FIELD RECORDINGS

Is the recording of natural sounds (ambient noise) outside of a studio. It is also called phonograph. There are a lot of sound recordist who do this and I have had a privileged to see and hear one of Chris Watson's recordings called 'Inside The Circle of Fire: A Sheffield Sound Map. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1x_wvFmqi8 

Its very interesting watching how he records the sounds and where he does it. Its not just about aiming your microphone at something and hope to get an interesting sound. It involves a thinking process of what kind of sounds you want to capture and why you want to hear them. His work has inspired me to think of what I hear around me all the time. This may be on my way to a friends house or place or in a market or shop. Sound is around us all the time and its mostly the sounds you don't hear very often which can be fascinating. I have learned a great deal from his work, these include:

• to explore different locations that have different sounds,
• to use different sound equipment to capture the sounds. This could be a stereo microphone, mono microphone or a hydrophone,
• try different sub-surfaces ranging from sand, water, grass, wood, metal, fibre, pipes, containers etc.
• to be positive and tune into the world so that I can focus on certain sounds for creativity, 
• and have patience.

Another artist who does a similar thing is Christian Fennesz. His an Austrian guitarist who's active in electronic music. He uses different ways to create sound. He records sounds and uses them in an experimental musical sense (abstract). His work influences me to think of how I could use sound in post-production in terms of manipulation. 

http://www.fennesz.com/downloads/

We did a lesson on how to record sound on a film set. I found it very helpful because i kept having problems trying to sync the sound from the wendt mixer to the camera. It also made me aware of where to stand and how to aim my microphone to get a better sound from the person talking. I am not very tall and usually the actors are taller than me so I find it a bit hard to lift the boom, so standing on a high level really helps than standing at the same level as the characters.

In this image, I was standing on top of a ladder 

Here I was recording from above which is a very good angle.

Reference

FENNESZ, Christian. [online]. Last accessed 27 november 2014. http://www.fennesz.com/downloads/

Museum Sheffield (2013). [online]. Last accessed 27 november 2014. http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/millennium-gallery/exhibitions/past/inside-the-circle-of-fire-a-sheffield-sound-map