Free, every Sunday · 2,600 readers
A free letter every Sunday: where I recorded this week, what it sounded like and one sound to listen for.
Free · every Sunday
Room Tone
A new post every Thursday: my recording notes from canals, halls and stairwells, and what I made of them.
Canals
Recording a canal at six in the morning
A hydrophone, a thermos and the sound of a boat engine two bridges away.
Halls
Why I record the empty hall first
Before any music, a few minutes of the room alone: the tone every later sound sits in.
Stairwells
A microphone at the bottom of a stairwell
What a concrete spiral does to a clap, a footstep and one long note.
Places
The doorway of a closed factory at dusk
Gravel, pigeons, a distant fan and how I kept my own breathing out of the recording.
Synth
Turning a hall recording into a drone
Slowing it down, stacking two copies and letting the room hum under the synth.
Synth
Patching a slow pad from a canal recording
Three cables, one filter and a sound that moves like water without being water.
Tape
Looping a tape of footsteps
A loop around a mic stand, a tape machine and a walk that never ends.
Editing
Editing a recording late at night
Cutting out a bus, keeping a bird and how I decide what stays.
Gear
Setting levels for a very quiet place
Gain, headphones and the trick of listening before you press record.
Synth
How I film hands on a small modular
A phone on a tripod, the panel in the light and a rule about reflections.
Downloads and courses
Shop
Download as soon as you pay. Yours to keep.
About
About me
I live in a high-ceilinged flat in a city of canals, with a modular synth along one wall and a field recorder by the door. I have recorded sound for years, in canals before the boats start, in empty halls and in the stairwells of old buildings, and I make quiet music out of what I bring home.
What I sell is what I use: sample packs of my own recordings, patch sheets for the synth, a list of the kit I carry and two courses, one on recording and one on making ambient music with a small modular. A new post comes every Thursday, with my recording notes.