Sonic Journal

Sonic Journal EP33: Orchard Crows at Dawn [Binaural] Old apple and pear orchards can be the homes to many animals and unsurprisingly this often includes crows. It seems logical that such an intelligent species would not miss out on the delicious ripe fruits in early autumn, but with the crow being an animal steeped in folklore perhaps there are other darker reasons for them choosing to be amongst...

Sonic Journal EP32: Hillside Broom in Late August There are a handful of sounds i look forward to hearing on my regular hill walks throughout the year, one occuring when the hillside Broom has dried over the summer months leaving the many seed pods crisp and dry. These pods make a few sounds with the rattle and swish being the easiest to hear. The second seed 'pop' sound is more subtle as this hap...

Sonic Journal EP31: Snaefelsness Spring Chorus In Western Iceland, late May time, the dawn chorus is less an intense build and fall (as it is in the UK) and more of a rich plateaux of continuing bird calls. I was on the edge of a large wild bird nesting area bordering a campground and the sounds of Whimbrel, Redwing, Snipe, Arctic Tern and many others were creating this rich and angular textured s...

Sonic Journal EP30: Snowy Winds on Midsummer Hill [Binaural] It was a cold Wednesday in March 2023 and there had been an unusually large dump of snow in recent days meaning i finally had an opportunity to get over to a favourite woodland to assess the sonics and record some weather. Unsurprisingly there were few people about when i was hiking up the valley side to my chosen microphone spot, althou...

Sonic Journal EP29: Queen Elizabeth Muffled Bells [St Matthias Church, Malvern] It is only on the rare occasion that church bells are chimed with mufflers on. Bells are half-muffled for Remembrance Sunday, but it seems only fully muffled when a king or queen dies. This recording was made on September 11th 2022. Muffled bells were heard around the country for ten days from September 9th to 19th 202...

Sonic Journal EP28: Bees on Blueberry Blossom This year the blueberry bush in our garden in early April was so full of blossom, and with blossom comes bees! I tucked an ORTF pair of Scheops CMC6 into the buzzing action and left it there. The bees certainly didn't seem to mind! For more info on the Sonic Journal Podcast including accompanying blog and location pics from each recording session head...

Sonic Journal EP27: Fire Gong Meditation This episode is a created/curated soundscape rather than a straight recording. A year or two back I experimented with a gong recording idea using a metal bowl placed on the binaural dummy head and played with my finger tips to see how the sound surrounded the head. From the recordings some layers of other sounds were added and the result is what you hear. I...

Sonic Journal EP26: Early May Woodland at Dawn A favourite woodland spot nestled into the side of the Malvern Hills is the location for this episode dawn soundscape. I've heard Cuckoo here for many years, and so it brought a smile to my face when again i heard that distinctive call. It is May 4th 2025 and I am trying out a 2x2 channel recording rig comprising of a binaural head plus a pair of Scho...

Sonic Journal EP25: First Blackbird of spring - at 0445am Early March, and each year there is one thing I look forward to hearing early in the morning, the sound of solo Blackbird song. This tends to start around 5am, gradually creeping earlier as we move into the season. I will open the bedroom window to let the Blackbird song in, and sometimes I record the song too, using a little A-B T bar rig...

Sonic Journal EP24: Light rain, gentle thunder - the calm after the storm During a roof top binaural atmos recording session in 2023 the June weather took a unexpected turn, and from gorgeous bright sun came Intense marble sized hail, almost from nowhere, then back to calm as if nothing had happened. Although the rumbling thunder persisted as a telling reminder. > Thanks for listening! For more...

Sonic Journal EP23: Bike Mic v2 - Hill Climb This episode is a slightly augmented version of a squelchy hill climb which i captured while out on the trails in a muddy January earlier this year / 2023. I wanted to continue the experimentations i started back in Episode 8, focused on placing miniature microphones on a mountain bike in an unobtrusive way to enable sound capture of a reasonable qualit...

Sonic Journal EP22: West Iceland - Sketches in Spring (2022) While on trip to Iceland in late May 2022 I didn’t plan on making many recordings but, as always, packed a little travel rig so managed to press record on a number of occasions in and around walking, driving and generally exploring the Snaefellsnes peninsula. There are many wild animal species to be seen and heard around this time of yea...

Sonic Journal EP21: Seven days of hills mini project - extended commentary During this episode i break down some of my thought processes in relation to the recent seven soundscape episodes [#14-#20] which focussed on different locations along the Malvern Hills. Including: The idea, kit used, locations, weather and more. This episode also Includes clips of the recordings along with a rambling comme...

Sonic Journal EP20: Chase End Hill. Dark wet woodland, distant rumbles - Binaural Soundscape. — Recorded on July 30th 2023 / 2215h — Day seven of 'Seven days of Hills' mini series exploring the soundscapes of the Malvern Hills area every day for one week. **As this is a Binaural recording - please wear headphones for the best spatial stereo listening experience** For the seventh and final day of t...

Sonic Journal EP19: Ragged Stone Hill. Oaks swaying in the summer breeze - Binaural Nature Soundscape. Recorded by Mike Rucinski on July 29th 2023 / 0753h — Day six of 'Seven days of Hills' mini series exploring the soundscapes of the Malvern Hills area every day for one week. — **As this is a Binaural recording - please wear headphones for the best spatial stereo listening experience** On this, t...

Sonic Journal EP18: Gullet Quarry / Midsummer Hill. Deer barking / Angsty Robins - Binaural Nature Soundscape. Recorded on July 28th 2023 / 0536h Day five of 'Seven days of Hills' mini series exploring the soundscapes of the Malvern Hills area every day for one week. **As this is a Binaural recording - please wear headphones for the best spatial stereo listening experience** Day five and around 2....

Sonic Journal EP17: British Camp / Herefordshire Beacon. Crickets in the dry Grasses / Woodland stream - Binaural Soundscape. Recorded by Mike Rucinski on July 27th 2023 / 0827h Day four of 'Seven days of Hills' mini series exploring the soundscapes of the Malvern Hills area every day for one week. **As this is a Binaural recording - please wear headphones for the best spatial stereo listening exp...

Sonic Journal EP16: Jubilee Hill Sycamore in the breeze - Binaural Nature Soundscape. Recorded by Mike Rucinski on July 26th 2023 / 0530h Day three of 'Seven days of Hills' mini series exploring the soundscapes of the Malvern Hills area every day for one week. **As this is a Binaural recording - please wear headphones for best listening experience** Moving along and down from the Worcestershire Be...

Sonic Journal EP15: Sugarloaf Hill - Binaural Soundscape. Recorded by Mike Rucinski on July 25th 2023 / 0550h Day two of 'Seven days of Hills' mini series exploring the soundscapes of the Malvern Hills area every day for one week - A soundscape snapshot. **As this is a Binaural recording - please wear headphones for best listening experience** Sugarloaf Hill is today's location, which sits between...

Sonic Journal EP14: North Hill Quarry Rain - Binaural Soundscape. Recorded by Mike Rucinski on July 24th 2023 / 0615h This is the first episode of Sonic Journal 'Seven days of Hills'; a mini series exploring the soundscapes of a particular location over the space of seven days in July 2023 - A soundscape snapshot. **As this is a Binaural recording - please wear headphones for best listening experi...

Sonic Journal Blogcast #13 - A binaural spring water soundscape. 2021. Each week or so i look forward to visiting a local spring, where water flows out of an old pipe in the side of a hill, under a road, into a stone basin and out down into the fields...  Head over to https://sonicjournal.tumblr.com/post/713668508878241792/spring-water-collector to see more on this along with a photo or two c...

Sonic Journal Blogcast #12 - This is an audio version of the Sonic Journal Blog entry 'Early May Moorland Field Trip [Dryburn Moor Night sounds]'. A binaural account from a field trip in early May 2022, I bring thoughts and feelings from my time up on the open moors in the North Pennines / Northumberland. The nighttime soundscapes in May are stark and distinctive. Such a special place. Head over t...

Sonic Journal Blogcast #11 - **Binaural recording - please wear headphones for best listening experience** Today we are marking the Balinese new year and day of Nyepi with an appreciation of going back to nature and a binaural dawn chorus recording from an English woodland on the borders of Herefordshire. Enjoy this soundscape recording, but if you can take the time to be outside and amongst natur...

Sonic Journal Blogcast #10 - This is an account of a summer solstice woodland recording session with a good friend and nature connection expert, Alex Hampson. The actual interview is for a project, which I hope to share at a later date, so in this episode i share some of my thoughts from the day on the location, surroundings and recording process. Head over to https://sonicjournal.tumblr.com to se...

Sonic Journal Blogcast #9 - This is an audio version of the Sonic Journal Blog entry 'Listening, Really Listening' [Original post: July 12th, 2021]. When I meet people for the first time when out working (as in, recording) and they take an interest in what i am doing, the first question they tend to ask is about the kit I am using; what mics, which DAW i use for mixing, etc. This is fine as I love...