Thursday 13 December 2012


every year, the 'in place' blog features lists of folk's '5 favourite sounds' heard in the last 12 months. These can be sounds heard whilst out recording, at home, on releases etc etc.

so, do email your list (to tempjez@hotmail.com) and it will posted on the blog. Here's a link to last years list:

http://jezrileyfrench-inplace.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/your-5-favourite-sounds-of-2011-every.html

here's my 5 sounds of 2012 to get things started:

1) as ever, the sound of my daughters voice has been a constant joy, for example, hearing her singing 'half gifts' whist doing her homework in the living room whilst I cook the tea in the kitchen.

2) fence at tighnabruaich - the 'sound' itself was ok - it was the listening to it that was special, as it was with my daughter whilst we were on holiday

3) periwinkles eating sea vegetation in a rock pool, bundeena, australia

4) dawn chorus at Ängskärsgården, sweden

5) dawn chorus from the mountain park tennis court, japan


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from Tony Whitehead (recordist & curator of Very Quiet Recordings label):

1) The sound of a million starlings leaving their roost at RSPB's Ham Wall nature reserve in Somerset

2) Bittern booming at first light at Shapwick Heath, also in Somerset

3) Tadpoles grazing at Stover Park in Devon, heard via hydrophone

4) Black-tailed godwits chattering to one another on the Exe Estuary

5) The alternative, and rather melancholy piping song of wood warblers in Yarner Wood on Dartmoor (as opposed to their normal trilling song). 

That's quite a birdy list isn't it!


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from David Valez, part of the Field Reporter website team:






1- Dust cropper plane flying in circles over Palomino, Guajira while birds were singing (featured on my release 'El pájaro que escucha')
2- Nine wine glasses shaking, sliding, falling and breaking by sound vibration on a table with a subwoofer inside as part of my Sculptural project 'Derive and catastrophe I'
3- Small creek at Chicaque National Park
4- Welding the aluminum structure of my project 'Derive and catastrophe II'
5- The loud sea waves of Palomino, Guajira (featured on my release 'El pájaro que escucha')

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from Coryn Smethurst

Lift at an artists studio rattling and whining, rattling light fitting directly under air conditioning - bad design to create great sound

Tornado jet at airshow - the earth moved, car alarms went off - my fingers were in my ears - very rare when I'm recording

metal gangway to boat (didn't have any recording gear...)

skip collection outside work (too much background traffic to get the sound like a whale gone bad)

not very nature based this year - haven't had time to get out into the countryside too much this year - more's the pity.


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from Yiorgis Sakellariou (mecha/orga):

- Croaking frogs in a lake in Klaipeda, Lithuania



- The soundscape of Maastunnel in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- A very loud ventilation sound, somewhere in Riga, Latvia
- The soundscsape of Penteli mountain in Athens, Greece
- Crickets at night in Ambeliona village, Peloponesse, Greece


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from Peter Toll, field recordist, musician and composer:

Geese flying overhead above my house in the morning (always brings a warm smile on my face!)

A song thrush singing on the Norfolk Broads

My 4 year old son laughing!

Rain and wind outside when I have returned with fire wood to warm the house!

Ice melting and cracking through JrF hydrophones, from the movement of birds and temperature rising on Felbrigg lake yesterday (recording coming soon!).



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from Jaydea Lopez, field recordist, artist:


1. Rain on a tin roof - washing away the heat of the day, the sound is connected to a sense of relief. Whether it be soft or torrentially deafening sound this is always welcome.
2. Thunder - before the rain might come an hour of rumbling through the mountain valleys. Dramatic and a promise of what's to come.
3. Eastern Dwarf Tree Frogs - with such a tiny body the sound of a colony of these frogs communicating with each other is a joy to listen to in the depth of night.
4. Cicadas - their pulsating rhythms and textures can be hypnotic while walking through the Australian eucalyptus forests. For me they are the sound of summer.
5. Cane Toads - an introduced species that has created environmental havoc in Australia; nonetheless its gentle purr is a pleasant accompaniment to sleep during summer nights.

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from Pablo Sanz, field recordist, artist:

- Muezzin calls to prayer in Jerusalem.
http://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=7140

- Waves in the salt shoreline at the Dead Sea.
https://soundcloud.com/pablosanz/deadsea

- Snowfall at my balcony in Den Haag.
https://soundcloud.com/pablosanz/snowfall

- A variety of impressions heard in a tunnel for bikes and pedestrians 
in Den Haag during
the development of the project 'Transient Lapse'. The blending of our 
installation
with the existing sounds and the acoustics of the space at different 
hours of day and night.
http://pablosanz.info/transient-lapse

- Listening through the Novy Most bridge in Bratislava.
http://aporee.org/maps/?loc=16272&m=satellite

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thank you for the inspiration and shared listenings

Monday 10 December 2012

















this is going to be good ! 




very few places on this, so get your name down fast if you're interested







field recording week in Iceland with Chris Watson & Jez riley French





http://www.wildeye.co.uk/iceland.html




A unique opportunity to spend several days recording the sounds of spring in Iceland with Chris Watson, a leading figure in the world of wildlife sound recording, and field recordist and composer Jez riley French. Our base will beLysuholl in the west of Iceland on the south coast of theSnæfellsnes peninsula. As well as recording the wildlife we will also be visiting glaciers, caves, waterfalls, volcano craters, lava beaches, geysirs (Icelandic spelling!) etc.

We will have two large houses at our disposal for the duration, with a chef and two minibuses to allow us the greatest flexibility for recording trips. The range of spectuacular habitats will enable us to experiment with surround sound techniques, ambisonic microphones & software, hydrophones, contact mics, geophones, ultrasonic detectors, parabolic systems and a range of stereo and mono recordings. We will also have a surround sound system at our base for reviewing recordings and group discussions. It is expected that you will have some recording experience and your own equipment to bring (although we will have some extra gear with us that everyone is welcome to try).