Recording with DIY hydrophones, Lake Starnberg, Feldafing, Germany, March 2014

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Active Listening and Field Recording Workshop

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The workshop begins with an introduction to deeper listening and field recording, plus Simon will present work, methods, theories and equipment.

Participants are led on a short walk while blindfolded, experiencing the sounds of the local area without visual distractions, to realise how complex the sound environment is and how we can lose references to space, distance and time.

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The group then explore the area themselves with sound recording devices, once again being exposed to or discovering further layers within the local soundscape, presenting their findings to the rest of the group.



Longer workshops used to include an introduction to sound editing and simple composition techniques using the free software 'Audacity', often resulting in the participants pieces being broadcast on local radio or the specialist field recording radio program 'Framework'. However the workshop now incorporates demonstrations or construction sessions with contact microphones and hydrophones.

 

In March 2014, Simon ran versions of the workshop in the Bayern Kaserne refugee camp in Munich, as well as a more involved session at Villa Waldberta, Feldafing, Germany.



From July to September 2013 Simon used the workshop as a basis for a much longer arts education project in Medellín, Colombia for children between the ages of 8 and 18 years old, as well as an integral part of the MUUA Lab/C3P residency project which ran from February to April.

 

Through 2012 ran workshops such as these in Valparaiso, Chile for Tsonami Festival 2012; and Castlemaine, Australia as part of his residency with Punctum.



The workshop has been run in various forms from the inception of the project, firstly in Tallinn, Estonia (please visit the original project blog HERE) and then in Bristol, Brighton, Bracknell, Liverpool, Leeds and London, all in the UK.