Noise: A Human History
Prof David Hendy presents a 30-part series exploring the role of sound, and listening, in the past 100,000 years of human history BBC Radio 4
New Book: In the Field – The Art of Field Recording
In the Field, a new and promising book written by Cathy Lane & Angus Carlyle is available now. This is a collection of interviews with contemporary sound artists who use field recording in their work. From its early origins in wildlife sound and in ethnographic research, field recording has expanded over the last few decades...
Lecture: Francisco López (London, 2012)
Internationally recognized as one of the major figures of the sound art and experimental music scene, Francisco Lopez has developed an astonishing sonic universe over the past 30 years. Having realized hundreds of concerts, field recording projects, workshops and sound installations in over 60 countries, pieces of his extensive catalog have been released on over...
R. Murray Schafer – WFAE 2011 Lecture
R. Murray Schafer’s keynote speech at the 2011 World Forum for Acoustic Ecology in Corfu, Greece. Vía Sonic Studies
Why Birds Sing
Inspired by musician and eco-philosopher David Rothenberg’s book of the same title, this documentary explores the intriguing, charming, complex and often conflicting theories on why birds sing like they do and why humans are so attracted to the sound. The film features contributions from musicians including Laurie Anderson, Jarvis Cocker and Beth Orton; enlightening and...
Chris Watson On Listening, Recording Nature Sounds
Some stuff from Chris Watson. Interesting as always: An article at The Quietus on recording the music of the natural world: In Cabaret Voltaire, Chris Watson used tape loops and field recordings as a pioneer of industrial music. Now, he is a sound recordist for BBC nature programmes who also works on installations, films and...
World’s Largest Natural Sound Archive Available Online
Cornell University has launched a fascinating (and huge) online library of nature sounds, which can be listened at MacaulayLibrary.org “This is one of the greatest research and conservation resources at the Cornell Lab,” said Budney. “And through its digitization we’ve swung the doors open on it in a way that wasn’t possible 10 or 20 years...
Sandy
Michael Raphael has published several recordings of hurricane Sandy. This past Monday was a rather hectic day on the East Coast, especially for New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy started to bear down on Sunday night, and by Monday evening it was clear New York City was going to be hit with hurricane grade...
David Michael Interview
David Michael Interview at The Field Reporter ‘The slaughter house’ is a controversial phonographic release composed by sound artist David Michael and published by german label Gruenrekorder. On this work the artist captured sounds on a slaughterhouse in Alabama which on an initial sight could be a rather difficult subject to address in terms of the...
Natural Silence
“A great silence is spreading over the natural world even as the sound of man is becoming deafening,” he writes in a new book, The Great Animal Orchestra. “Little by little the vast orchestra of life, the chorus of the natural world, is in the process of being quietened. There has been a massive decrease in...
Field Notes #3: Traces
Gruenrekorder has published the third edition of their Field Notes publication. Articles: 1. Tom Lawrence: The Waterbeetles of Pollardstown Fen 2. Scott Sherk: Phonography: Art or Documentation? 3. Jim Cummings: My Ears will Never be the Same 4. Marcus Kürten et al.: ‘Something Which Lasts Passes By’ – A Collection of Hearing Memories 5. Hein Schoer: The Sounding Museum –...
The Birth of Wildlife Sound Recordings
A few months ago The Field Reporter published a very interesting research wrote by Cheryl Tipp on The Birth of Wildlife Sound Recordings. Part I – Introduction Part II – Recording in the Wild Part III – Mimicry Part IV – Vocabulary and the meaning of sounds Part V - Identification Guides + The Demise...