I've had a small fixation with recording ravens for years. They aren't the rarest of species but they're quite difficult to spot in Eastern Scotland where I live. They also fly quite high so unless they're directly above their calls sound muffled and are buried in noise. I've encountered ravens on several occasions, but it was never possible to get a relatively clean recording. I either didn't have my recorder ready, there were people around making a huge racket or it was raining.

Today I was out in the Pentlands enjoying a relatively still day when I spotted two ravens coming towards me, doing all kinds of crazy aerobatics and calling each other. Wind speed was about 5 mph, there was a rare lull in the usual plane noise and no joggers or dog walkers were around. On top of that I already had my recorder at the ready having tried to record swans flying overhead. Without thinking I pressed record and froze in place while they passed by me completely oblivious to the human pointing a fluffy device at them.

At any rate, this isn't the cleanest or most useful of recordings so I'll have to go back and refine my process. Until then here's the actual recording for your listening pleasure:

Field recording tools of the trade

At the lower end of the price spectrum, field recording equipment will yield relatively similar results. A few dB of self noise won’t make a huge difference if the recordist hasn’t mastered the other tools of the trade, the ones that can’t be bought. Let’s examine some lesser known but rather more important tools that are sure to improve your field recording practice.

Introduction to Freestyle field recording

Freestyle field recording is a flexible approach to recording nature and wildlife sounds outside of the studio or any controlled environment, developed by George Vlad. While traditional methods are prescriptive and rigid, Freestyle field recording encourages deliberate experimentation and a very organic workflow.

Listening session at the House of Lords in Westminster

I recently received an invitation to play some of my soundscapes and to tell stories about conservation. While there’s nothing unusual about that, the setting was definitely novel for me.

A collection of Owl sounds

Owls are awesome and worth learning about. What better place to start than a curated selection of owl recordings, captured by your favourite wildlife sound recordist!

The 2025 Soundscape Fund

How can field recording make a difference for conservation and environmental causes? I get this question a lot, and one of the answers is here. Once a year I team up with Thomas Rex Beverly and Andy Martin to raise money for environmental NGOs.