Biebrza Marshes 23.5.2002
Returning from recording aquatic warblers at nightfall one evening I caught the faintest whisper of a pixie party happening somewhere out over the flood meadows. Surely not - an elusive great snipe lek, unknown to the official birding parties scavenging for rarities and spectacles? I approached cautiously to try to get a closer fix on its location - difficult in the vast undifferentiated expanse of low sedges and grasses, and the disappearing light. But it seemed to be in the vicinity of a small patch that appeared whiter in the gloom, maybe a colony of some lighter-coloured plant. I took a trig from some distant silhouetted landmarks and headed back to base over a mile away.

I discussed it with my local contact, who happened to own this land; sure enough this was an unknown lek and yes he was happy for me to have a go at recording it when conditions were good. For a while the wind blew. Then a few days later at the end of a hot afternoon, with the breeze dropping to negligible, I decided to go for it. I headed out a couple of hours before dusk to put the mics in place and got a disheartening shock when I flushed a few of the birds - early arrivals waiting for dusk. And no sign of my white patch. But there was an area with a concentration of dandelion stalks; so just maybe the whiter area had been the seed heads, now blown off in the last few days winds. So I set my mics up there, ran a 100m cable off to a peaty gulley and headed off to the river to wait for twilight.

I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I returned cautiously. Put on the headphones and wow, they were right there. They put on a good show - purely for my ears, as I couldn’t see them. But I was very happy. The mosquitoes were bad that balmy night, but I was well insulated. No blood donations.

Many thanks to Colin Bradshaw for use of his photo.


Great Snipe Lek

I'd gathered lots of sounds inside the Ýrufoss hydro-power plant in Iceland on a recent visit.  I'm not a huge fan of lengthy ambient-industrial soundscapes, so thought that I'd have a 'play' with some of the samples I collected.  I was intrigued by the fact that the station was "all controlled from Reykjavik" and that the local engineers spent much of their time simply monitoring the station and listening to it - to ensure that all was well.  Any 'adjustments' need to be done from the control centre at Reykjavik.  

Here, I have used some samples of various machines and actuators at the hydro-plant together with some samples of the bells in the clock-tower at Hallgrímskirkja - the large and imposing church in Reykjavik.  I have made a loop of these sounds in a 12/8 time signature and performed some Steve Reich style 'phasing' with these loops.  The 'riff' is based on Reich's 'Clapping Music'. For this SoundCloud version I have shortened Reich's original cycle down to 4 bars repeated per phase shift rather than 8.  


   

Because it's all controlled from Reykjavik

Recorded Monday 31st August 2015 
2xDPA4060s to SD744T 

Stormy weather

Watching the kingfishers flying up and down the River Cam near the pumping station just up from Bottisham Lock at Waterbeach. Flashes of turquoise and orange.  Kingfisher calls throughout this recording with highlights at 5:20, 6:05, 6:50 and 7:20.  Also .....trains passing, dogs barking, fields being ploughed, ducks quacking and swans 'coughing'.

Binaural dummy-head recording.  EM172 electrets to LS-11 recorder. 24/48.  Best heard via headphones.


Waterbeach Pumping Station - Kingfishers Calling

Recorded between 'The Wall of Death', (a barrel-shaped wooden cylinder, 36 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep, inside which motorcyclists perform stunts, held in place by friction and centrifugal force) and a vintage, steam powered, Carousel ('Merry-go-round') with a built-in fairground organ.  Assorted other fairground organs, stationary engines and 'all the fun of the fair' noises can be heard in the background - together with the MC announcing the arrival of various traction engines and other assorted vintage farm vehicles.

Haddenham Steam Fair, Cambridgeshire. 14th September 2015.

Recorded with a binaural dummy-head - so it's best listened to via headphones.

Dummy-head with EM172 electret microphones in anatomically correct pinnae to Sound Devices 702. 24/48.




Haddenham Steam Rally, The Wall Of Death

Two recordings, one from Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik, Iceland, the other from La Giudecca, Venice, Italy. Activities continue both in response to and in spite of the tolling bells.

While The Bells Are Ringing...

Recorded in the Black River Valley in south east Sweden.  A soundscape of birds at evening time.  Sedge Warblers, a 'booming' Bittern, 'drumming' Snipe and a pair of Whooper Swans fly overhead.  Recorded with a dummy-head, so it's best to listen back via headphones.  Dense forest on the far side of the river reflects the sound of the swans flying overhead - providing an echo on the near left hand side.
 

Whooper Swans, Black River Valley

About 100 railway enthusiasts waiting for 'Tornado' (a Peppercorn A1 class steam train, No. 60163) at Waterbeach railway station just after sunset on Monday 28th August 2017.  Several enthusiasts were stood on the 'wrong' side of the yellow line on the platform as a standard, non-stopping train passes through.

Binuaral, dummy-head recording. "Posh-Pammy" with MKH8020 mics to a SD702. 24/48.

Stand Behind the Yellow Line

'Tornado' - a Peppercorn A1 class steam train, No. 60163 passes through Waterbeach station on the evening of Monday 28th August 2017.  A 'normal' train passes in the other direction a few seconds later.

Binaural, dummy-head recording.  "Posh Pammy" with MKH8020 microphones to SD702.  24/48.

Tornado - a Peppercorn A1 class steam train, No. 60163

Búðahraun examines distance, time, movement and place from replicated walks into the remote, coastal, Icelandic lava field of Búðahraun. A ‘there-and-back’ route was walked twice, once at dawn and once at dusk; distance is both the distance of the walk and distance heard across the lava field. As well as the elapsed time of the walks themselves, time is present as the time of day but also the time between the walks – the time of a day – and, as the walks occurred on the summer solstice, the time of the year. Movement comes directly from my footfall, my embodied movement across the rock, but also from the comings and goings of the birds as they, and their calls, songs, and displays move over the lava field. Together these elements contribute to a sonic portrait of a place but they also create a space to allow a listener to hear a place of their own.
An accompanying haibun is at: 
https://martinpeccles.com/2019/02/05/budahraun/
This recording appeared as the second episode of Flux on Resonance Extra (https://extra.resonance.fm/series/flux).

Búðahraun

World has slowed down. 
Hidden beneath a skin of fear.

All Silver was created during the first days of the Corona shutdown.
Made with passion and modular synths.

Sound and artwork by Thomas Breuer

All Silver

All Silver (extended)

all silver (extended)

My practice aims to reflect the experience of my presence in and walking through natural environments.  I use a range of methods (predominantly sound and text) to respond to time, distance and place in the landscape.

Búðahraun

Martin P Eccles

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