Great video from Swedish television featuring Chris Watson.

(Thanks Magnus!)

Francisco López and James Webb are announcing a new field recording workshop, this time in Limpopo, South Africa.

‘Sonic Mmabolela’ is a 2-week workshop/residency for professional and semiprofessional sound artists and composers with previous experience in the area of sound experimentation and field recordings. It takes place at Mmabolela Reserve, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, right at the border with Botswana. It involves field work, studio work and theoretical/discussion presentations. The workshop/residency has a special focus on creative approaches to the work with field recordings, through an extensive exploration of natural sound environments. It does not have a technical character but is instead conceived and directed towards the development and realization of projects of sonic creation by the participant artists/composers with the field recordings gathered.
‘Sonic Mmabolela’ draws from previous experience of an equivalent workshop / residency, also conceived and directed by Francisco López, in the Brazilian Amazon (“Mamori Sound Project” 2005 2011), which has been attended by 70 artists from all over the world, who have produced to date dozens of releases, sound installations, exhibitions, films, publications and public presentations worldwide, based on the sound materials and experience gathered during that workshop / residency.

The activities of the workshop/residency include:

• Introductory theoretical/discussion presentation sessions on field recordings and sound creation, with a historical/philosophical/critical perspective.
• Field trips (both diurnal and nocturnal) for extensive listening and recording of sound environments.
• Sessions of studio work (with laptop) using these materials.
• Artists’ presentation/discussion sessions on sound creative work / field recordings.
• Development and realization of a sound piece by each participant with the original sound materials gathered in the field work.
• Presentation of the finished pieces by the participant artists.

Detailed info

Ear Room has published a great interview with sound artist and researcher Ernst Karel.

Ernst Karel is an artist and researcher active in the fields of electroacoustic improvisation and composition, location recording, sound for nonfiction vilm, and solo and collaborative sound installations. Karel is currently lab manager for the Sensory Ethnography Lab (SEL) at Harvard University, where as lecturer on Anthropology, he teaches a course in sonic ethnography. For comprehensive information please visit: http://ek.klingt.org

EAR ROOM

Zoom just announced the Zoom H6 new handy recorder with a modular mic system.

• The world’s first handy recorder with interchangeable mic system
• XY mics capture remarkable stereo depth and clarity
• Mid-side mics provide continuously variable stereo width
• Four XLR/TRS inputs for external mic/line connections
• Up to six channels of simultaneous recording
• High-definition audio of up to 24-bit/96kHz
• 6-in/2-out USB audio interface
• Over 20 hours of operation with 4 AA batteries
• Supports SDXC memory cards up to 128GB
• Optional Shotgun mic and external XLR/TRS inputs available
• Optional Hot Shoe Mount to attach your H6 to a DSLR video camera

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

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 into a diverse range of practices which explore and investigate aspects of the lived environment, from the microscopic to the panoramic, through the medium of recorded sound. These conversations explore the fundamental issues that underlie the development of field recording as the core of their activity. Recurring themes include early motivations, aesthetic preferences, the audible presence of the recordist and the nature of the field.

Conversations with Andrea Polli, Annea Lockwood, Antye Greie, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Christina Kubisch, Davide Tidoni, Felicity Ford, Francisco López, Hildegard Westerkamp, Hiroki Sasajima, Ian Rawes, Jana Winderen, Jez Riley French, Lasse-Marc Riek, Manuela Barile, Peter Cusack, Steven Feld and Viv Corringham.

Uniformbooks

Chris Watson, who has worked on Attenborough’s Frozen Planet and Life in the Undergrowth, shares a remarkable insight into sound recording, some exclusive clips – and his feelings about music in wildlife shows

Full article

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 250 record labels worldwide. In November 2012, he talked about his work with Emma Warren as part of Corsica Studio’s 10th Anniversary programme.

Lecture: Francisco López (London, 2012) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative feature documentary about the value of silence, our relationship with sound, and the implications of living in such a noisy world. From the monastic traditions of the world’s religions to the universal practice of the “moment of silence” as an act of mourning, humanity has had a long fascination with silence. Today when one in three Americans suffers from some degree of hearing impairment, this relationship with silence, which once served as the key to our evolutionary sustainability, is challenged more than ever as the world continues to grow noisier. Interweaved between reflective and artful scenes of silence viewers will experience intimate stories about people, their pursuit of silence, and their relationship with sound.

Pledge at Kickstarter