Field recording

Field recording often involves the capture of ambient noises that are low level and complex, and, in response, the requirements from the field recordist have often pushed the technical limits of recording equipment, that is, demanding low noise and extended frequency response in a portable, battery-powered unit.

The history of the equipment used in this area closely tracks the development of professional portable audio recording technology.

Modern accessories used in the field include, but are not limited to: windscreens (foam, fur, hair, parabolic reflector), shock mounts, microphone cables, digital audio recorders and so on.

In contrast, a multitrack remote recording captures many microphones on multiple channels, later to be creatively modified, augmented, and mixed down to a specific consumer format.

Ability to monitor (observe the relevant signals to ensure recording and settings are correct), control levels (correct decibel range and headroom), create neat documentation (handling, annotating, and tagging the recorded material), clean up (cutting out unwanted noises, processing, etc.

During the editing phase, the audio track from the Side microphone is required to split into two channels, with left (panning set to 100% L), and right (at 100% R).

Visually, it involves flipping the desired wave upside down, which increases the sense of ambiance due to a minute misalignment between the two.

A field recordist must often face ever-changing weather, be patient, and willing to capture sounds in potentially dangerous locations.

These field recordings and many others ended up being stored in vinyl to be sold to enthusiasts, hobbyists, and tourists alike a few decades later in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

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

In the case of Bartók, his own studies helped alter the generally unfavorable view of Eastern European folk music at that time.

This is due to a large decline in international commerce and naval shipping during the pandemic, and by extension much less noise and disturbance in the ocean's soundscape.

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 concrète 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 the use of field recordings.

Francesco Balilla Pratella utilized the Intonarumori in his opera, L'aviatore Dro, which was written in close collaboration with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, (the founder of the Futurist movement).

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.