for more information & to purchase contact microphones, hydrophones. coils etc please visit:

https://jezrileyfrench.co.uk/jrf-audio-supplies.php

JrF microphones have been allowing artists, field recordists, musicians, sound designers, acoustic ecologist etc to listen in to sounds normally outside of our range of hearing or attention for many years now, featuring in installations, performance, studio recordings, film, tv, radio and games sound across the world. They are affordable yet offer extremely high quality sound and are very highly respected in sound communities.

Hand built in the UK by Jez riley French

examples of hydrophones, contact microphones, coil pick-ups

Jez riley French - wensleydale fence recorded with JrF contact microphone

for more information & to purchase please visit:

hydrophones.blogspot.com

Jez riley French - north ferriby river (recorded with JrF hydrophone)

an unedited extract of a durational recording of vibrations within soil horizons - east yorkshire 


ink botanic is an on-going series of installations and multi-channel sound works...research into transpiration, root systems, cavitation, vibrations in soil horizons and situated connections between species

recorded with JrF c-series contact microphones, d-series hydrophones and adapted geophones


https://jezrileyfrench.co.uk/ink-botanic.php

ink botanic - soil horizons (unedited extract)

recorded with 2 x JrF d-series hydrophones into a Sound Devices 7-series recorder.

Cod, Shrimp, Krill & other marine species recorded from Husavik Harbour, Iceland, June 2014

Cod grunts and other species husavik harbour, iceland (extract)

recorded with 2 x JrF d-series hydrophones placed directly in the 100 degree centigrade + mud pools at Krafla, Iceland, June 2014

Krafla mud pools with hydrophones (extract)

1) JrF d-series hydrophones (pair) 

2) cetacean research hydrophone £ (considerably more expensive than JrF - they don't display prices on their website !)

3) aquarian hydrophone £ again considerably more expensive the JrF hydrophones.

recorded on a recent field trip / workshop in Iceland that I was leading along with Chris Watson. All examples were recorded into Sound Devices 7-series recorders & are unprocessed.

lets just say i'm proud of the hydrophones I produce & the fact that I keep the costs within reach of most folks. 


Husavik hydrophone comparisions

resonances di topolo (ants eating an apricot) - JrF strung contact mics

razor clams in north wales - recorded with JrF d-series hydrophones

This is the sound of a single nut in a state of flux, recorded using JrF c-series contact mics into a Sound Devices 7-series recorder. No processing of the recording has been used.

I first became aware of the sounds of nuts and seeds when cooking as a teenager and more so in my early twenties through my interest in Indonesian cuisine - the candlenut for example can burn for several minutes as it is laden with oil, as indeed are most nuts. I experimented with different ways to record them being fried, cracked, ground or burnt, mostly with conventional microphones. I remember seeing a fellow artist using them in their live performances back in the early 2000's & being reminded of the possibilities these small objects contain.

This recording is 2 sections of a long form recording as part of a piece i've been working on for a few years now, using only the sounds of nuts & seeds, and which will be exhibited in 2017.

(nb. the process of recording nuts / seeds burning was not invented by me - there are examples from the 70's and 80's for example. It is increasingly important to recognise and acknowledge the history of sonic exploration - not to support out-dated systems of hierarchy per say but simply as both a respect for the work and in order for ones own work to have integrity. If this process is of interest I can suggest looking into the work of Sandrine Verdely, Toru Takemitsu (tape music era), Delphine Slight, The female, Lee Patterson etc.)

dissolves - nut / seeds (extracts)

for BBC1's 'bang goes the theory' series 2012, Chris Watson used various microphones to record some of the smallest sounds - capturing snails, centipedes & maggots walking, slithering & eating. On this recording Chris uses a c-series contact mic to listen to a centipede walking !  thanks to Chris for allowing me to use the recording on this site.

Centipede (recorded by Chris Watson, using a JrF c-series contact mic)

a short extract....

two JrF c-series contact mics attached to a fence alongside the snowdon mountain railway, at a crossing where a gate was loose in the wind....

taken from the cd / download release: 'Jez riley French - instamatic: snowdonia'

Jez riley French - instamatic: snowdonia (fence wires: snowdon mountain railway crossing - extract)

headphones or conventional speakers needed

each structure resonates, sounded by its position and the locale
kettles yard in cambridge sits next to a busy road, yet, as anyone who has visited knows, has its own sense of slow time
a few years ago I had access to the cottage spaces for several days, resulting in one of the pieces for the ‘audible silence’ project (https://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/audible-silence)
I attached some of my c-series contact microphones to the table next to one of the windows that also displays the well known pebble circle. I listened for an hour or so, the sound of traffic through the table and the floor, and some of the curatorial staff coming and going
(a fade in and out is the only processing or editing involved)

https://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/one-hour-spent-listening-to-the-pebble-table

One Hour Spent Listening To The Pebble Table

returning | reeds was created for the return walk along the Humber Bridge as part of the Height of the Reeds event during the City of Culture year in Hull, 2017 - a ticketed event that had to be extended twice and saw 10,000 people participate over the course of 2 months.
This piece uses only the unprocessed recordings of located sound collected over 6 months on and around the bridge in preparation for the project.
 
The Height of the Reeds was a collaborative ten part, triggered headphone installation on the bridge, commissioned by Hull CoC 2017 and Opera North. (also now available as an album). Someway into the process I was asked to compose an additional work for the return walk. My connection to place is based on durational listening and recording, often using unconventional microphones and devices. For this piece I have tried to convey some elements of this connection to a series of locations that I have known since they were built and their surroundings.
recordings include various elements of the bridge structure and internal spaces, reed beds and ponds along the banks of the river humber, and traffic along the bridge. many of the recordings used JrF c-series contact microphones, JrF d-series hydrophones and DPA omni microphones.
this release also includes two bonus tracks not included in either ‘returning | reeds’ or ‘Height of the Reeds’. unedited / unprocessed recordings of the main bridge cables and one of the metal ladders into the anchor space on the north bank.

https://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/returning-reeds

Two Extracts From Returning Reeds

periwinkles eating seaweed in a small rockpool, bundeena, nsw, australia - recorded with 2 x JrF d-series hydrophones into Sound Devices 7-series recorder.  

Bundeena rock pool edit - jez riley french

recorded during the 2019 murmuration trip using 2 x JrF d-series hydrophones.

a short edit from a long form recording

Glenshee Loch (edit)

a short extract of a long form recording of a pond in southern Sweden, recorded with 2 x JrF d-series hydrophones

the sound of pond weed during photosynthesis

pond weed photosynthesis (sweden)

(listen with good headphones or conventional speakers to get a sense of the full frequency range)

3 extracts from recordings made with JrF c-series contact microphones;

rain bowl - sweden
railings - sussex
railings - stockholm

I'm posting these particular recordings to highlight the low frequency response capable with the c-series contact mics. Frequencies down to 10hz can be detected. All digital recorders have a 10hz limited installed that can't be turned off without hacking the recorder.

resonances recorded with c-series contact mics

extract from the album (open) strings | vristulven / västra

recordings of monitoring cables, forest, sweden

https://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/open-strings-vristulven-v-stra


recorded with JrF c-series contact mics

(open) strings (extract) - line through monitored forest  - headphones / speakers required

taken from the project 'mineral veins' (dissolves)  natural substances breaking down under environmental pressures, interactions and distortions. 

(recorded using JrF d-series hydrophones & adapted geophones)

mineral veins | Lugnas Dissolve (extract) - headphones / speakers needed

tadpoles and water beetles, recorded with 2 JrF d-series hydrophones into a Sound Devices 7-series recorder.

tadpoles and water beetles

exploring the overlooked and underheard through located sound, film and photography

examples of hydrophones, contact microphones, coil pick-ups

JezrileyFrench