An ambient test recording of a Norfolk village street, with an MS rig comprising a Sennheiser MKH 8040 cardioid mid mic and a Sennheiser MKH 8030 fig 8 side mic.

Village Ambience - MKH8040 And MKH8030 MS

This version of the traditional bluegrass song 'Sugar Honey Baby' (aka 'Red Rocking Chair' and various other titles) has been recorded by the Time and Mercy Band placed around a single pair of mics (a mid-side pair comprising a cardioid mid mic and a fig 8 side mic).  It forms part of a series of tests with pre-production versions of the Sennheiser MKH 8030 and the Rycote BD-10 fig 8 mics. In this recording the MKH 8030 was used in combination with its sibling cardioid mic (MKH 8040) as a mid-side pair, to produce the stereo track. There has been no processing of the sound: no reverb, compression etc.

Guitar and vocal - Richard Ward
Banjo and backing vocal - Rob John
Fiddle and backing vocal - Jason French
Bass - Kevin Burton

Sound recording by Roland B Harris

Many thanks to Kevin Burton for use of the Forge Studio, and all his assistance with monitoring the sound; and to Sennheiser for the pre-production MKH 8030.

'Sugar Honey Baby' - MKH8040 and MKH8030

Fish eating in aquarium

Barn, Exmoor  Rycote OM - 08, AB 50cm

Stereo Parabolic Microphone in Jecklin Disk

Red Deer roars from deep in the forest.

Recorded using a SASS - made by Marco pesente and zoom F3.

Wolf Chorus

Test recording with Sennheiser MKH 8040 ORTF pair in Radius Windshields Mini-ALTO: village street with wind in the trees, birdsong, passing cars and, dominating the first half of the recording, an RAF jet flying over. 96kHz into Sound Devices 788T.

Mini-ALTO ORTF village street v3a - Sennheiser MKH 8040

A small sample of some of the sounds I recorded on my first visit to the Seltún geothermal site on Iceland last week.  Just a random mix of of clips from 7 specific locations around the most active parts - including solfataras, fumaroles, mud pots and hot springs. 

My favourite is the large steam 'sub-woofer' which pulses very low frequency booms just next to a small, but boiling hot, stream near to the car park! 

I put this particular mix together during the flight home from Reykjavik.  It sounded great on the home speakers when I got home - so decided to upload it without further ado.  

This comprises most of my recorded material that I captured in a 2 hour visit that doesn't include the voices or footsteps of any tourists, overhead aircraft and helicopters, or passing loud motorcycles.   

All recorded Mid-side MKH30/8040 at 24 bit, 48kHz. 

OK on headphones - but better with something with a deep bass response. A complete waste of time played on a smartphone!

Seltún geothermal area, Krýsuvík, Iceland

Morning at Cookham Common near Slough and Windsor. 
Bit late for nice and quiet morning chorus, but pretty busy with birds, some traffic about mile away and Heathrow already in full operation.

Cookham Common - pair of Sennheiser MKH 8040 with Radius windshields and suspension

A sunny July day, not too hot...not to cold. Recorded with a Stereo SASS - nature sound.it + trying out my new tascam X8. Wanted to record for a days but the weather took a turn and decided not to bother. Still, a nice recording experience.
Recorded in the Owl Mountains, Poland. The same location I recorded the wolves back in jan-march.
Species: Woodcock


A series of woodcock territory loops

Recorded by Michał Zygmunt at various locations across Odra river in winter 2021
Mic: MKH 8040 stereo XY, SD MixPre
foto. Agnieszka Florczyk
full album https://michalzygmunt.bandcamp.com/album/odra-sound-design-zima-winter

Lullaby of cranes, żurawia kołysanka

I am a London based sound recordist, voiceover actor and dialogue mixer.

Cookham Common - pair of Sennheiser MKH 8040 with Radius windshields and suspension

Karol Walkowski