Field recording is the technique for capturing the audible illustration of an environment, produced outside of a recording studio. A recording studio is a facility for sound recording. Ideally the space is specially designed by an acoustician to achieve the desired acoustic properties (sound A "field recording" is the actual recording that is produced.
Field recording, sometimes called Phonography, was originally employed as a documentary adjunct to research work in the field, but has since also found use as evocative art in itself. This article is about the scientific method For the military term see Field fortifications under Fortification.
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Techniques
Field recordings are usually recorded on portable devices which utilize DAT (Digital Audio Tape) or completely digital (hard disk/Flash) technology, to reproduce an exact audio replica, or soundscape. Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony in the mid 1980s Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed A soundscape is a Sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. Other dated, yet popular means for field recording are the analog cassette (CAC), the DCC (Digital Compact Cassette), and the MiniDisc. The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a Magnetic tape sound Digital Compact Cassette ( DCC) is an obsolete Magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita in late 1992 A MiniDisc ( MD) is a Magneto-optical disc-based Data storage device initially intended for storage of up to 80 minutes of digitized audio The latter two are declining in popularity due to the loss of fidelity resulting from their data compression technologies such as Sony's ATRAC. MiniDisc, however, particularly in its contemporary lossless HiMD version, is still used by many. A MiniDisc ( MD) is a Magneto-optical disc-based Data storage device initially intended for storage of up to 80 minutes of digitized audio
Research
Ethnomusicology
Field recording was originally a way to document oral presentations and ethnomusicology projects (pioneered by Charles Seeger and John Lomax). This article is about the concept For the society and academic journal see Society for Ethnomusicology. Charles (Louis Seeger Jr ( December 14, 1886, Mexico City - February 7, 1979, Bridgewater Connecticut) was a Musicologist John Avery Lomax (September 23 1867 - January 26 1948 was a pioneering musicologist and folklorist.
Bioacoustics
Field recording is an important tool in bioacoustics, most commonly in research on bird song. Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary Science that combines Biology and Acoustics. Bird vocalization includes both Bird calls and bird songs In non-technical use bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear Animals in the wild can display very different vocalizations from those in captivity.
Art
Music
The use of field recordings was in the avant-garde, musique concrete, experimental, and more recently ambient was evident almost from the birth of recording technology. Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard Musique concrète ( French; literally "concrete music" is a style of Avant-garde music that relies on recorded sounds including natural Experimental music is a term introduced by composer John Cage in 1955 Ambient music is a Musical genre in which sound is more important than notes Most note worthy 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. Musique concrète ( French; literally "concrete music" is a style of Avant-garde music that relies on recorded sounds including natural Field recordings are now common source material for a range of musical results from contemporary musique concrete compositions to film soundtracks and effects.
Radio documentary
Radio documentaries often use recordings from the field e. A radio documentary or feature is a Radio documentary programme devoted to covering a particular topic in some depth usually with a mixture of commentary and sound g. a locomotive engine running, for evocative effect. This type of sound functions as the non-fictional counterpart to the sound effect. For the album by The Jam see Sound Affects. Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced Sounds
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
- Early history
- Do-It-Yourself field recording advice at Quiet American
- 24-bit field recording FAQ
- Gruenrekorder
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