How to Write Songs With Field Recordings

In 1899, Ludwig Koch, then eight years old, recorded a popular shama on his father's wax cylinder recorder. Schaeffer invented the word "musique concrète" in the 1940s to describe the compositional process of looping, splicing, and reversing organic sounds. Together with John Cage, Brian Eno's ambient music was inspired by a spell in the hospital in the 1970s. He changed the way he listened, focusing on the beauty of soundscapes interacting as one. Artists using field recordings continues to rise as access and exposure to the activity grows. We've put up this guide with the help of musicians and intermedia artists to highlight field recording as a tool for sound and personal exploration and provide a general framework for how you might incorporate it into your own creative process.

Read: Tips To Enhance Your Singing Voice

Creating a fingerprints

In 2021, finding someone who can recognize the sound of an electric or acoustic guitar will be difficult. Sites like Equip board can rapidly pin down the specific make and model of guitars, amps, and effects used by your favorite musicians, in addition to a vast library of YouTube tutorials and videos.

Field recordings, on the other hand, add an element of surprise right away, allowing an artist to create a fingerprint—a distinct audio aspect that isn't bound by standard instrumentation. “In the universe, there are literally an unlimited number of sounds. I like the concept that people who listen to my music won't be able to figure out what I'm doing or how I'm doing it,” Leah Toth says. She heavily treats (edits or manipulates) her field recordings under the Amelia Courthouse name to further generate a sense of agency and, with regards to the original source, claim ownership over the music she's creating.

Field recordings, whether altered or unaltered, frequently evoke a sense of place, time, or recollection. While a song or a guitar riff can hint to a concept, field recordings provide a direct link to the source. Field recordings, according to Matthew Sage (M. Sage), serve a dual purpose: they provide space and color to tracks while also infusing emotional value. All of the outdoor recordings on The Wind of Things (2021) were made in places where Sage had sailed or walked as a child. “There's an emotional tenderness to it that the audience isn't responsible for understanding, but I believe they can sense it. That's what's important to me,” he continued.

Accessibility and confidence:

Field recording is a highly accessible songwriting tool. It carries a punk ethos. There is no degree required or predetermined notions of success. The art of field recording shifts the mindset of scarcity to abundance.
Karima Walker and Danny Greenwald are a duo from New York City-based band Glassine. Walker and Greenwald have been playing together since high school. Greenwald says he's not skilled enough to play a full-blown trumpet. The duo plays keyboards, tape recorders, guitar pedals and other non-expensive instruments.
Walker agrees, saying that while never feeling great at a single instrument, she's come to appreciate the potential of using her ear as a compositional tool.
Greenwald advises newcomers to "not feel awkward" about using their iPhone in the outdoors. Toth and her husband have amassed a lot of cheap gadgets over the years, but she still uses her phone a lot.
I feel like I'm taking little parts of music from anyplace I go when a piano is present since that I don't have a true piano in my home. This also keeps me from overthinking portions or arrangements; I just do what comes naturally to me.”

Read: Tips To Brand Yourself as a Musician

A sense of wonder and adventure:

The inability to get out of one's own way is a common stumbling block for songwriters. Staring at a DAW, a blank workstation waiting for you to push record and strike gold, might make you feel anxious. We have a tendency to think of songwriting as a sedentary activity. Field recording is a significantly more active endeavor, infused with a feeling of enchantment and adventure. “You're not watching the recording; you're watching the world. “You're putting more pressure on your ears than on your eyes,” Sage explained. It's an opportunity to cultivate shoshin, or 'beginners' mind,' which involves listening with an open mind and a sense of wonder.

A Compositional Tool:

If you've exhausted all of your other options, incorporating field recordings into your work might push you to try something new. To add colour and space to a track, consider placing all of your files in stereo, or treating a sound to simulate a genuine instrument or rhythm.
Having a backlog of field recordings to listen to might also assist you answer two of the most difficult questions: “How should I get started?” and “How should I finish?” and “Is there anything else missing?”
If working within constraints is helpful, you might leave all of your found sounds in their raw form or manipulate them to where they are no longer recognizable. The original sounds can remain just as sacred—no one is going to patent or trademark a bird's song.

Read: 7 Most Important Sections for Your Artistic Website

Mindfulness and Healing:

You must pay carefully if you want to make music from field recordings. Allowing oneself to halt and listen to the noises around you is also a form of mindfulness practice. Pauline Oliveros was a composer who championed deep listening. She argued that compassion and understanding come from listening impartially to the whole space / time continuum. "My approach is rooted in Oliveros' work, where we are the listening bodies," Sage says. "Everyone has the potential to be a listening body. It's a choice you have to make," he says.