Gregory Ovenden

Soundscapes and Nature Recordings

“Species Hitherto Unfigured”

“Species Hitherto Unfigured” by The Sound Farmer

This was created as part of an installation for London Zoo. It is an audio representation of the works of Edward Lear, a lithographer at an early age and then a writer of nonsense verse classics such as ‘The Owl and the Pussycat”.

The dialogue is taken from a letter Lear wrote to a friend during his early years studying and recreating in print the rare macaws and parrots found in London Zoo in the 19th Century. I spent time in London Zoo recording the collection of macaws residing there today and used those recordings to place the listener in the shoes of Lear, hearing what he would have heard whilst drawing the parrots. I then recreated the sounds of the lithography process with the aid of a video on YouTube.

The title is inspired by the collection of Lear’s lithographic works found in the Zoo’s archives “Illustrations of the family of Psittacidae, or parrots: the greater part of them species hitherto unfigured, containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone.”

The audio was recorded with Fostex FR2 LE, MM-BSM9 binaural microphones, Sennheiser 816, the Foley with Sennheiser 416 and mixed with Pro Tools LE8. The voice over was recorded with an AKG C414B and Pro Tools 9.

“Rains Trains and Violins”

Rains, Trains and Violins by The Sound Farmer

I created this piece the day I bought a violin with the intention of incorporating it into my sound design. It was recorded with a Jez Riley contact mic and the rain and train with MM-BSM9 binaurals. I started to learn the violin however this has waned in recent months. I made the piece in an hour on a rainy day as just a bit of fun.

“Country Life”

“Country Life” by The Sound Farmer

Country Life is a sonic representation of the farm I grew up on. I listen to it when feeling nostalgic. These sounds can be heard on a typical summer’s day provided a fence is being put up. The ambiance is the looped sounds of distant construction. This represents that despite being in the countryside, the peace is disturbed by the distant sounds of human industry. It was also the only piece of rural ambiance recording in my personal sound library at the time. The robin twittering represents my favourite recording of a robin twittering, recorded with a parabolic dish.

“Agitated Wasps”

SFX – Wildlife – Agitated wasps by The Sound Farmer

Recorded when wasps decided to invade my house last summer. Another binaural recording with the BSM9′s going to an H2 Zoom. Unfortunately this was before I created my plug-in-power FR2 LE set up so there is a great deal of self noise. I shall run it through iZotope and see if I can clean it up a bit, but listening to this with headphones is still a rather unsettling sonic experience.

“Swallows nesting in windy stables”

Swallows nesting in windy stables by The Sound Farmer

I set up the BSM9 binaurals close to, but not hindering or disturbing a swallow’s nest, connected them to the H2 Zoom, stood back and recorded the magic of swallow chicks being fed and the sounds of the parents flying in and out of the nest. We had three nests in the stables this year, two broods in each and all fledged with no fatalities.

Documentaries/Mockumentaries

“David’s Fine”

A rather entertaining ‘mockumentary’ I both sound operated and mixed. It was filmed in Blackheath Village, London and a rather fine manor house in Norfolk.

IBC – Media Asset Management

A short documentary submitted to the ‘Rising Stars’ program at the International Broadcast Convention in Amsterdam, 2010. I was sound operator for this shoot, that involved a trip to the Convention. I returned to the convention in 2011 to record talking head interviews for the IBC Website.