Virtual Vacation

Regulars will have noticed a hiccup in service around here, for which I apologize; my work ethic was temporarily displaced by a placid passivitiy over the holidays when we spent a good number of days in the Yucatan near the Belize border, where the most pressing things on my agenda were watching crabs tentatively creep out of their holes, frigates wheel above the occasional pelican, and listening to the tradewinds blow through the palm near my hammock... the sound of the latter I offer you by way of apology, as recorded with my trusty DSM-6S/EH microphones and a venerable Sony MZ-R37 MD recorder. [Aaron] Comments are off for this post

Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening. Comments are off for this post

At the end of the week my friend Paul leaves for Amsterdam to flog the products we make together at a convention; so how about a bit of sound from that city, courtesy sound recordist Eleanor Beaton, who writes, 'On holiday in Amsterdam this past December I stayed near Museumplein. One evening as I went out for a walk with my recorder through the park, I paused at an ice rink where night-skating and a bit of hockey was going on. As I was listening an English-speaking family came along and played with a musical instrument built into the ground - it looked like a metal "tic-tac-toe" board, and (as you can hear) made xylophone-like sounds. Recorded with an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 and a R0DE NT4 stereo microphone.' Comments are off for this post

Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening. Comments are off for this post

Today's vacation documents the end of one. Fellow field recording advocate Michael Oster explains, 'The end of my vacation: inside an Airbus A-319 that has just parked at the gate in Tampa, Florida, people gather their belongings, while support crew hook up electricity to the jet and its flaps are retracted... Recorded September 3, 2006, with an Edirol R-09 using its internal microphones.' Comments are off for this post

Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening. Comments are off for this post

Yet England is not always dancing, we are reminded by Christopher Etchells: 'A lone trumpeter plays the Last Post on a lovely, sunny autumn day, cold with blue skies: Remembrance Sunday in Winchcombe in the Cotswolds. Hundreds of men, women, and children from town turn out each year in the main square for this remembrance of those who died (mainly) in World Wars I and II. In my opinion the whole ceremony is a bit of an uneasy mixture of military ceremony and religion; but regardless we should be thankful to those who died so we can live in freedom today - at least that's what I tell my children, who however I have not yet persuaded to attend. I'm always moved by the reading of names on the cenotaph; the list seems to go on forever yet the same family names survive in Winchcombe today. Then of course there is the Last Post: there's something especially poignant about this piece and it never fails to remind me of the waste and futility of war. If you listen carefully you can hear the church clock striking twelve towards the end of the piece. Lest we forget... Recorded with a Sony ICD-SX35 recorder.' Comments are off for this post

Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening. Comments are off for this post

Let's make merry to welcome the new year, courtesy today's contributor, Tom Robinson, who writes, 'In St Osyth, a small village in the north east of the County of Essex, the local Morris Men (folk dancers) come out of the local pub, stop the traffic outside the pub for a short time, and proceed to Morris dance on Boxing Day. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas Day; in England it is a Bank Holiday (public holiday) when people make merry after the more formal day before. After onlookers and pub customers are encouraged to donate to charity and, the dancing starts.... Recorded with Sony RH910 minidisc recorder and head-worn, home made mics consisting of a pair of Panasonic capsules fastened to spectacles.' Comments are off for this post

Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening. Comments are off for this post