I haven't been recording a whole lot since I got back from South Africa last year. Studio work has been taking up a lot of my time, split between working on video games and editing the Southern African Ambience library together with Daan Hendriks. I'm also planning a couple of month-long field recording trips (which I very much look forward to) but there are lots of details I need to figure out so more on this later.

Until then I want to share a recording I did earlier this year early on a Sunday morning. Me and my girlfriend drove to the nearby town of Southend-on-Sea and walked the ~2km of the Southend Pier. The pier is serviced by two quaint little Diesel-powered passenger trains which I wanted to record for a long time. Every time I was there there were loads of people around though so I hadn't managed to get a decent recording.

This time however it was overcast and quite early in the morning so we were the only ones around. Instead of walking back I decided to take the train and record the short trip with my D100 (which I always have in my backpack). From the outside the train didn't sound particularly interesting or loud, so I wasn't expecting the recording to be anything spectacular.

However, as soon as I positioned my recorder on the floor and the train started moving I was amazed at the concert of rattles, creaks and groans. I also noticed I hadn't been conservative enough while setting the levels as the red Clip LEDs were lighting up (I know!). I quickly stopped the recording, lowered input level to about 2/10 and started recording again.

I spent the entire 7 or so minutes of the trip with my mouth agape, surprised at how good the train sounded. Breathing through the mouth also helps avoid recording myself, so whenever I can't move from the mics I employ this trick, but this time there was no need. The train was so loud that it positively drowned out any breathing sound I would have made. Download the file form Soundcloud and have a listen for yourself:

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.