Unexplained or unidentified calls in my sound recordings - weird birds calling, strange mammals in the undergrowth, unexplained species - are a beautiful and fascinating side product of my approach to field recording. Listening to overnight recordings is like opening up presents, I never know what I'll find!

Sometimes I can identify these sounds with a bit of digging and/or a friend's help. Listening to sound recordings with an analytical mindset is great for scientific or technical purposes. It's one way I've learned and improved my technique over the years. It's also a bit limiting, since focusing on the technical aspects can be detrimental to the artistic and aesthetic perception of a soundscape recording.

One of the friends I made while out recording at night

Learning to compartmentalise and to separate these mindsets has been a complex process, but now I can switch from one to the other without much effort. I could easily look up the bird and deer calls in this recording, in fact I have a rough idea of what they may be. There are two instances where I can hear more peculiar and weird calls which I can't explain. Let me know if you find them, they're pretty intriguing!

I choose to listen to this entire sound recording as a whole experience and not to split it into its components though. The acoustics of the forest are beautiful even if there aren't many layers to hear. The constant soft rain creates a subtle polyrhythm when mixed with the bird calls. It feels slightly unnerving but also enticing and mysterious. I can almost feel the cold raindrops on my skin and the smell of damp vegetation around me. This might fall into synaesthesia territory but it's been proven that sound influences our other senses in ways we're only now starting to understand.

This soundscape was recorded in a dark forest, with sound recording equipment (don't ask more, just listen to the soundscape and enjoy it without questioning or analysing it).