Website and release coming soon

This blog has been lying dormant for some time now, however I have still been busy going lots of places and recording this year. I have made a decision to refrain, for the time being, from uploading short clips onto soundcloud. Instead I have been gathering recordings based loosely around the idea of local woodland at different times of day. This has been a pleasurable exercise for me as I've been able to revisit and rediscover a lot of natural habitats that first inspired me in various ways; but I have also found a few new places near to home that I never knew existed. I've had some fantastic encounters practising some different long duration recording techniques and I'm excited about getting it edited together soon. Finally I am hoping to get a website up soon as a better platform for my work than this blog.

You can hear a little bit of what I've been up to by following this link to one of the releases that Sonic Terrain made for World Listening Day. Mine is the last track... http://sonicterrain.bandcamp.com/album/str-012-wld-2014-fragility

Thanks....

 

Spring in the Brecon Beacons

Here's a recording I made on March 7th whilst walking in the Brecon Beacons. I did a circular walk up from the Taf Fechan Forest, then up the left hand side of the reservoir along Graig Fan Ddu, and over Corn Du, Pen Y Fan and Cribyn. Finally dropping down into the valley to join the far end of the reservoir.

 The Upper Neuadd Reservoir

 Corn Du and Pen Y Fan

Down in the valley near the Upper Neuadd Reservoir the whole area was alive with spring activity. There were many Frogs mating in drainage ditches and small pools. I heard the odd croaking as I was walking along, but every time I stopped and attempted to get nearer I frightened them away. However I later discovered they had also managed to reach the mountain pass between Pen Y Fan and Cribyn.

Spawn at the roadside

I managed to slide the microphone close to the edge of the pool and cabled back in order to not frighten them. Sadly I didn't have my hydrophone with me, but I love how the Frogs sound like much larger animals in this recording and the effect off the wind rushing across the mountain tops.

The small pool between Pen Y Fan and Cribyn

Norway, Summer 2013

Towards the end of last summer I visited my friend in Norway. We went for quite a few walks in different places and I usually had at least my handheld recorder with me. The recordings which I worked with here are mainly from our walk up Kjerag to the popular tourist spot where a boulder is stuck above a massive drop.

I don't usually feel like including elements such as footsteps, breathing and so on in my recordings however for this little project I wanted to guide the listener through the landscape.

 Myself, Alex and his dog (called Skye) move across the mountain terrain and ecounter a herd of sheep moving down the valley. I wanted to jump back to Hundvag for the final section, the rising sound of the river becomes almost uncomfortable until suddenly it breaks. The setting is now a quiet woodland bridge with a stream running below, whilst engines of tankers in the port of Stavanger hum in the distance.
 

Contact Microphone

Last summer I got myself a contact microphone from JRF. It's a great bit of kit that I can slot in lots of different places to hear lovely subtle sounds.

This first recording was captured in a woodland near my parents home. I was on a walk and noticed a rotting tree stump with an ant colony working busily away inside. I went home and got my recording equipment and found to my surprise just how noisy these small creatures are!

On another wander I came across a wire fence which created lovely sounds in the wind one afternoon.

Wytham Woods is owned by Oxford University and is used primarily for research purposes. It's very large and well maintained, what's unusual however is that it's not open to the public. However I managed to obtain a permit for walking there. It's an ideal area of woodland for uninterrupted recording sessions. 

One grey afternoon at the end of a long walk within the woods it began to rain and I placed my contact microphone on a fence. The resulting sounds of the rain hitting the fence have a particularly musical quality. I recall as I stood listening for the best part of an hour, that I forgot I wasn't listening to a composition of some description.  

Personally it reminds me a bit of this Aphex Twin track... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8AuxX0B_94