Field Recording - Marcus Leadley

Marcus Leadley talks to Suzie Cross about his new book, Field Recording: A Practical Guide, exploring the techniques, equipment and creative approaches to capturing sound in the field. From microphones and denoising to electromagnetic and underwater recording, Marcus shares practical insights from more than 40 years of experience. **Chapters** 00:00 - Introduction 00:47 - Reasons For Writing The Book 03:04 - A Background In Field Recording 05:36 - Commonly Used Microphones 07:05 - Discovering Hidden Sounds 08:38 - Different Microphone Use Cases 13:04 - Digital Denoising Tools 14:25 - Using The Sounds In Compositions 16:03 - Making Creative Decisions While Recording 19:25 - Electromagnetic Detectors 25:04 - Underwater Recording With Hydrophones 29:18 - Managing Unpredictability 30:52 - Allowing For The Unexpected 32:36 - Analogue Pitch Shift And Time Stretch 36:19 - Contact Microphones 40:27 - Where To Hear Marcus' Work **Marcus Leadley Biog** *Marcus Leadley is a field recordist, sound artist, composer, curator and academic specialising in field recording, soundscape composition and environmental sound. He is Head of the Electronic Music Studios at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he teaches experimental sound and Sonic Arts. His research interests include phonography, soundscape composition, acoustic ecology and ecoacoustics, and his artistic practice includes field recordings, soundscape compositions, installations and collaborative projects.* Marcus has been creating work based on field recordings since 1997 and also teaches field recording and soundscape composition through online courses and practical field trips. Before moving into academia, he worked as an engineer, producer and music technology journalist, managed commercial studios in Australia and edited Guitar & Bass magazine. He holds an MMus in Studio-Based Composition and a PhD in Sonic Arts. https://www.marcusleadley.com/ https://www.crowood.com/book/field-recording/ https://www.facebook.com/marcus.leadley **Suzie Cross Biog** *Suzie Cross is an award-winning creative producer and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores connections between people, places and the natural world. Her practice spans sonic art, eco-acoustics, immersive installations, film, projection, poetry and electroacoustic composition. Her film Newland: New Vision for a Wilder Future, made with Dave Lynch, won Best Climate Film at the 2021 Research in Film Awards and led to an invitation to speak at COP26.* A Clore Fellow, Suzie was awarded the Cultural Leadership Fellowship for Global Environmental Impact in 2018. She is Artistic Director of the Land Lines research project at the University of Leeds, Sound Artist in Residence at Manchester’s Mayfield development, and helps run SynthFest UK for Sound On Sound. She is also a member of the Frozen Music Collective, exploring neurodiversity and the relationship between the human brain and technology. https://suziecross.wordpress.com/ https://www.instagram.com/suzieloves432/ https://x.com/TheSuzieCross **Catch more shows on our other podcast channels:** https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts