Interesting post at Sounds Like Noise talking about the preternatural experience of field recording.

Preternatural: that which appears outside or beyond the natural; exceeding what is regular.

Industrialisation often seems in opposition to the act of deep listening, nonetheless the production of affordable microphones and audio software has granted us an appreciation of the [sonic] world that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. With these tools we are able to surpass the limitations of the human ear and move towards preternatural possibilities.

In both urban and rural areas our listening experience may be compromised by an over-abundance of sound events. Breaking through the sonic mass in order to hear more subtle sounds is quite challenging. With the aid of field recording equipment this problem can be overcome, enhancing our listening experience and sense of location. Carefully placed microphones amplify peripheral sounds into a central position within the soundscape; what was previously unnoticed now commands an audience.

Read/Listen

World Forum of Acoustic Ecology has published the volume 9 of their newsletter, including lots of great resources. I personally recommend you the Sound Bites section and the featured article.

WFAE Newsletter

Fantastic post by Tim Prebble about a field recording trip he had at PNG (Papua New Guinea).

Well it was a field recording trip that was equals parts inspiring & exhausting! By the end of the week I had recorded total data of:

744 24 bit 96kHz 4 channel audio = 70.74GB
722 24 bit 96kH 2 channel audio = 30.5GB
Canon 7D photos = 833MB
Canon s95 video & stills = 11.44GB

But please bear in mind most of the recordings from the trip I cannot post due to them being specific to the film I’m working on – the sounds I have posted below were recorded in my own free time….
To hear the remainder, you’ll just have to wait until the film is released!

Read/Listen at musicofsound

The second issue of SoundScape ezine is available online.

SoundScape is the flagship publication of the NAS. It celebrates respect for the sonic landscape, community, innovation, education and creativity.

In This Issue: Tuned Tallinn – Sound City / Sound Regeneration – Sound Future / Sounding Brighton – Sound Approach / Making the Grade – Sound Schools / Quiet Pioneer – Sound Thinking / State of Mind – Sound Territory

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson spends much of his time listening and recording the sounds of the natural world. When the National Gallery invited him to create a sound piece inspired by a painting of his choice, he chose Constable’s ‘The Cornfield’. This was the start of a creative and exciting project, which also involved students from Ravensbourne College of Art and Design and other professional musicians and sounds artists. The project began with audio guides for paintings selected by the artists, and then later developed into an evening event involving a live sound mix in the gallery to accompany a tour of the paintings with an art historian. NATURE uses these events to explore how painters use a range of techniques to excite the viewers senses; not only the visual sense, but the senses of smell, touch and perhaps most poignantly, hearing. The programme also explores how sound installations and sound guides may help some viewers, especially people who might feel intimidated by paintings, to engage with these works of art.

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Via Chris Watson

There’s a new episode of BBC Radio 4′s nature series 5, this time featuring sounds of Pollardstown Fen, Ireland, recorded by Tom Lawerence, truly inspiring sound recordist who sadly died during the last year. Several of these sounds can also be heard in the fantastic Gruenrekorder 087 CD: Watter Beetles of Pollardstown Fen.

For over a year, sound recordist Tom Lawrence has been capturing the sounds of Pollardstown Fen in Ireland. These are no ordinary sounds, but the sounds of a hidden world; an underwater world, where an orchestra of creatures create an extraordinary and vibrant music. Above the water’s surface, grasshoppers and crickets stridulate; that is, they rub one part of their body across another to produce ‘those fiddling tunes so evocative of summer’. Below the surface, something similar happens as water beetles, water scorpions, great diving beetles, water boatmen and lesser water boatmen and hundreds of other species produce sounds day and night at over 2Khz, reaching 99 decibels in some cases – the equivalent of sitting in the front row of an orchestra “Tapping, knocking, hammering, drumming, clicking, creaking, cracking, croaking, buzzing, fuzzing, bleeping, winding, reeling, revving, puttering, pattering, humming, pulsing, squealing, shrieking…. the insects reveal themselves”. Writer and narrator Paul Evans meets Tom Lawrence and takes a journey into the Fen to hear these sounds for himself. Tom leads the way. His friend, Jim Schofield joins them, bringing with him a boat (an inflatable boat that they first have to pump up), and then the three men ‘wobble’ along reed-lined drains into the Fen. It’s a journey of revelations; not only does Paul encounter the underwater orchestra, but also Old Ireland and with it a magical adventure; They find a snake, haul up a bag of treasure, climb the steps of a Famine Tower, experience vertigo as they stand with their heads in the clouds high above the quarried land, watch Peregrines swipe through the air like sharp knives, and learn the story of a hanged man, his lost love and a vixen who wanders amongst the reeds, her piercing cry echoing through the darkness.

Listen

Via Touch

Next Episode: The Ghost Roost, with recordist Chris Watson and sound designer Thor McIntyre Burnie.

Great article by Virginia Morell talking about nature, industrialization, quiet places, and silence. Features commentaries from recordist, composer and bioacoustician Bernie Krause, bioacoustician Kurt Fristrup and recordist Gordon Hempton.

“Listen,” said Bernie Krause. He rolled down his car window, and we sat silently for a moment. It was an hour before dawn, still dark and foggy in the Mayacamas Mountains, a northern California coastal range. But somewhere in the distance, a bird was calling—a high, bright, lively song that seemed at odds with the misty gloom. “A song sparrow,” Krause whispered. “They’re always the first to sing here.” The sparrow’s opening notes meant that this day’s dawn chorus had begun. Wherever wild birds live, mornings start this way, with males ascending to their perches to sing and welcome the day. “The dawn chorus is one of the earth’s best and oldest songs,” Krause said, grabbing his recording equipment and tripod. “But most of us in the industrialized world have never heard it. And it’s disappearing.”

Continue reading…

Via naturerecordists

Sound Seed Transmissions was a radio show sound artist John Grzinich hosted as part of his residency at Nida Art Colony and was broadcast on the local radio station, Neringa FM. You can listen to the six shows at phase space.

The Sound Seed Transmissions show focused on sound and artists who work with unique and different contexts, drawing their inspiration from nature, natural materials, found objects, temporary installations and self-made instruments. The show was meant to be a type of “stories from the field”, presenting a mix of short interviews with artists and a selection of field recordings and/or compositions.

This free directory now has over 100 videos making it a rich source of information about practices related to the listening experience. The site contains documentaries, lectures, projects and other videos related to all aspects of soundscape study. Users are encouraged to subscribe for updates when new videos are added. This is an on-going project suggested videos links are encouraged.

Via phonography

Frank Bry has published a new post talking about several trains he recorded this year at North Idaho.

Back in March of 2011 I started a two year project to record as many trains as possible from North Idaho. I’ve lived here for many years and never really took the time to go out and record the beasts as they roared through the Panhandle of Idaho. I recorded some back in 1995 before I moved here and those are good but they are only CD quality. Now that I am recording everything in HD I thought it was time to record some brand new material for an upcoming library release. This blog post tells the tall tail of actually recording them in all their glory. Wait, way to much drama, I’ll cut to the chase… During the month of November (which is a great time to record here when it’s not freezing outside) I found some locations that will soon not be that great for recording. This is where I will start and who knows where it will lead… Only the Alien on the train knows.