Field Recordings

“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, wh...

“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 peo...

“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...

“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 &#82...

“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 .”