Field Recordings

A slow weave of some of the past year’s Field Recordings, from a child playing in the snow to a brass band playing Christmas carols in the street. Father and daughter build a snowman in the backyard, Copenhagen, Denmark on 2nd January 2025 – by Joyce de Badts Cracking the ice underfoot over a frozen puddle, Low Bentham, North Yorkshire, UK in early January 2025 – by Charlotte Petts Ice on Queen’s...

“Descending the stairs, I was disappointed to see a two-digit number in the wait time for the train. the music started a couple minutes later. they had a pedal and an instrument i couldn’t identify. i wouldn’t say it was dreamy, and there’s not really a synonym i can find that captures it. maybe bewitching. the train came, they packed up and left, then my train came, and si...

“This first big snow was really dreamy. It started late in the night after I’d gone to bed, and had already stopped by morning. When I woke up there was the shock of a white, white world and a few inches on the ground. I got lost in the stillness of the day, and watched little heaps tumble from branches when a breeze rattled through.”

“16th century Soho fields being ploughed in protest by 21st century musical tractors.”

“I happened to be visiting my family home in Italy this past week and some cows were grazing in the field opposite, regardless of the rain, fog or snow. Their bell kept me company through the week.”

“It had just stopped raining and the tank was about two thirds full. The water was still dripping into the tank making a fantastic sound. Although the microphones were inside the tank they managed to pick up the occasional car passing by.”

“The tide was very high and the river was flowing fast. The boat was furiously moving around, even hitting the concrete pier. Meanwhile life went by as usual, with people strolling and jogging past the boat.”

“Rather than a traditional pure recording, here’s 2 perspectives carefully mixed together. The recording features 11 strikes of St. Paul’s Cathedral clock bell to mark the 11th hour and the 2 minutes silence as heard from the rooftop of the cathedral together with sounds from ground level.”

“The Cutty Sark sits on the edge of the Thames, quietly away from busy Greenwich. The river was lively, with seagulls, a Mudlarker looking for treasure and passing boats creating waves that slapped against the shore.”

“This recording was taken from the yard of Vahandukht Melkonyan – an 89-year-old great-grandmother and the last person left living in an almost-abandoned Armenian village. Her home sits on the border with Turkey. Just a few hundred meters from her home, across that border, are the ruins of the famous 11th-century Armenian city of Ani. Even though Vahandukht looks at Ani from her garden...

“After dinner we went to find a place to watch the sunset and wound up at a park a few miles up Route 9. It was dusk and we settled on a bench facing a pond where the fish were having a feeding frenzy. Their heads would ripple up out of the water to grab a bug and I tried to get a clean recording of the sound but couldn’t manage it. Every time their head popped up, one of us would laug...

“Late one August evening, my partner and I were driving through the mountains of Portugal’s Serra da Estrela. As we were passing through the village of Sabugueiro, we suddenly heard a chorus of bells. In a flash, we saw a shepherd leading a herd of goats to their shed for the night. We stopped the car and I followed them through the small, cobbled streets for a while, un...

“One of the sounds I associate most with Lisbon (where my mother was born), is the eerie polyphony of the Ponte 25 de abril. The red suspension bridge across the river Tejo hums and howls as cars and trucks drive over its metallic grating. Now and then, trains join in from the lower deck. This recording was made around midnight, right underneath the bridge on the north bank.  ( rec...

“I want to share a recording from June 2025. It was recorded with zoom h1n – X/Y capsules, near Campo Imperatore in a place called ‘Little Tibet’ in Parco nazionale d’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise – Italy. I recorded it during Abruzzo Trail, a bikepacking event.”

“At the very bottom of the Iberian Peninsula Spain and Portugal are separated by a natural border – the river Guadiana. Vila Real and Ayamonte sit on opposite sides of the river, two towns very much connected, with people constantly moving back and forth across the border.”

“This tape was gathered in Boise, Idaho with a contact microphone affixed to a tree root partially submerged in the Boise River.”

“Photo is view from lying in tent where I recorded when the sun came up in morning.”

“I was having a drink at the back deck of the Historic Mayflower Pub in London, right on the Thames. The tide was high and choppy. I managed to slip a couple of microphones through the floorboards to get the wonderful sound of the Thames. I love how you can hear passing boats and the pub crowd in the background.”