Field recording

Two individuals recording Ecoacoustics in the field.

Field recording is the term used for any recording produced outside of a recording studio.

Field recordings can be either of two varieties. Field recording of natural sounds, also called Phonography (a term chosen to illustrate its similarities to photography), was originally employed as a documentary adjunct to research work in the field and foley work for film. With the availability of high-quality portable recording equipment, it has subsequently become an evocative art in itself. Both processed and natural phonographic recordings (such as the Environments series) are available.

Field recordings can also refer to on-site recordings of musicians, such as those pioneered by John Lomax, Nonesuch Records and Vanguard Records, where the use of a recording studio for these recordings is impractical.

Contents

Techniques

Field recording often involves the capture of ambient noises that are low level and complex, in response the requirement from the field recordist has often pushed the technical limits of recording equipment, that is, demanding low noise and extended frequency response in a portable, battery powered unit. For this reason field recordists have favoured high quality, usually professional, recorders, microphones and microphone pre-amplifiers. The history of the equipment used in this area closely tracks the development of professional portable audio recording technology.

Field recording experienced a rapid increase in popularity during the early 1960s with the introduction of high quality portable recording equipment (such the Uher and Nagra portable reel-to-reel decks). The arrival of the DAT (Digital Audio Tape) in the 1980's introduced a new level of audio recording fidelity with extended frequency response and low self noise. Amongst these technologies, other popular means for field recording have included the analog cassette (CAC), the DCC (Digital Compact Cassette), and the MiniDisc. Today the latest generation of recorders in use are completely digital (hard disk/Flash) based.

Techniques have developed to include creative placement of microphones (including contact microphones & hydrophones for example), diffusion of captured sounds and highly individual approaches from recordists.

Research

Ethnomusicology

Field recording was originally a way to document oral presentations and ethnomusicology projects (pioneered by Charles Seeger and John Lomax).

Bioacoustics

Field recording is an important tool in bioacoustics and biomusicology, most commonly in research on bird song. Animals in the wild can display very different vocalizations from those in captivity.

Art

Music

The use of field recordings in avant-garde, musique concrete, experimental, and more recently ambient was evident almost from the birth of recording technology. Most noteworthy for pioneering the conceptual and theoretical framework with art music that most openly embraced the use of raw sound material and field recordings was Pierre Schaeffer who was developing musique concrete as early as 1940. Further impetus was provided by the World Soundscape Project initiated by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer in the 1970s; this work involved studying the acoustic ecology of a particular location by use of field recordings. Field recordings are now common source material for a range of musical results from contemporary musique concrete compositions to film soundtracks, video game soundtracks, and effects.

Radio documentary

Radio documentaries often use recordings from the field e.g. a locomotive engine running, for evocative effect. This type of sound functions as the non-fictional counterpart to the sound effect.

Politics

During the early years of commercial recordings, the speeches of politicians sold well, since few people had radios. The HMV catalogue for 1914 - 1918 lists over a dozen such records, by Lloyd George and other politicians. Probably the last time such records sold well was in 1965, when the LP "The Voice of Churchill" reached number 7 in the Uk album charts. This was immediately after his death.

See also

External links

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This page was last modified on 16 February 2010 at 07:39.

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