Start doing more field recordings

I’ve posted my first two field recordings of this year.

During an extended weekend at the shore, I was able to get a nice 35-minute recording at the beach. The waves were buried pretty deeply in the background, with seagulls, kids playing, and The Fudgy-Wudgy Guy taking turns in the foreground.

I attempted to get a recording on the boardwalk at night, but hadn’t recharged my batteries, so it was a no go.

I’ve had an off-and-on interest in field recordings since as far back as 5th grade, when I made a recording of a day on the playground. I’ve recorded the standard stuff like a rainstorm and the New York subway as well as more obscure things like a Cao Dai service in Vietnam.

While walking around the lake after lunch one day, I realized how many sounds there are coming out of the trees near the lake. The birds and the bugs were really active that day. What I really like about field recordings is being able to isolate a sound and see how it applies to the whole. Hearing that one bird and its rhythm versus the bugs and other birds and how it all comes together.

I have decent enough equipment now to do more recording (my Nomad is surprisingly good for the task and I have a nice, small stereo mic and battery-powered amplifier), it’s just a matter of actually doing it.

And, of course, I’d probably freely release all the recordings on my web site. Just because that’s the right thing to do.

An even longer-term goal: get back into binaural recordings and perhaps make a few.