I'm very pleased to announce a new release by Kiyoshi Mizutani - field recordings from Onoji, Japan.




Mizutani has released several fantastic works in his career including 'scenery of a border' (and/oar) & 'Yokosawa-iri' (cmr).


His work is always fascinating for it's simple ability to capture personal moments of exploration and progress through the environment in question & 'Onoji' is another great addition to his discography.

The simplicity and clarity of his journey through Onoji is not affected by his use of wind noise, an issue on which he states: 'Certainly, wind noise often ruins a recording. However, I occasionally feel it is effective.I will not reproduce the reality. It is greatly different from the actual sound and the sound recorded through the microphones. Moreover, it is different to hear the recorded sound, and to hear the sound actually. When considering it like that, there is no distinction between wind noise and other recorded sound. The wind noise is felt as one of the effects. How to feel it is different for each person. Moreover, it depends on ones feelings at that time. I leave it to the person who hears it'


highly limited edition taiyo-yuden cdr mounted on oversized art card + additional postcard. Shipping of this release will begin 1st week of November 2009 - it is likely to sell out very quickly so do please get your order in early if you want to make sure you get one.

postage options

UK £8.00rest of world £10.00

the following images were taken by Kiyoshi Mizutani in situ:

four questions # 22 - John Kannenberg

JrF: when & why did you become interested in field recording ?

JK: I started field recording almost exactly ten years ago, in the fall of 1999. My wife and I were going on our first trip to Europe together, and I was interested in documenting both the sites and the sounds of the trip. I had been playing around making electronic music for a few years and had been thinking about incorporating field recordings into the work I was doing, having always been interested in listening to my surroundings rather than tuning them out. I'd also come across the Phonography mailing list right about then as well. Field recording seemed to align really well with my interest in meditation, quiet and solitude. Everything pretty much clicked into place at the right time and I've been actively making field recordings ever since.

JrF: how do you use your field recordings in your own artistic output ?

JK: I've primarily used them as source material for sound pieces I've released on both my own label, Stasisfield.com, and other experimental record labels. Also, they've been incorporated into the series of graphic scores I've completed based on visual representations of landscape (http://www.johnkannenberg.com/visuals/graphicscores.html). These scores use field recordings both in their visual creation (as in Landscape 1, where the waveform visualization of a field recording was used to determine the placement of the shapes which direct the performers) and in their performance (they all require the use of field recordings to be either played along untreated with the rest of the intrumentation, or to be used as malleable source material during the performance).
I've recently become increasingly interested in presenting the field recordings themselves as finished works, and have been documenting some of my field recording sessions on my blog (http://www.synesthetech.com/). I've performed in phonography ensembles with Christopher Delaurenti and Steve Barsotti from the Seattle Phonographers Union, as well as with the Chicago Phonographers Union headed by Chad Clark and Eric Leonardson, and an ensemble begun by Long Beach musician Glenn Bach during his time teaching sound at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
One thing I've been interested in recently is field recording as a performative act. I've noticed that while recording in crowded public spaces I usually end up attracting an audience of some kind. I'm currently working on a series of performances of Cage's 4'33" in art museums, where I stand in one spot in a museum for four minutes and thirty three seconds with my recorder. Sometimes I'm ignored, but most times I manage to make at least someone uncomfortable or get in someone's way no matter how hard I try to find a place that's out of the way! If nothing else it's an interesting sociological experiment which is happening alongside a growing body of interesting museum recordings.

Jrf: are the terms 'music' & 'sound' important to you, either in the way you feel about the sounds you capture and use or in the way your work is viewed by others.

JK: They are important in a way, sort of as guideposts to watch out for or even avoid if possible. I feel uncomfortable calling my work "Music" or myself a musician since I have almost no musical training and can't read music. However, a lot of my sound work involves things like rhythm and melody, so it exists somewhere between music and sound. I think of what I do mostly as organizing sound.
I feel pretty strongly that the term "Sound Art" needs to dovetail with the musical world. Recently I've been working on writing my own personal definition of Sound Art which is inclusive of all the things I think should be covered in there, like field recording, experimental music, radio art, film sound, etc. I've never really read a definition of the term I've fully agreed with, and I'm still not happy with mine yet, but it's getting there.

JrF: what effect (positive or negative) has the act of making field recordings had on the way you listen to your everyday surroundings and how has it affected the way you listen to other music / sound (if at all) ?

