{"id":16586,"date":"2021-05-31T16:39:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T20:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=16586"},"modified":"2025-03-20T12:42:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T16:42:42","slug":"field-recordings-songwriting-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/field-recordings-songwriting-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use field recordings as a songwriting tool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration:<\/strong> Pedro Lourenco<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defined in simplest terms, field recordings are audio captured in any place outside of the confines of a traditional studio. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The art of field recordings was first driven by a fascination with nature. In 1899, eight-year-old Ludwig Koch made a recording of a common shama<\/a> using his father\u2019s wax cylinder recorder. No longer subject to the passing of time, audio captured \u2018in the field\u2019 could now be reproduced at will. Celebrated as one of the great natural history broadcasters of the early 20th century, Koch\u2019s landmark recording set the stage for a decades-long practice of creating scores of music from the rhythm and exploration of found sounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As technology progressed, field recordings became common source material in avant-garde, ambient, and experimental music. In the 1940s, the \u2018godfather of sampling\u2019 Pierre Schaeffer coined the term \u201cmusique concr\u00e8te,” outlining the compositional practice of looping, splicing, and reversing organic sounds. Alongside composer and philosopher John Cage,<\/a> Schaeffer was instrumental in transforming field recording from solely an ethnomusicological undertaking into a form of expression of its own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Eno cites the creation of ambient music to a period of illness in the 1970s that left him hospitalized. Rather than overpower the sound of a rainstorm outside his window by turning up the volume on an LP of 18th-century harp music, Eno shifted how he listened, focusing instead on the beauty of both soundscapes interacting as one. Listening remains the common thread that unites our modern understanding of field recording, a familiar yet sprawling pursuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As access and exposure to the activity increases, the number of artists utilizing field recordings as a component of their songwriting, composing, or general artistic practice continues to grow. With insight and expert advice from musicians and intermedia artists, we\u2019ve compiled this guide to illuminate field recording as a tool for sonic and personal exploration and provide a general framework for how you might weave them into your own creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n