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Showing posts with label Field Recordings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Field Recordings. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 May 2024

RHS Malvern Show 2024

After two late nights, visiting the RHS Malvern Horticultural Show meant an early start this morning, no matter how exhausted we felt. 


The showground estate was massive, full of colourful plants, busy crowds, food and drink vans catering for every diet and taste, gardening talks from top TV personalities and even music.

This post cannot hope to capture the full breadth of the show's atmosphere, but I have given it a try with a handful of snaps, some ambient audio field recordings (including a couple of the talks), and some of the gardening purchases I made on the day.

All in all, a day well spent and a pleasurable conclusion to a bit of a hectic weekend:


 

Ambient Sounds from the Malvern Horticultural Show 2024:




My Gardening purchases from the show:





My favourite purchase of the day, however, was this vintage Coca-Cola crate offered by one of the vendors in this show. At just £15, it was an offer I just couldn't not resist.


Saturday, 2 October 2021

Wind & Rain/Martham




And here is a fairly lengthy field recording I made of the wind and rain from the bathroom of our holiday let - headphones recommended:

Thursday, 30 September 2021

Dippy in Norwich Cathedral

I really could not visit Norwich without taking the opportunity afforded to me to see Dippy the dinosaur, which is currently being exhibited in the city cathedral.  There seems something very ironic about seeing a dinosaur being celebrated in a place of Christian worship though...



After way too long of a gap, I have finally started field recording again. As before, you will need to use a pair of decent quality headphones to really appreciate the audio in the video below:

Monday, 8 June 2020

My Neighbours Dog...

My neighbour's dog reacting to a storm and general garden ambience:

 

Tuesday, 2 June 2020

A Cacophany of Crows

As if they were celebrating the first day of Summer, a gathering of Jackdaws heralded the breaking dawn by deciding to wake the whole neighbourhood with their raucous caws. The two resident nesting magpies seemed to take umbrage to the Jackdaw's presence and added to the cacophony with their quarrelsome cackles.

Despite it being 4.30 in the morning, I managed to drag myself out of bed to take a couple of photographs of the morning Summer sky. I even managed a little audio recording of the birds:




Wednesday, 22 April 2020

Cheers

I tried out for my first single malt whisky the other night. I purchased the bottle, along with two whisky rocker glasses, from Talisker as they distilled the 'water of life' in my favourite place in the whole world - the magical Isle of Skye:


The drink made a lovely glugging sound as I poured the amber liquid into the glass, as you can hear in this audio recording I made of the procedure.


This is one of the many ways I entertain myself and distract my mind from more sober thoughts during the UK lockdown.

Friday, 10 April 2020

Clap for the NHS - Swansea (April 09, 2020)

Here is an audio recording of Clap for the NHS I made on April 09, 2020. As usual with my audio recordings, this is best heard with a good set of headphones:



Thursday, 5 March 2020

Dawn Chorus, March 02, 2020

This is the sound that awakens us each morning. :) The audio recording was taken from our bedroom windowsill. Captured in the recording are the sounds of traffic, our neighbour's cat, a great tit, sparrows, a magpie, a blackbird, gulls, planes and chickens:

Friday, 28 February 2020

Storm Jorge

All I seem to have recorded on my Tascam DR40 this year is the rain and the wind. It will be lovely when the weather finally improves and I get to do some rambling and record some less inclement sounds... Still, there's nothing quite as atmospheric as listening to a storm when you are chilling at home in the warmth, so here we go - Storm Jorge, recorded from my living room this afternoon. As usual, this is best appreciated whilst wearing a good pair of headphones (by the way, you can see the audio recorder to the right on the mantelpiece in the accompanying photograph to the audio):

Storm Jorge

All I seem to have recorded on my Tascam DR40 this year is the rain and the wind. It will be lovely when the weather finally improves and I get to do some rambling and record some less inclement sounds... Still, there's nothing quite as atmospheric as listening to a storm when you are chilling at home in the warmth, so here we go - Storm Jorge, recorded from my living room this afternoon. As usual, this is best appreciated whilst wearing a good pair of headphones (by the way, you can see the audio recorder to the right on the mantelpiece in the accompanying photograph to the audio):

Wednesday, 19 February 2020

Storm Dennis From My Bathtub

Well, we have certainly been battered by storms these past few weeks. I can't really remember such a continually blustery February!

But I do love the sound of the wind rattling through the house. The sounds are distinct in every room. The attic room with its twin skylights sounds great when the rain or hails pounds at the skyward-facing glass. The front porch has the sound of cars sluicing through the drenched streets, which when recorded can sound immense when replayed through headphones when the slushing cars sound like they are driving right through your head! From our back bedrooms, even during storms, the sound of our garden birds can be heard shrilling above the gusts. But during this last spell of wet and windy weather, I found it was my bathroom that transmitted the most evocative sounds. Have a listen to Storm Dennis below, recorded from my bathtub, but please use a set of headphones to get the full effect. Driving wind, lashing rain, howling pipes and creaking doors await...

Thunderstorm

I think our whole town was awakened by this mighty thunderstorm last week. Luckily, our security doorbell camera caught one of the flashes and rolls of thunders. I do love a good storm :)

Saturday, 1 February 2020

Excited Sparrows on a Windy Afternoon

Our little feathered garden friends are loving our new bird feeder. The sparrows especially can't contain their excitement and their constant twittering can be heard from our house even in the rain and wind :)

Wednesday, 25 December 2019

Christmas Morning 2019

God only knows what was kicking off outside my house on Christmas morning. The sound of screaming gulls, crows and barking dogs was enough to wake the dead and it certainly stirred me from my bed. Looking out from our bedroom window into the early morning darkness, I could not see any disturbance. Still, the kerfuffle went on long enough for me to capture a brief recording of it all:

 

Monday, 16 December 2019

Thunder and Lightning

Thunder, lightning, Very, very, frightening...

Well, not really as I love thunder and lightning. And tonight's storm was one of the finest I can remember for this neck of the UK :)

   

Monday, 9 December 2019

Windy Lifts

'Twas a bit windy today.So much so that it howled all the way through the lift shaft at my office. Take a listen - spooky, eh?

 

Saturday, 9 November 2019

Saturday, 2 November 2019

Thunderclap

The whole house (and probably our whole street) were awoken last night by the loudest and longest thunderclap I have ever heard. I have never been one to be afraid of thunder and lightning, indeed I love a good storm, but the ferocity of this particular thunderclap was startling, to say the least. Racing from my bed to find my audio-recorder, I managed to set it up with only seconds to spare before the second and final crash of thunder rolled across the heavens above me. Unfortunately, this second thunderclap was more distant and quieter than the first but I am happy to have been able to add the following recording of it to my portfolio of field recordings:

 

Sunday, 20 October 2019

Field Recording - London Underground

Stick a good pair of headphones on, close your eyes, and immerse yourself in the chatter and ambient sounds of the London Underground:

Monday, 14 October 2019

The Sounds of Hakin

I really really enjoyed my weekend holiday in the old fisherman's cottage in Hakin and have harvested some truly lovely memories from the few days I spent there. Perhaps my most haunting memory of the location though was the sounds of the sea, the coastal bird-life and the distant mechanical hum of Milford Haven port that permeated the house and which I was lucky enough to record for posterity here :)  As usual, this was recorded in stereo on my Tascam DR40 field recorder and is best listened to with a good pair of headphones :)