Listening to the Wilderness
Sharing sound recording insights with field recordist Gregor Vida
Picking up from my last feature : Stormscapes : Capturing the Sounds of Nature in Harsh Conditions — I’ve been doing a lot of reading around individuals who find harmony in adjoining the practice of field recording and adventuring into the wilderness.
Having worked on my fair share of projects in the field, I know first hand the demands of trying to extract pure and natural sounds from a world that seems to be increasingly filled with anthropogenic noise - cars, planes, scooters and telephones to name but a few standout culprits…
I’ve recently been working a collection of soundscapes recorded deep in the dark of night. I find this period to be the most accessible for recording (mostly…) uninterrupted sounds of nature. Take a listen to this lovely soundscape of crickets singing at night — recorded recently in the middle of the Forêt domaniale de l'Assise in Auvergne…
As you can hear, even in the deep forests of Auvergne with no flight paths or motorways to worry about - there’s always the marvel that is human civilisation just waiting at 2am on a Friday evening to start pumping techno at a clandestine French forest rave…
The frustration that follows when recordings like this one are scuppered by such sounds (though I actually quite like the above recording which I have saved on my desktop as Nightcricketsandtechno.wav) can quite easily deplete and consume a lot of effort and energy required for seeking out good spots to record in, but also plays a part in distracting your focus from the job at hand. It’s hard enough trying to stay awake and not get massacred by mosquitoes!
I have been speaking with field recordist Gregor Vida. Gregor is based in Slovenia where he spends a lot of his time wandering and recording in the wildernesses of Central/Eastern Europe. He was kind enough to answer some questions shedding light on his artistic practice, his trips into nature and his experience recording deep in the wilderness.
“…the clean sounds of nature… at that place it is like meditation. I dive into that ambience and enjoy that moment.”
Gregor - thanks so much for taking the time to contribute to Sonic Tapestries. Can I start by asking you what drives your passion to record in such remote wildernesses?
To catch interesting recordings which sounds nice (the same sound has different a contrast when recorded from different points). I enjoy recording rare sounds, when I listen to the clean sounds of nature… at that place it is like meditation. I dive into that ambience and enjoy that moment.
You work often in remote, isolated environments. How much preparation and planning goes into organising these trips? To what extent do you pre-plan or do you rely more on your intuition to navigate your adventure?
It depends if I have a plan to record specific sounds or I’m just trying to capture location ambience. Everytime weather is very important. So I am constantly checking the forecast for the place where I plan to record, and also watching a live camera feed if it’s available there and try connect with the forecast and live situation. So on the day I will record knowing what to expect. If I have time I will visit the place before recording there so I can hear what is around and what is happening there during different parts of day.
What would you say are the biggest dangers of field recording in the wilderness?
In summer are ticks. Maybe mama bear with cubs (this year I have one who run to me but luckily I was with mountain bike and get away...so there was no recording in that place hehe!). Lightning strikes on open, waves and wind when I am on kayaking. Same dangers as for hiking in nature. In public recording some people can be difficult. And you must watch traffic - recording trains from different places when you run around with a tripod on railway tracks...trains is very silent so you must watch all the time!
Where has been your favourite location to record?
That’s hard... maybe Croatia islands at winter time, and some parts of our forests which are away from aeroplane traffic and other people sounds. When you experience nature where no human sounds are involved, you try to catch more and more of that extinct ambient. My favourite sounds are the quiet sounds of whistling and howling wind or trees squeaking in thunderstorms, and when gentle water hits rocks on the sand shore.
“When you experience nature where no human sounds are involved, you try to catch more and more of that extinct ambient. My favourite sounds are the quiet sounds of whistling and howling wind or trees squeaking in thunderstorms, and when gentle water hits rocks on the sand shore.”
To experience nature free of Anthropogenic sound - what are the key techniques to consider? Is there a time of day or night that you find works best?
