Category Archives: Field Recording

Suburban Lakeside Soundscape and Reviewing the Week 52

Posted on by

While my walk this week has not appeared very wintry, the photos were taken and the sound recorded in January and though there is no ice or snow to be seen, it seems that mild winters are now a feature of the seasons in many parts of Britain.

I hope you have enjoyed the first of my walks in 2016 and I look forward to posting many more this year.

Hemlington Lake

Try listening to the soundscape of the walk while viewing the images in sequence – click the play button and then the first thumbnail below.

Suburban Lakeside Soundscape Sample

If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.

Approaching the Bridge

Posted on by

The footbridge over Bluebell Beck where it feeds into Hemlington Lake has a great sound underfoot. Being a simple metal construction, it produces a kind of hollow echoing sound as you cross it. It is also a good place to stop, look at the details of the surrounding winter vegetation and watch birds approaching the bridge from further up the beck.

You can hear this sound below and again in this Sunday’s soundscape from part of the StillWalks sequence.

Footsteps on Footbridge

If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.

footbridge

 

 

 

Feathered Friends – Lakeside Residents

Posted on by

Walking round this suburban lake during the winter months can be very entertaining for many reasons. The main performers providing the entertainment are of course our feathered friends, the local avian residents. The variety of birds here may be common but are of no less interest for that.

Judging by the shot below it seems that size is relevant, with the small gulls waiting patiently and hopefully for a share of the fare on offer.

Swans

The entertainment is not only in the shape, colour and behaviour of the birds – it also comes in the form of sound. Listen to the sound clip below for a taste of the calls and conversations in the bird community at the lakeside.

Suburban Lakeside Birds

If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.

One Last Tree and Reviewing the Week 51

Posted on by

My walk this week may have been from a different year but that winter was almost as mild as this one has been. Had these photos been taken in 2015/16, there would probably have been more rain than mist but hopefully that would  not have stopped me doing the walk. I am, however, looking forward to some drier walks in the coming year!

Tree and Mist

Try listening to this soundscape of the walk while viewing the images in sequence – click the play button and then the first thumbnail below.

Misty Walk Soundscape

If viewing this in an email, to see the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.

Wild Weather Walkers and Reviewing the Week 46

Posted on by

Reaching the end of my wild and windy walk between Southgate and Three Cliffs on the South Gower coast, like these other two intrepid weather walkers, I was huddled over and protecting my camera against the rain.

I have not created a full StillWalks video of this walk using a mixture of still images and video because I am not a great fan of hand held video and I have not had the time. However, the sequence of photos and the sound clip below can be viewed at the same time and if you are interested in the video I took on my iPhone during the walk, this can also be viewed at the end of this post.

Mixing video and stills is something I will continue to experiment with for StillWalks and if I can find the time I will probably work further with this walk in this way. In the meantime I hope you can enjoy all that I have posted this week and don’t end up too breathless or blown off your seat!

walkers

Wild Wind

If viewing this in an email, to view the sound player you will need to visit the blog – please click the post title to view the full post.

When playing the video I recommend you click the HD and full screen buttons.

Blown Away at the Point of Return

Posted on by

This was the point the group reached on the Taste of Gower walk at Southgate. Looking over the edge to Three Cliffs Bay, it was disappointing not to go any further but the wind was very wild and this was causing difficulty for some in the group.

Having gone out again on my own afterwards, this was again the point I reached with my cameras and sound kit before deciding to turn back. I may have found the wind exhilarating but the rain which had started to blow in from the sea was less so.

All of the photos taken on this outing are rather grainy and in some cases they were a bit blurred. Considering the weather conditions, even if I had taken my tripod I would not have faired any better – it would simply have been blown away just as I was on one or two occasions!

Below is another short sound clip from my walk. For those of you with an interest in these things, the strength of the wind is evident in this clip recorded with my RODE NTG-3 shotgun mic with a Blimp windshield and dead cat fluffy cover onto a Fostex FR-2LE.

Wild Wind at Southgate 2

Wild Wind at Southgate 2

waves

Walkers at Three Cliffs Bay

Taste of Gower - Southgate-23

Walking Soundscape – Reviewing the Week 45

Posted on by

Sometimes I listen to “Ramblings” on BBC Radio 4. Clare Balding presents the in programme which she meets and converses with various people as part of a countryside walk. She does a good job of describing the scenery they walk through and the talk is always interesting. There is just one failing for me as a radio programme – there are never enough pauses to listen to the environmental sounds of the walk. They are there in the background but constantly over-layered with talk.

I like to listen to all of the sounds I encounter on a walk or in the case of a quiet walk, I like to listen to the lack of sound, the stillness.

The series of sound clips below last about 15 minutes and follow my walk this week. Starting in a Welsh country lane with autumn leaves all around, continuing up a local hill (Cefn Drum) to the cairn at the top and then back down again to the leafy lane. It was a very still and peaceful walk but there are plenty of sounds to listen to along the way.

I like to listen to other field recordists’ soundscapes as well – one I enjoy regularly is set in  Paris (Sound Landscapes) but the sounds of the city are as fascinating to me as those of a natural landscape.

Click the play button below and listen to the soundscape of my walk this week while browsing through the sequence of images. It’s not a StillWalks video but I hope you can relax and enjoy it in the same way.

Autumn footpath

Evidence of Others

Posted on by

On many of the walks I take I rarely see many other people – one or two at most. However, there is always evidence that others walk the same routes. In this case, apart from the fact that the footpath is well trodden anyway, there were cycle tracks, footprints, trampled mushrooms and the hoof prints of horses.

There are almost always the sounds of human activity in the background and this walk was no exception. The sound clip on this post has the sound of farm machinery in the background along with the twitter and caws of birds. The ambient sound is partly made up of the distant motorway but more noticeable is the constant “flicker” of the electricity pylons under which I was standing. And then there is a human/canine encounter as well.

Cefn Drum 4 

Cefn Drum 4

Cefn Drum-27

hoof print

Cefn Drum-26