Peter Cusack

Peter Cusack, based in London, works as a sound artist, musician and environmental recordist with a special interest in environmental sound and acoustic ecology. Projects move from community arts to research into the contribution of sound to our senses of place to recordings that document areas of special sonic interest, e.g. Lake Baikal, Siberia, and Xinjang, China's most western province. Recently involved in 'Sound & the City' the British Council sound art project in Beijing 2005. His current project 'Sounds From Dangerous Places' examines the soundscapes of sites of major environmental damage, e.g. Chernobyl, the Azerbaijan oil fields, controversial dams on the Tigris and Euphratees river systems in south east Turkey.

Hildegard Westerkamp’s 'Kits Beach Soundwalk'

Kits beach soundwalk an aural meditation


A walk on Kits Beach will never be the same after you listen to Hildegard Westerkamp’s “Kits Beach Soundwalk.” You may have often paused to admire a pretty seashell or a dreamy cloud formation, but when was the last time you stopped to listen to the barnacles?

Westerkamp is a sound composer; she records ambient noises and edits them to produce original works. One of the sounds highlighted in her Kits Beach piece is the clicking made when water recedes from a barnacle-covered rock. We’ve all http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifheard it; few have noticed it.

“Once you record, your ear shifts tremendously,” Westerkamp explains.

“Just as looking through a camera you see the world differently, when you begin to record you hear the world differently.”

Westerkamp began working with ambient sound through Vancouver Soundscape, a recording project undertaken in 1973 by a group of SFU composers and academics, and led by composer R. Murray Schafer.

Follow this fantastic link to inspire you to get away from the computer and go on soundwalk of your own today

Sonorous City - London Soundscape Project

Sonorous City is an immersive surround-sound installation exploring the relationship between the soundscape and our perception of the urban environment. A series of soundwalks stemming from the River Thames form the basis of the work, which reveals an experience of London lead by the ear.



Sonorous City is the result of a 2 year (part-time) MA research project in Digital Arts.

Steve Barsottii

Steve Barsottiis a Seattle based improviser, sound artist, instrument inventor and educator. His work explores notions of reduced listening through close examinations of easily bypassed sonic details; sounds that can only be heard through contact microphones and amplification or the sonic qualities of materials and objects found in everyday life. He invites the listener to forgo an attempt at literal connections with the sounds and to focus on the sounds in and of themselves. Steve is chair of the Pacific Northwest Society for Acoustic Ecology.

A Silent Swaying Breath

A while ago I submitted a small sample of a recording which I had made with my hydrophone on holiday in St. Ives. Audio gourmet were proposing that anyone could donate a sound which they would then use to create an album which would be compiled in order to help those people whose livelihoods were effected by the riots which occured accross the UK several months ago. I think me sample of the air pockets in the sand, which occur when the tide is at it's highest, feature on the track titled 'Dust, Illuminated', however it is rather hard to tell as there seems to have been quite a lot of post production. Well, here is a link to the album which would be great if you wanted to donate some money to the cause whilst also obtaining a tantalizing collection of strange and ephemeral sounds.



SoundFjord, Audio Gourmet's Harry Towell (Spheruleus) and Bartosz Dziadosz (Pleq) have come together to curate an album created "by the people, for the people", to raise funds for those that has beenaffected by the recent unrest that ravaged cities across the country.

The album, a statement and monument to collaboration and community, brings together works selected from short unedited recordings gleaned from artists, musicians and the general public across the globe.

Spheruleus and Pleq sensitively weave together an eclectic selection of field recordings, samples, spoken word pieces and instrumentation, creating momentous emotional landscapes for the listener, delicate, tender moments and most of all, a yearning tumult of haunting quietude: a silent, swaying breath.

All profits raised by sales of this album go towards assisting thosethat have lost their homes and livelihoods and to provideopportunities for philanthropy, creative expression and collaboration within local community projects.

Mamori Sound Project

6th Annual Workshop/Residency for sound artists & composers at Mamori Lake (Amazon, Brazil)/ October 2011/ 2 weeks

Mamori Sound Project is an independent residency/workshop that has been carried out in the Brazilian Amazon since 2005 by a small non-profit organization, integrated by sound artist Francisco López and the cultural association Mamori ArtLab, based in Spain and Brazil. Mamori Sound Project supports the local community at Mamori Lake (Amazonas state, Brazil) by providing jobs every year for a significant number of people in this community.

The Mamori Sound Project is a 2-week workshop/residency for professional and semi-professional sound artists and composers with previous experience in the area of sound experimentation and field recordings. It takes place at Mamori Lake, in the middle of the Brazilian Amazon, and involves theoretical/discussion presentations, field work and studio work. The workshop/residency has a special focus on creative approaches to the work with field recordings, through an extensive exploration of natural sound environments. It does not have a technical character but is instead conceived and directed towards the development and realization of a collective project of sonic creation with the interaction of all participant artists/composers. The activities of the workshop/residency include: Introductory theoretical/discussion presentation sessions on field recordings and sound creation, with a historical/philosophical perspective.

Soundwalkers - Raquel Castro

Soundwalkers from raquel castro on Vimeo.

There are some fundamental principles regarding the construction of an acoustically healthy society, one where we can exist within the sounds of life. Respect towards voice and words, sonic awareness, the awakening of the sense of hearing. To preserve the sounds that tend to fade out, while remaining open to the sounds that spring out of each technological stride. To build an aural idiom that interprets its own symbolism. To accept the silence, enforcing it in the due moments. And, above all else, to listen.

The Wire Salon

Environmental Agents: The Art Of Field Recording

Lee Patterson recording in Dunadd, West Scotland, 2007

An evening devoted to listening to and talking about field recordings. The panel included Justin Bennett, Peter Cusak and Lee Patterson.

Listen to the October 2010 edition of The Wire's Salon

Chris Watson

I have only just discovered Chris Watson and what a pleasure it is to find someone who is so passionate about sounds. In todays society we are constantly being bombarded with sounds, noise pollution as it is called, and we have learnt to cut out all these unwanted sounds to try and focus on the task at hand. However we have forgotten to listen to things attentatively for their rich sonic qualities and this is what Chris manages to do to show us the beauty of everyday sounds from the microscosm to the sound of an Adult Cheetah Resting By Beobab Tree.