It is very hard where I live to record nature sounds without human noise (aeroplanes, motorcycles, forest logging, industry hum...). The time of day is very important as is the time of the year. In summer it can become very crowded with tourists. I recommend to inspect places and when you find a nice place go there many times in a year and record. If you have time, spend it camping and sleeping outside and listen to the night sounds too. At night from 2 to 4 o’clock there are almost no aeroplanes and for quiet forest ambiences it is great time to record wind and thunderstorms too. I have near my home some of my favourite places under Kamnik Alps, and I know what sounds will be there if the wind is blowing from certain direction and height.
To isolate your sound recordings find natural obstacles like hills or place your recording gear at a low position. Don’t record on hill which are above roads. If you see a source of noise you will end up recording it!
I’ve noticed you have some exceptional recordings of storms amongst your collections. What are your tips for capturing good quality recordings when faced with challenging weather conditions?
Thanks! Wind is a big problem...I now have omnidirectional MKH-8020 mics by Sennheiser which are not so sensitive to wind. And if there will be windy conditions will record with those. The forest with its many trees and leaves can be very loud before a storm hits. I make shelter from stones and branches in mountains where almost no trees are, so when the wind blows there is no sound from the leaves and trees. Also birds can be a problem when trying to capture clean thunder. Next year I have a plan to build a shelter even higher in the mountains where only rocks are. But it is a challenge and risk if lightning strikes the recording gear! This year we haven’t had many strong thunderstorms... only one really dangerous storm from last year. When I was coming back down from the spot up high where I put my recording gear some trees missed me and one other car by only 10 meters or so and we got stuck there! That storm caused a lot of damage and avalanches were triggered just some meters from where I was recording. Both me and my recording gear have big luck :)
To produce a pristine natural soundscapes - how much time goes into editing - is this something that requires a lot of your attention - what tools (hardware and/or software) do you use for this part of the job?
I am using Adobe Audition and with Spectral View I delete aeroplane sounds quickly....but if there is an interesting sound at that part I try to isolate it (if aeroplane is not too loud) with EQ. Editing long recordings can take many hours to clean it. Once I slept in winter near where I had setup my microphones and captured a great ambience of trees making sounds at night...I spent a very long time to delete al my noises from moving in the hammock! (synthetic materials are very loud). Try to record as clean as you can!
In 2023 you travelled to the Himalayas to record with Jan Brelih - what was this experience like working with another professional in the field as opposed to what is often carried out in solitude?
It was the experience of my life. I just listened to my inner voice. It was my first time to travel in an aeroplane. It is nice to see what gold cage we live in here in Europe (and how materialistic we are which is very sad). Jan is a great guide. We went alone with a Tata car for 20 days exploring the lower parts of Himalayas. Sounds were very different, but there was a lot of water which I don’t want in my ambience recordings. We camped out there in forests where there were leopards and elephants. First I recorded where Jan was placed...but it’s not so good to copy paste things! :) So later I moved my recording gear around different places so that we didn’t just have two sets of the same recordings. And when you move for around even 500 meters distance the sounds are very different. Here in the Himalayas there was no aeroplanes and logging machines in the forest. So most recordings were very clean nature sounds.
Can you share with us a little about your current projects and plans? Are you planning on any further field trips this year?
My biggest project last year was recording and design sound stories for the Slovenian agency I feel Slovenia. They have a profile on Spotify where you can find all the mixes under Sounds Like Slovenia. You can hear them on that link:
My current projects also involved video recording. This way I can combine my sounds with video recordings from different places. I’m learning still but I like the challenge to take on something new. I also want to add some new sound libraries to my Bandcamp profile. This year I have no plans for trips. Maybe in the future I’d like to travel to the South pole. I like hiking and cycling, kayaking nearby in Croatia. So no need for going far away! :)
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Mat
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Loved this piece and the interview.
Absolutely agree on the ticks! They're not to be joked around with. Lyme's disease is very real.
great article and interview!