Field Recording is a fancy name for going outside (or sometimes inside) and recording the sounds we hear around us. I love to use these sounds to create soundscapes, real and imagined, and sound effects to use in stories and music I make for our daughter.
Although sometimes people use special microphones and recording equipment, you don’t need to. A mobile phone or an affordable audio recorder can do so much of what you need and are super portable and easy to use.
In the autumn of 2022 I went on a trip around Greenwich in London to find lots of interesting and unusual sounds to record. I was being guided by Dr Marcus Leadley who kindly brought along some equipment for us to use. This post shares some of what I discovered on our adventure.
There are hidden sounds everywhere
One of the first things we did was to use coil microphones (which is the same technology used in old fashioned phone receivers) to record some of the sounds of things around us that emit electromagnetic frequencies and sounds.
These allow us to listen to the voice of everyday electronic objects – sound waves with frequencies outside of the human hearing limits.
From cash machines to LED window displays, pedestrian crossing boxes to e-vehicle chargers - each had their own very unique sonic signature and gave us a host of weird and wonderful sounds to take away. Perfect for me to use as spaceships, aliens or even spooky sounds.
Later in the day Marcus also showed us how to use contact mics (similar to those used in acoustic guitars) to listen to beautiful resonances from railings and metal objects around us.
All of this taught me that there are so many sounds around us that are hidden, it also made me think a lot about sound pollution and the impact of the sounds our cities make on the wildlife that can hear those higher range frequencies.
No sound is boring
Some of my favourite sounds to capture were the sound of atmospheres and sonic backdrops. From the hustle and bustle of Greenwich market to the peaceful hum of the park. These atmospheric sounds are really fun to use in the background of stories or even in musical creations. Whilst they sound familiar and every day they also transport our imagination to a specific place and can help set the listener on a journey.
These sounds are everywhere so it’s worth recording a daily commute or a trip to the shop, you never know what you might unearth!
One sound becomes another
All throughout the day and especially when I got back home to listen to the sounds I realised that something I recorded could actually be transformed or mixed with another sound to become something totally different. Footsteps pitched down become thunder claps, a bus sound turned backwards is a submarine and the sounds we captured from electromagnetic sources all sounded like they came from outer space!
When recording and manipulating sound it’s fun to experiment - by hearing a sound in a different way you can open up lots of creative possibilities.
I hope this post has been interesting, I’ll post some of the sounds soon that I’ve made soon for you all to enjoy and use.