“Friedrich believed that man should not paint what he saw in the outside world but what he saw inside of himself. Of course, Friedrich’s mind was far from a springtime in bloom so his paintings often focused on cold, dark winters and intensely stark landscapes” – Horses
Author: Darren Poynton
Recording situation: Midnight small town sounds. In the distance the hum of a factory on the night shift can be heard, occasional passing traffic and sounds of nature. Recorded for World Listening Day 2023.
Micro listening is the practice of deliberately focussing on elements of a sound environment that may pass unnoticed in everyday experience. Listening to sounds in this way can lead to a magnification of our experiences. The finer details of sound become magnified enabling us to notice the effects these may have on the psyche. Any sound can be the subject of a micro-listening, recorded sounds or real-life ambiences function equally as well. There is no preference for ‘natural’ or ‘artificial’ sounds as there is no ‘nature’ from which human beings are separate from, just one universe which acts upon and is acted upon by us. The point of a micro-listening is to remind the listener that they and the sound form part of the same acoustic environment.
Radio.Earth: Near Amsterdam
“radio.earth is a participatory radio art project concerning the ecological crisis, its effects on our environment and on the possibilities for action. The project aims to establish a network of collaboration between individuals and organisations interested and engaged in these subjects, with all their respective practices from art and science to activism.
The radio.earth mobilemic is at a periferic location south of Amsterdam, at an allotment near the former village Driemond and along the Amsterdam-Rijn canal, one of the busiest shiproutes in the Netherlands. The allotment is sided by a sort of artificial nature park that suffers from exessive nitrogen deposit. Lot’s of brambles and nettles. operating artist: michiel huijsman”
Watch and listen to the 12 hour ambient stream here:
Recording situation: It is night, recently raining, and the air is filled with a cool, crisp atmosphere. Traffic passes to and fro on its way in and out of town. The sounds seep in through an open upstairs window.
Micro listening is the practice of deliberately focussing on elements of a sound environment that may pass unnoticed in everyday experience. Listening to sounds in this way can lead to a magnification of our experiences. The finer details of sound become magnified enabling us to notice the effects these may have on the psyche. Any sound can be the subject of a micro-listening, recorded sounds or real-life ambiences function equally as well. There is no preference for ‘natural’ or ‘artificial’ sounds as there is no ‘nature’ from which human beings are separate from, just one universe which acts upon and is acted upon by us. The point of a micro-listening is to remind the listener that they and the sound form part of the same acoustic environment.
“On Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter the standard setting for videos is “mute”. More than 120 years after its invention silent cinema has become the default mode.
Today’s practice is supposed to make video consumption smoother. But it could also make us think about the frightening power silence could only attain with the advent of cinematic sound. In muting we might hear something far more unsettling than what words and images can show.”
We present the first in a series of recordings for micro-listening.
Micro listening is the practice of deliberately focussing on elements of a sound environment that may pass unnoticed in everyday experience. Listening to sounds in this way can lead to a magnification of our experiences. The finer details of sound become magnified enabling us to notice the effects these may have on the psyche. Any sound can be the subject of a micro-listening, recorded sounds or real-life ambiences function equally as well. There is no preference for ‘natural’ or ‘artificial’ sounds as there is no ‘nature’ from which human beings are separate from, just one universe which acts upon and is acted upon by us. The point of a micro-listening is to remind the listener that they and the sound form part of the same acoustic environment.
Recording situation: underneath the A47. A warm, still summer’s afternoon. Traffic can be heard passing over the road bridge above us and reverberating below. Birdsong can be heard from the wet grassland and riverbanks close by.
“Trees sending messages that we can maybe translate if we look hard enough.”
“As a species we’re builders of borders & escapists. We construct structures that contain and we long to escape them. At least, that is what we think we are doing but we often invent new systems to deal with the old systems. In escaping we simply replace one uniform with another. One border with another. Perhaps it’s in our nature to constantly need these straight lines.
I’d like to talk about borders. Faulty borders.”
Musings on art, nothingness, and the observation of the observations of others. With reference to Walter Benjamin and Niklas Luhmann.
This article is hopefully the first in a series on the subject of field recording. If your goal is relaxation, focus, or just an aesthetic appreciation of sonic texture, this article is an introduction to the best places on the internet to go to hear, and find out about field recording.
Phonography, otherwise known as field recording, is the recording of natural or man-made sounds in-situ and away from the recording studio. But does it produce art or music? In modern music, the line between music and sound has become blurred. Sound and noise play a part in electronic composition that is as important as tone and scale. Today to ask if something is music or noise seems like an out-of-date question.
Like photography is the capturing of light to produce an image, phonography is the capturing of sound to produce a recording. Unlike ‘art’ or ‘music’, which have normative aspects, the words ‘phonography’ and ‘photography’ are matter-of-fact descriptions of a technical act. A bad photo may or may not be art, but nobody says a bad photo is not a photo.
Radio Aporee
The Radio Aporee project is “a global soundmap dedicated to field recording, phonography and the art of listening”. Field recordings from all over the world are placed on a 3D Google map, along with information about the recordings and recordists. You can explore the world while exploring the variety of sonic textures and landscapes that field recording can offer. New updates are added by its active user base every day.