Field Recording with Communities

What is Field Recording?
Field recording is a focused listening activity, often using a variety of different mics and a handheld recorder. I have mild, constant tinnitus and I use field recording to try and find ways to adjust how I listen. It is also an activity that can be done by individuals with no experience or musical training - that includes me. I found this to be a typical opening talking point with members of the community who did not initially see themselves - or the value of - participating in this type of art activity. It is isn’t for everyone - it can be tricky in a short time to find something tangible or ‘see’ results, especially when working directly on-site and not in a classroom or workshop space. So the focus for me was based upon individuals and groups coming to listen together and take time to talk about the sounds alongside the history and day-to-day canal experience. In the project I embraced and was very open with listeners that I myself was relatively new to field recording - having only had a zoom h5 for a couple of years and not really using it much! - as a way to start a conversation about sound and individual experience that helped create a very fluid frame of listening.

Field recording can be accessible, playful and exciting, with amazing mics that can help us hear and see things beyond our human perception. I learnt most of what I know from Jez Riley French and his daughter Pheobe Riley Law, who you should definitely check out if you want to hear some amazing field recordings from experienced listeners. Jez also makes and sells the microphones I used in this project, which I first got to try in September 2021 at a short course at West Dean College with Jez and Pheobe.