Field Recordings

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

I like the more quiet, calmer stuff, recordings of weather (Watson of course), water (certain parts on that Alvin Curran cd), general environments, etc...

if people could recommend stuff (not so much recordings of very specific stuff such as the inside of a pipe, etc. although that's okay too) that would be nice...

[skrobek]

If you don't have this :



Éric cordier - Osorezan (Herbal Records)

then look no further...

[jon abbey]

I'm not a fan of a lot of this area, but Toshiya Tsunoda is the man.

[aldo]

You can try "Chants of Frozen lakes" by Marc Namblard. Released by Kalerne editions.
A really amazing disc.

http://kalerne.net/joomla/index.php?opt ... Itemid=107" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

[snailed]

second on the tsunoda, he is one of the leading figures in this area.

annea lockwood - sound map of the hudson river is a good one. slowly shifting through lots of the typical sounds you'd expect, but very well done and paced. lots of other stuff by her too.

also greg davis' autumn records, which often features releases with interacting performers as well as "pure" recordings. a good example of the former would be the cottonwood arizona disc with jeph jerman. an example of the latter, keith fullerton whitman's birdsightings (NOT a typical bird sound record, rather, it's super close miked and almost terrifying sounding at times)

some bill fontana stuff.

there is also a nice piece up at homophoni by ryan gregory + christine jeanine featuring rain and various placed objects.

[Richard Pinnell]

If you don't have this :



Éric cordier - Osorezan (Herbal Records)

then look no further...

Agreed, a really superb album.

One I picked up recently and have been enjoying a lot:



Favourite Beijing Sounds by Peter Cusack

[sound plague]

Kiyoshi Mizutani - Scenery Of The Border

I think this is a beautiful release - well worth checking out.

[Richard Pinnell]

Yes the Mizutani is very nice too.

I could list dozens of releases here, but I won't...!

A recent compilation I've liked a lot is Rhythm, a set from the japanese Cherry Music label that includes tracks by La Casa, Cusack, Dale Lloyd, IHM's own Jez riley French, Takefumi Naoshima etc...

The Cusack piece on that compilation is also great, but not if you prefer the quieter natural sounds as its a recording made in a car manafacturing plant.

[skrobek]

In fact, most of the recommendations I could make in this field would be derived from the "In Place" blog so I might as well recommend that :

http://jezrileyfrench-inplace.blogspot.com/

there extracts of the releases as well as interesting interviews from the artists. Usually, it really makes you want to discover the stuff. That's what tipped me onto the Cordier or Mizutani releases for instance.

[7/4]

annea lockwood - sound map of the hudson river is a good one. slowly shifting through lots of the typical sounds you'd expect, but very well done and paced. lots of other stuff by her too.

I second that suggestion.

[Chromosome]

I'm not a fan of a lot of this area, but Toshiya Tsunoda is the man.

"Ferry Passing" is wonderful.

[jon abbey]

Scenery of Decalcomania is probably my fave, but he's done a lot of quality releases.

[Chromosome]

Scenery of Decalcomania is probably my fave, but he's done a lot of quality releases.

Jon, have you listened to O Respirar da Paisagem? I haven't heard it and when I tried to purchase it from Forced Exposure, I was told that it was not in stock.

[jon abbey]

Scenery of Decalcomania is probably my fave, but he's done a lot of quality releases.

Jon, have you listened to O Respirar da Paisagem? I haven't heard it and when I tried to purchase it from Forced Exposure, I was told that it was not in stock.

yeah, I have a pretty complete collection, I think, at least of his full-lengths. I have O Respirar da Paisagem in stock at ErstDist, a few others also.

[Damon_Smith]

I should check out more of these things. All the sounds I am using in lloopp are field recordings i have done on my ipod.

