↟↟↟↟↟↟↟↟↟
Field Recording
Making and collecting recordings is an important part of my working process. I record many things - natural soundscapes, city and urban environments, instruments and everyday objects. The recordings often become part of my music, but I also release collections of field recordings on my Bandcamp page, see below. I'm looking opportunities to record and make new work →→→
Flight Paths
Field Recordings From Gupton Farm, Pembrokeshire, Summer 2022
In the summer of 2022 I stayed at Gupton Farm, a National Trust site in Pembrokeshire, Wales, next to the coast at Freshwater West. It is a beautiful place with a fantastic beach, sand dunes, reed beds, wetlands and farmland that are managed to provide a diverse range of wildlife habitats.
It is also nestled between an active Ministry of Defence firing range and a large industrial refinery at Milford Haven which are also very present in the landscape.
While I was there I made a number of sound recordings. There are certain sounds that are very prevalent at Gupton Farm and Freshwater West, perhaps most obviously the sound of the sea, you are never far from the sea so it is present in most of the recordings. Also there are a lot of birds here - linnets, house martins and many others that I never managed to identify. But more surprising was the large amount of aeroplane noise. The site seems to be on a lot of flight paths and so there is rarely long between aircraft.
There are many wire, metal and electric fences throughout the site - handy for attaching recording gear to! The sounds of these fences also feature in the recordings.
This collection is primarily meant as a holistic listening experience, a single piece of work for interest or relaxation, rather like music.
It is also nestled between an active Ministry of Defence firing range and a large industrial refinery at Milford Haven which are also very present in the landscape.
While I was there I made a number of sound recordings. There are certain sounds that are very prevalent at Gupton Farm and Freshwater West, perhaps most obviously the sound of the sea, you are never far from the sea so it is present in most of the recordings. Also there are a lot of birds here - linnets, house martins and many others that I never managed to identify. But more surprising was the large amount of aeroplane noise. The site seems to be on a lot of flight paths and so there is rarely long between aircraft.
There are many wire, metal and electric fences throughout the site - handy for attaching recording gear to! The sounds of these fences also feature in the recordings.
This collection is primarily meant as a holistic listening experience, a single piece of work for interest or relaxation, rather like music.
Recordings of the sea
Filey, North Yorkshire, 2020 and Treyarnon Bay, Cornwall, 2021
The sea works as an enormous water, wind and planetary movement based instrument that creates a wide variety of sound which is shaped by the intensity of all those inputs and the qualities of the materials present at the listener's position - that’s one way I like to see it anyway!
The noise, drones, chords, melodies, phasing and looping produced by the sea when it encounters the diverse range of materials and structures at the coast are very similar to a lot of qualities that I like in music.
I have found that a large part of my field recording practice is searching out locations and methods to find interesting balances of sound, where the “music” occurs, especially when recording the sea.
These recordings are favourites from my sea recordings so far from two trips - Filey, North Yorkshire in 2020 and Treyarnon Bay, Cornwall in 2021. I tend to record at the coast very early in the morning before all the people arrive but there may be the odd person or dog occasionally in the distance. I have taken out some rumble - the sea goes low! - and balanced the levels, but apart from that they are straight recordings.
This collection is primarily meant as a holistic listening experience, a single piece of work for interest or relaxation.
The noise, drones, chords, melodies, phasing and looping produced by the sea when it encounters the diverse range of materials and structures at the coast are very similar to a lot of qualities that I like in music.
I have found that a large part of my field recording practice is searching out locations and methods to find interesting balances of sound, where the “music” occurs, especially when recording the sea.
These recordings are favourites from my sea recordings so far from two trips - Filey, North Yorkshire in 2020 and Treyarnon Bay, Cornwall in 2021. I tend to record at the coast very early in the morning before all the people arrive but there may be the odd person or dog occasionally in the distance. I have taken out some rumble - the sea goes low! - and balanced the levels, but apart from that they are straight recordings.
This collection is primarily meant as a holistic listening experience, a single piece of work for interest or relaxation.
→ Bandcamp → Gumroad → YouTube → Instagram → SoundCloud