I lend sounds to bands and play live with a cast of misfits. My dream job is to DJ at El Myr in Atlanta when I retire, a day shift.

I started recording in the 80s with a sony walkman duct taped to leg. I had a cube microphone on a long cord I wired under my clothes and out my shirt sleeve. I got a famous recording of the Smiths on the Pier in NY and tons of others.. U2 live ~30 times by the time I was 19. I graduated to a Marantz cassette two-track recorder, a gift to me from my partner in Tight Bros Network http://www.tightbros.net , Randy Castello. Promtly recorded the windshield wipers inside the car. Then, a Marantz field recorder that recorded directly to CDRs! It had no internal storage at all. This machine had the best internal microphone ever, but it was heavy and required a 5-pound battery that lasted only 4 hours then had to be recharged. The charger was so high maintenance I had to carry screwdrivers. Field recording ensued, and the sound archive began. Sounds of nature, conversations, active listening, capturing the unheard and endangerd sounds. Making sense of the auditory.

Mandy Newton is following