[grisha]

there is also a nice piece up at homophoni by ryan gregory + christine jeanine featuring rain and various placed objects.

there's also a longer version on Autumn.

don't forget Yannick Dauby. i really like his LP La rivière penchée.

another nice record is Suave Siesta by Tore Honoré Bøe.

and of course Jeph Jerman is the man.

another good idea is to take a walk. can be pretty cool if you listen well.

[tadk]

Scenery of Decalcomania is probably my fave

mine too

and i'd recommend Marc Behrens/Paolo Raposo - Hades.
i suspect the material could be too heavily processed for your taste, but music is simply beautiful

[Jacques Oger]

I haven't heard this one, but seems interesting.

http://kalerne.net/joomla/index.php?opt ... Itemid=115" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;"

[JrF]

firstly:

Annea Lockwood - 'Sound map of the Danube river' has just come out - it's a 3 cd set on Lovely music & features extensive recordings of the river along it's full course + short interviews with people whose lives are connected to the river + maps.

Field recording is a massive field (!) now - gone are the days when it was all just 'nature' recordings in the new age shops. In fact to my mind the artistry of the form has developed to such a degree in recent years that there are now relatively few folks out there who can record purely natural sounds in a way that isn't dated & that has more to offer than simple document - I'd list Kiyoshi Mizutani & Annea Lockwood as two near the top of that short list though.
(Kiyoshi Mizutani - 'Scenery of a border' & 'Yokosawa iri' are essential !)

There's lots of links to various interesting artists, labels & online projects on my 'in place' blog - have a browse & I bet you'll find something of interest !

Like quite a few artists, Matt Davis makes the point that he has come to think of any recording he makes as a field recording in some way http://jezrileyfrench-inplace.blogspot. ... on-uk.html & this I think is particulary relevent to recent developments. The act of making a recording that includes the surroundings, the room sound when recording performance has altered the way in which one listens & has come to think of the act of field recording - or rather it has returned it to the nature of it's original invention (the capture of folk music / oral history).

I remember a thread on the old IHM that related to the large amount of folks now making field recordings & using them in sound art etc. well, it is true that field recording has become one of the 'trends' of recent years, but as with everything, it just means there's more of the bad & occasionaly a few bits of the good.

forgot to say - on a slighly controversial note: i'm not a big fan of Chris Watson's stuff, though lots of folks think of him as THE field recordist (that might have something to do with it !). I think if you have a deep interest in electronic music or the technical side of field recording then you might find his cd's interesting - not that there is much, if any electronic manipulation on them, they are more of less straight field recordings & technically very well recorded of course (he is after all a sound man for a lot of the best nature documentaries) but there is something cold about them for me - something too clean almost. Side by side with someone like Mizutani & one can hear the warmth & pleasure coming through on Mizutani's recordings.

[jpeatt]

forgot to say - on a slighly controversial note: i'm not a big fan of Chris Watson's stuff, though lots of folks think of him as THE field recordist (that might have something to do with it !). I think if you have a deep interest in electronic music or the technical side of field recording then you might find his cd's interesting - not that there is much, if any electronic manipulation on them, they are more of less straight field recordings & technically very well recorded of course (he is after all a sound man for a lot of the best nature documentaries) but there is something cold about them for me - something too clean almost. Side by side with someone like Mizutani & one can hear the warmth & pleasure coming through on Mizutani's recordings.

That coldness is what I like about them. I find Mizutani's work has more to do with the experience of the person listening (recording) - this is maybe to do with the presence of humans in a certain amount of the work he presents, whereas Watson is straight up freaky birds etc noise pervert, and I'm totally fine with that.

Nice resource for those prepared to do a bit of trawling here
http://soundtransit.nl/search/sounds.php" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

Can't really add any names to the list off the top of my head, but I will add one specific recording to the list. "Pachinko in your head", recorded by Eckhart Rahn, is just what it says, an hour long recording of a pachinko parlour. The univere's most inane melody is buried under the sound of thousands of metal balls dropping through pachinko machines. Really quite amazing. Play for several days continuously for full effect, then never again.