JK: It's had a very positive effect on my everyday listening in that it's trained me to be more aware of what happens around me. That's always useful. If it's had an effect on my listening to music, it would have to be similar in that it's trained me to be a more careful, attentive listener.

4 mp3's from John can be found in the 'in place' MP3 library by clicking here

four questions # 21 - Olivier Nijs

JrF: when & why did you become interested in field recording ?

ON: I started making music at 9, playing the piano and later clarinet and saxophone. When I left high school I hesitated if I should go to a conservatory or to an art academy. When I studied at the art academy I continued playing saxophone but I wasn’t interested in music theory, all I wanted to do was free improvisation inspired by projected slides. At the same time I started to do my first field recordings and compositions using a Amiga computer and a walkman. After these first attempts the fire was started. I continued to make, what I learned later, were binaural recordings. I used them in an installation I called the ‘Olyphone’ , this was a former organ which was driving fifteen cassette players. An attempt to create a sound composition in space. I called it acoustic cinema. What I liked a lot was the absence of synchronisation. Sometimes it took 3 seconds before a cassette started to play.
Later I bought my first proper recorder and mics. I got involved in an alternative dance music project in which I used my field recordings and processed them with a lot of filtering and sampling. Combing them with found footage and synths.
For 5 years now my work is mainly focused on field recording. Most of my outboard gear is sold or collecting dust on shelves.

JrF: how do you use your field recordings in your own artistic output ?

ON: At the moment there are two main categories in the way I use field recordings. The first is the most challenging for me. As pure as it gets. Better go back to the same spot over and over than create an ideal (non-existing soundscape) recording in the studio. I see myself as a landscape phonographer. In these recordings I am looking for some sort of tension in the recording. Tension in slow evolving texture changes. There has to happen something in the recording beyond the first obvious layer of sound events, there needs to be a more hidden layer. Most of my current work has a duration of one hour or more.
The second use is in different forms of time-lapse recording. I developed several patches in Max/MSP to do this. Depending on my goal they are more or less intelligent. For some projects it takes one year to complete a recording cycle. Searching again for tension which was not perceivable before to the human ear. Is it possible to hear a leaf grow? How does a complete rainstorm sound?
I believe very strongly that human beings are not able to perceive reality as it really is. For me it’s also very important that there is a reason why I do a recording. My work is never just about the audible result. The audible part is only a layer for communication. Although most of the time the concept might not be clear or known to the audience. In my Nothing Satisfies project one of the goals is to record a landscape which is so empty that it leaves a lot of space for the audience to wander off in his or her thought.

JrF: do you regard 'natural' sounds as a musical element (bearing in mind that the conventional definition of 'music' is rapidly becoming obsolete) or as sound ? and how is this definition important to you ? why does it matter ?

ON: The question if one can talk of a composition in the work is not relevant for me as an artist. More interesting is the fact that people have always needed to perceive a certain amount of structure. If this structure is not recognisable directly, unconsciously a human being will search for one.
The recordings I do become composition because I record them. None of the participating sounds in this recording were aware of the fact that they would become part of an aesthetic piece. As an artist it’s my decision to determine a start and end point for an event. After this recording process this composition will never be found as I did back then. That’s also why I always give GPS locations, time and date in liner notes. So you can understand that your listening to the past.
Sound or music is for me more a question of a presence of aesthetics. Compelling compositions have depth. Depth in meaning and in layering. I see it as a personal task to show an audience the beauty of the very ordinary. Sounds or events which are close to nothing.

JrF: has the act of making field recording had an effect (positive or negative) on the way you listen to your everyday surroundings and how has it affected the way you listen to other music and sound (if at all) ?

ON: Sounds around me seem to mix together more and more. In time it becomes more difficult to focus on a conversation and not listen to the noises in the back. I can get very annoyed having to listen to elevator music while having a nice meal in a restaurant. I asked more then once to turn off the music because it was not in harmony with the taste.
Today I read an article in which was stated that more and more European cities become polluted with noise. Then I think of Gordon Hempton and his quest for ‘One square inch of Silence’.
On the other hand it’s very calming. To be able to sit down and listen. To be able to enjoy everyday sounds or a sudden appearance of rhythm or melody. I’ve never looking for an ideal world in which no human sounds are present. This is impossible because when I hear them, I am present and I do not know in what way I influence the sounds around me. Referring to the idea that a sound only exists when one is listening.

3 MP3 extracts + a pdf from Olivier's projects can be found in the 'in place' MP3 library by clicking here