Welcome to the 5th edition of the Mindful Audio holiday freebies! 2020 has not been great for organising expeditions but I somehow still managed to travel a little. I went to Borneo before lockdown and then to Iceland and Kenya afterwards. I included 12 recordings from these 3 locations in this year’s edition of the free sound effects library. Check out the video below to hear some of the sounds included and watch the second part to see some of my adventures.

How do you get the free sound effects? You will have received an email from me if you’re subscribed to my mailing list. Not a subscriber yet? Enter your details on the following page and I’ll send you an email with the download link: https://mailchi.mp/601e6ac34590/mind

Thank you very much for your support this past year. You can get last year’s freebies if you buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/georgevlad

Check out a few other ways to help if you want to take our relationship to the next level:

- become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/georgevlad
- buy my soundscape albums: https://wildaesthesia.bandcamp.com

Happy holidays and all the best!
George Vlad

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.