Field Recordings

“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.&#8...

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...

“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 h...

“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...

“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 abat...

“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 h...

“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 cov...

“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.”