Report of the Final Day of the Field Recording Workshop

From 10–13 February 2016, Sonic Acts hosted a four-day practice-oriented field-recording workshop that revealed the art of recording audio outside a recording studio. The workshop was led by renowned sound artists Jana Winderen (NO) and BJ Nilsen (SE/NL). By Rosa Menkman Field Recording Workshop with Jana Winderen and BJ Nilsen I visit Steim on the fourth and final day of the Field Recording Workshop. It wraps up one day of intense preparation, one day of actual field recording in the nature reserve De Biesbosch, where the participants were introduced to the topics of biodiversity, water quality and the history of the nature reserve by wildlife biologist Henk Everts; and as a contrast, one day of recording in Amsterdam’s urban environment that began with a presentation by the city ecologist Jeroen Schütt. Now, in Steim, the participants sit in silence, in a U shape, preparing their material, which they will present to each other later. The atmosphere is intimate; everyone is working with headphones on. Sometimes someone re-positions and offers their headphones to their neighbour. They briefly discuss the sounds before returning to their own recordings. I chat with BJ Nilsen, who says that the combination of Winderen and him covers a very broad spectrum of the field-recording genre. Since its popularisation around the 1960s, when portable reel-to-reel recording equipment first appeared on the consumer market, field recording has grown and diversified into various subgenres and discourses. Nilsen says that he isn’t especially interested in creating a perfect sonic blueprint of an environment: ‘When I was 15 I only used a tape recorder, which I now consider as a primary instrument. It was a really shitty machine, it was mono, and I plugged a crappy microphone into it, and then banged stuff around the house with it to produce and record sounds. I’d also make recordings from radio and television and cut them up. It made me consider sound and the physical space I was in on a different level. That’s how I developed a love for composing with (field recorded) sound. I only used synths and samples later, when equipment was a bit more affordable. I still understand space through sound; it allows me to relive the moment, the colours, smells and the temperature of the surroundings. I use these memories when I compose. But when I compose, I do allow for some trickery – I do use filters and effects. I like to think of the final piece as a form of poetry – I’m not a purist. I think Jana’s motives are quite different – she likes to record and listen to the unlistenable, to ‘make the unheard heard’. She investigates the underwater world, or goes after sounds emitted by hidden sources, frequencies we cannot perceive, as well as creatures that we usually don’t ever hear. I guess it’s really interesting to have two very different approaches as leaders of a workshop on a genre that is pluri-formal as well.’
 Field Recording Workshop In the pitch dark, not distracted by anything else, we listen to the different layers of sound as perceived and recorded in De Biesbosch and in the city. Listening to the various, often alien sounds, the many dimensions and layers are immediately apparent, and it’s not just because the participants used different types of equipment and microphones, which ranged from parabolic dishes and hydrophones to condenser and pick-up mics. 
 While De Biesbosch is generally considered a quiet place, its multiverse of sound strata and the dynamics between recording mechanics and (man-made) nature become apparent throughout the presentations of the participants. Mark IJzerman tells us about one of his favourite moments during the workshop, when he and Derck Littel spent some time alone on a little boat, far away from the other participants, exploring ways to record the sound of water moving at different speeds. Annemarie Deacy explains how she feels the dynamic of the workshop has been egalitarian – all the participants have a good amount of experience and brought alternative interests and perspectives. That’s why the outcomes vary so much, even though the recordings were all made in the same places and on the same days. She laughs while telling me that at times recording in the city became a bit of a performance – they attracted crowds of people who kept asking what they were doing. One of the final presentations is by orthinologist Patrick Franke, who shares his fascination with bird sounds. He plays some of his favourite recordings from his archive, which consists of around 10,000 animal sounds and 2000 other recordings, including several hundred of ships. It becomes clear that while some of the participants find the sharing of composition practices insightful and enriching, others focus much more on the technical aspects of field recording and hardly introduce composition at all, instead presenting unedited recordings as a final outcome. Field Recording Workshop The Field Recording Workshop concluded with a set of interesting presentations of very diverse approaches of works-in-progress, that leave a lot more to explore. I hope these audiophiles join force again, working together, exploring the different ways to zoom in and out of the layers of (unheard) sound. Listen to some of the outcomes of the Field Recording Workshop here:

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