Process

 

When recording nature, it is often difficult to find a subject free of excessive, man-made noise. Often, the environment is cluttered with the sounds of distant automobiles, aircraft, generators, etc. This requires me to be highly selective in choosing natural environments to record. It is much easier to make recordings of machines, people, streets, airports, etc.

 

I attempt to make quality recordings and so my process is in a continual state of evolution. Currently, I record utilizing 24 bit/48 kHz sampling rates. This resolution is higher than those found on conventional compact discs and digital video discs. This resolution is maintained during the audio editing process and is not compromised until the recording is processed into a more deliverable medium.

 

I use Digital Performer or Logic Pro X to edit each recording. I first listen to and view the waveform of each recording to determine if any material needs to be removed. This is rare, but occasionally some of the recordings contain extraneous noises that were not intended to be captured. I also listen for any unwanted frequencies within the recording. An example of this would be a distant generator or other rogue frequencies with abnormal qualities. Very mild equalization is sometimes used to handle these issues. More often, no additional processing is applied other than the addition of a fade in and fade out.