Field Recordings

“Lovely quiet winter morning, next to one of the two water mills.”

“I went for my daily walk along the Neris river one sunny afternoon last year. It was all frozen just a couple of days ago. The weather had changed overnight. As I was approaching, I saw these amazing ice cakes slowly drifting along and spinning around making the coziest squeaky sounds. I just stood there with my phone and observing in awe. And a couple of passers by did the same. And their...

“My dog Toby joins in by digging in the earth next to me.”

“Walking across some snowy fields with my dog, Toby, who joyfully runs up and bites the wind sock on my mic as he runs by.”

“Walking with corduroy trousers into frozen puddles.”

“I stood on the doorstep to look at the stars because of the ice bright visibility and heard them calling to each other.”

“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!”