As part of the college’s Green Week of ecology themed events Morley Radio is presenting the work of a different field recordist each day starting Monday April 26th. Tune in at 2pm each day.
Field recordings allow the listener to travel in time and space to experience different environments and events in the natural world. They can also provide the opportunity for focussed listening of the soundscapes of places we are familiar with. The discipline of Acoustic Ecology includes the use of field recordings to explore the relationship between humans and nature, including the impact of man-made noise on animal behaviour.
The recordists selected represent a range of approaches and practices:
Hildegard Westerkamp uses processed field recordings to construct long form compositions. She is also a pioneer of the ‘sound walk’ and her 1989 recording ‘Kits Beach Soundwalk’ is included here.
earroom.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/hildegard-westerkamp
Jana Winderen’s work is often focussed on environment or sounds that are hard to access normally such as underwater ocean sounds. Her practice is informed by an acute awareness of ecological issues.
Chris Watson is one of the world’s leading wildlife sound recordists. He has worked for several decades with David Attenborough and numerous CDs of his work have been released on Touch. His recordings are intended to capture a sense of place.
Melissa Pons is a field recordist and sound designer. Her recordings are influenced not only by the immediate soundscape she encounters but the people and cultural context of a region. Her most recent album was recorded in the woodland of a wolf conservation centre in Portugal.
Peter Cusack is a field recordist and musician with a particular interest in environmental sound and acoustic ecology. Many of the selections for this playlist are from Peter’s collection Sounds From Dangerous Places documenting the soundscapes of areas such as Chernobyl that have suffered major environmental damage.
www.crisap.org/people/peter-cusack
More info:
Many of the recordists are interviewed in the book In The Field: The Art of Field Recording by Cathy Lane and Angus Carlyle.
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