How do I make myself & my field audio recorder useful?

September 1, 2009 6:33 AM

I just bought a Zoom H4n and I enjoy making field recordings, how do I make useful recordings? (Or who would care about the recordings I've made?)

I was reading the wikipedia page for Field Recordings and I noticed that both Ethnomusicology and Bioacoustics seemed interesting. I am wondering if there are people who would benefit from the recordings that I make in my spare time.

For example, I imagine there might happen to be a university somewhere that would like to hear relatively high-quality recordings of a certain type of forest at a certain time in upstate New York (where I live). Maybe that's crazy though, and the recordings are just interesting recordings (and that is rewarding enough, mind you.)

I've also made recordings of local independent folk / punk / ska bands playing at small venues, would this hold any relevance to someone studying Ethnomusicology?

Suggestions of groups of people who might be interested in the recordings I've already made, or suggestions of better things to record that might be more useful are greatly appreciated.

posted by ejfox to media & arts (11 comments total)

Archive.org is a place where people look for both of these kinds of recordings, and I think they make it pretty easy to post things there, for starters.

People who do sound art (kind of like music without really being music much of the time) are often interested in using field recordings to help create artificial virtual sonic environments. There are two or three universities that have programs in sound art last I checked, including only one in the US: The Art Institute of Chicago. This may be a lead for finding sound artists looking for useful field recordings.
posted by idiopath at 6:39 AM on September 1

I meant to add: please look into the community standards of what people find most desirable in field recordings and concert recordings. There is something about that special frustration of raw material that was almost decent enough to use but ruined by some ignorant mistake of the person doing the recording (usually ones own self of course). For starters use a decent wind screen if you are recording outdoors, and get a handle so you can move your device without handling noise if you are not going to be recording from a stationary position.
posted by idiopath at 6:44 AM on September 1

Erratta to the first post: I conflated archive.org and freesound.org, it is freesound which is interested in environmental recordings.
posted by idiopath at 6:58 AM on September 1

They are always looking for contributions at freesound.org
posted by TurkishGolds at 7:06 AM on September 1

Most researchers in these fields will want to do their own recordings for a variety of reasons (take note of the physical attributes of the space, the orientation of the microphone, etc.) Also a lot of them will want to stay away from built-in mics that tend to mess a lot with frequency response and what not.
On the other hand, there are great projects such as the World Listening Project that could be interested in collecting recordings from your location. You could also check with the ASAE if they have ongoing work in your area. A great place to look for a starter in soundscape recording is WFAE. You could even start your own thematic recording project (look at the Montreal Sound Map for example)!
posted by ddaavviidd at 7:10 AM on September 1 [1 favorite]

Yeah, you want the freesound project.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:17 AM on September 1

Just be careful about thinking you can randomly record musicians. I'm a fiddle player, and it's an aural tradition...tunes are past down through recordings and lessons. But even with that, people are somewhat paranoid about being recorded, particularly if you don't ask them first. There's a lot of unwritten rules about recording folk music. So you have to be careful. It's VERY easy to end up looking like a schmo. Believe me because I've been the schmo, and also seen other schmos.
posted by sully75 at 8:25 AM on September 1

First of all thank you to everyone who responded, I greatly appreciate the direction to freesound, which looks awesome.

"Most researchers in these fields will want to do their own recordings for a variety of reasons (take note of the physical attributes of the space, the orientation of the microphone, etc.)"

Do you know where I could find a list of information (metadata, I guess) that would be relevant later? Perhaps an example of the notes that you mention?

But even with that, people are somewhat paranoid about being recorded, particularly if you don't ask them first.

I'm lucky enough to know a lot of musicians, and I've never really recorded anyone or any group without knowing them pretty well personally and talking to them about recording (or having them ask me explicitly).
posted by ejfox at 8:49 AM on September 1

Seconding sully75 about recording bands & musicians. Ask first -- if yes then offer a copy, exchange contact info, follow-through, do not sell.
posted by omnidrew at 8:57 AM on September 1

Instead of recording some random things and finding a place to fit them in, have you thought about just pursuing your own musicology/bio-acoustics/sound art project?

Like the forest example. It won't be interesting just to have a recording of the forest. Try, say, recording the forest at the same time every day for a few months, collect the sound data, run it through something like audition and make some inferences, or approach someone to partner with you who is more informed on something like bio-acoustics.

Or take a day-long recording of the deep forest, and then a day-long recording of the nearest road and mash them. That might be interesting.

In any case, I think you'll have more fun and more luck getting it somewhere if you choose the direction you want to go with it and do something creative that interests you.

The Zoom H4 is so awesome. I'm completely jealous.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:38 AM on September 1

Do you know where I could find a list of information (metadata, I guess) that would be relevant later? Perhaps an example of the notes that you mention?

It will really depend what your interests/intentions are. General soundscape research stuff would include the obvious location, date and time, weather, equipment used, general notes on what is going on in terms of the acoustics of the place, its function and layout, and detailed explanations and descriptions for sounds that appear significant or are hard to identify on the recording. You could classify the various sounds heard, do sound counts and sound level measurements to provide quantitative data. And if you're moving while recording, perhaps a map with directions taken. Other types of representation include isobel maps and recorded soundwalks.

Bioacoustics would require more sound analysis, and ethnomusicology would include details concerning the performance itself, instrumentation, musical practices and the relation between musicians and audience (but I'll leave these to bioacousticians and ethnomusicologists!)
posted by ddaavviidd at 4:37 PM on September 1