlift to get to a moor where we did some recordings for our botany podcast.”

“Icebergs break off the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and drift through the water into the Atlantic Ocean, some of them glowing a surreal, bright blue – others vast and blackened like old ships. Small pieces of ice wash onto the shore of the black sand beach, tiny glass sculptures alongside the smooth water-worn pebbles. This lagoon started forming in 1934 when the glacier began to retreat and has increased fourfold since the early 1970s as the speed of melting has increased.”

“More than 300 marble columns create a space that could hold 80,000 cubic metres of water. The space hums with constant reverberations from the slightest sounds.  I stood at the very back corner of the cistern and recorded while the last few visitors made their way round the rattling gangways.”

“I made this tiny recording of bees in Gros Morne National Park on the west coast of Newfoundland. It was August, 2022, peak summer, and the big bees were zooming in and out of the clover and a patch of fireweed and other tall wildflowers at the edge of our campsite. Also heard: a bird call, footsteps, the voice of a four year old, and the Park Ranger’s truck.”

“I’ve been walking past this music college on the way to work for nearly fifteen years. Each year, as the weather gets warmer, the musicians open the windows of their practice rooms and the sounds of jazz bands, opera singers and soloists pour out into the sunshine – interweaving with lawnmowers, helicopters and the sound of the water alongside.”

www.charitybe.media

“I was at the Jack in the Green procession in Hastings Old Town earlier today and managed to get a quick recording of the various players (in wonderful garbs) drifting in and out as they marched.”

“At the bustling Chesterfield flea market, I was immersed in the vibrant sounds of a funfair. This popular weekly market is one of the largest in the UK.” Photo: David Dixon

Two minutes before the testing of the emergency alert system. photo: Oxford Circus tube station building, London by Eluveitie

“I was waiting to meet a friend and there were at least two woodpeckers in the trees in the park. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them really clearly.”

“This is a short snippet of an afternoon in a traditional coffeehouse in Vienna, Austria in March 2023. Vienna is famous for its coffeehouse history, this coffeehouse being over 100 years old. Young and old, residents and tourists alike spend long afternoons here, chatting, reading the newspaper, eating Apfelstrudel and trying their way through their many coffee specialties. When you’re in luck, as we were, there could be a piano and violin duo playing which you can hear alongside the chatter of guests, clanking of silver spoons on dishes, and the formally-dressed waiters taking orders in the background.”

“On Saturday 15 April, a pigeon showcased it’s cinephile credentials by joining a packed audience in the BFI Southbank’s biggest auditorium (NFT 1) for a screening of Mervyn LeRoy’s classic movie, Gold Diggers of 1933. The pigeon did not have a ticket however and before the film started, the team at the venue diligently attempted to liberate the bird from the cinema screen. After 30 minutes of various approaches it was decided that actually it could stay and watch the film.  Thankfully it was freed later in the day and has been telling the other pigeons of London about the virtues of the big screen experience.  This recording was taken in the audience, before the film was started, whilst venue staff tried to coax the pigeon towards a fire escape. It starts just as they decided it might be worth playing some cat sounds into the PA system.  Sam Clements & Louise Owen, makers of the 90 Minutes Or Less Film Fest Podcast.”

“Made on the tidal beach on the river Thames watching people mudlarking just under Waterloo bridge… trains pulling into Waterloo station above and simultaneously waves lapping below… Towards the end you hear a mudlarker say ‘uh oh a shoe, you get a lot of single shoes around here!'”  

“Cadogan Pier, North Bank of the river Thames, beneath Albert Bridge near Chelsea Embankment. Built in 1841 Cadogan Pier has been Chelsea’s only river transport link for over 150 years and currently it is served by the Thames Clipper Uber Boat service to Putney and Canary Wharf. This is a Hydrophone recording (recording under the water) taken on a sunny February afternoon – you might hear boats, traffic on the bridge, a few birds, the pier, wind and waves.” Listen on Soundcloud

“Hundreds of people gather to demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament whilst MPs hold the second reading of the ‘Illegal Migration Bill’, a piece of legislation that denies asylum to anyone risking their lives to cross the Channel in ‘small boats’. The government has itself admitted that the legislation might breach the European convention on human rights and the UN has said it’s a ‘clear breach’ of the refugee convention. At its second reading the bill was passed 311 to 251. 307 of the votes for the bill came from the Conservative party.”

“Myself and my co-editor (at The Sonification) went to cover a story about a mining company that has permits to start an open pit project in a rural area about 150km north of Bergen, with all the waste rock and process chemicals to be deposited in the nearby fjord—which also happens to be a pristine National Salmon Fjord. To a lot of local people we met, the fjord is a major food source, a place to relax and fish with family, and beyond that, an identity and a way of life. The story of the mining project is incredibly complicated and goes back a long way, but it’s a source of immense bitterness and sadness to many. The underwater recording is from a hydrophone at 5 metres’ depth, with some mysterious scrapes and gurgles that could be from marine life, of which there’s a lot… There’s also some drilling sounds, which probably come from the construction and tunnelling work at the mine, although I can’t be sure.” 

“A soundscape recorded on December 27, 2022 at around 10 a.m. in Bacău. It immortalises ‘Alaiul datinilor’ 56th edition, a special day when people from all over the Moldova region come to the city of Bacău to show off their own traditions, songs and dances. Everyone is wearing a costume with different kind of masks and is making a different kind of noise. The result is an explosion of colours and sounds all over the city.”