Wildeye field recording trip to Northumberland

May 24, 2016

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining Chris Watson, Jez Riley French and several others on an enjoyable field recording trip/workshop in College Valley, Northumberland. This was my 3rd Wildeye course actually so I knew exactly how to prepare and what to expect.

The workshop location was Mounthooley Bunkhouse, same as last year. For those unfamiliar, this is deep in the College Valley, far away from traffic or industrial noise and surrounded by hills, pastures and wooded patches. College Burn flows close by and can make recording ambiences rather difficult since it's quite noisy however.

Recording waves crashing on the beach

May 16, 2016

I'm still working on the Northumberland trip blog post, but the weather is too fine to stay indoors for long so it will be a while until it's done.

Today I went on a short trip to Dunbar and brought my full recording rig (including hydrophones) with me instead of only taking the handheld. This proved to be a smart move as there was hardly anyone around apart from a small group of surfers braving the cold water.

There were few birds including Gannet, Eider Duck and Herring Gull but they were minding their business and their calls were inaudible. The only trouble was created by Skylarks singing close to the shoreline but when I heard them I just moved away for a few hundred yards and their calls became inaudible.

In all I managed to record about 2 hours of audio over more than half a day. I recorded different distance perspectives, and on several of the takes I also buried a hydrophone in the sand and recorded this on the 3rd channel of the 633. Here's a short bit I recorded on a minuscule tidal island until a rogue wave almost flooded my recording bag:

Song birds and raven ambience recording

April 10, 2016

Spring has finally sprung in Scotland which means earlier mornings, longer days and (relatively) milder weather. During the week I don't have too much time to go out so I usually go on short trips in the Pentlands, occasionally as early as 4am so I can record the dawn chorus. On weekends however we drive up to the Trossachs or Cairngorms for longer hikes, field recording and photography.

Free Diesel boat engine recording

March 2, 2016

I haven't tended to my blog in a while due to various events such as daily work and moving home, so here's a quick post and a free recording.

Today I went out to get some yogurt and as always I grabbed my backpack with the PCM D100 in it. Walking on the Union Canal I first heard quite a racket and then saw billowing smoke coming from one of the boats that usually just floats there tied to posts.

It turns out the boat's owner, Ian Armstrong, had just started its engine for the first time in 14 years. We're talking about a two cylinder Diesel engine that was built around 1971 and sounded absolutely monstrous. Getting closer I also noticed sparks and flames coming off the exhausts which along with the racket did an excellent job of scaring away any birds and people in the area.

I wasn't going to miss such an occasion so I took out my trusty D100 and pressed record as soon as I got near. Between trying to escape the smoke cloud and answering Ian's questions I managed to record a good 4 minutes of deafening action. Here are the best bits in 24/96 quality with added metadata as usual:

Free recording of black headed gulls

February 13, 2016

The other day I went out for a walk and I noticed a flock of Black-Headed Gulls roaming about and being annoying, as they generally do. Whenever I hear these creatures I (1) inevitably think of Angry Birds and (2) make yet another mental note to someday go out with the purpose of recording them. For some reason seagull (and especially black headed gull) sounds are quite difficult to come by, and their calls are excellent for designing monsters.

Field recording trip to Romania

January 28, 2016

I recently got back from a three week trip to my home country, Romania. After a year of hard work I needed a vacation, and what better way to relax than seeing old friends and relatives, traveling and most importantly, doing extensive field recording.

I started planning weeks ahead, thinking of ways to fly with all my recording equipment without getting it broken or lost, and making lists of interesting sounds I needed to record. I put together a small cardboard case for my Sound Devices 633 so that I could take it along in my backpack, and I built a more robust cardboard box for the two Rycote XBG blimps which ended up in the checked luggage. The recorder bag and various cables, tripods and other bits fit quite well in my luggage along with the bare minimum of clothes. I also had to purchase a 50cm Ambient boom pole as my 80cm Rode one didn't fit into my luggage.

Free recording of a wire fence vibrating in the wind

January 22, 2016

Every once in a while I take my JrF contact mics and go out looking for a good sounding wire fence. I learned this technique while on the Wildeye courses with Jez and Chris Watson a couple of years ago, and I've kept my eye out for this type of fences ever since. Hopefully someday I'll have enough material to put together a library, but until then I find great pleasure in sticking the contact mics to a random fence and listening back while looking like a complete weirdo to passers-by.

Here's a short downloadable and royalty free snippet from a recording of a fence I found today:

Recording of woodland and water on a still day

December 13, 2015

We've had an unusually still couple of days this weekend. Yesterday it was quite moist so I just went out for a walk, but today the forecast was clear and frosty so I woke up at 5am and went out recording.

I parked my car on the side of a single lane country road close to Threipmuir Reservoir and proceeded to laying 100 metres of cable as usual. After half an hour of shuffling in the dark the cable was set, the mics were connected and I could go back to the car and listen back to the environment while sipping on hot tea.

At first everything seemed still and I the only thing I could hear was the preamps noise. Just a few minutes (and gain adjustments) afterwards I started to hear patterns and to make out distinct bird calls, albeit quite softly under a blanket of noise. It was like a suspended "room tone" moment with just a few noisy creatures refusing to comply.

Unfortunately the moment didn't last for long as planes soon started to depart from Edinburgh Airport close by. Here's a short snippet that I recorded while it was still nice and quiet: