Welcome to Roundstone, Co. Galway, located at the foot of Errisbeg Mountain. This small Irish fishing-village offers beautiful views of the Atlantic coast and mountainous terrain. The collection of field recordings captured from within the village were recorded for a short-film titled Taboo. With little interruption from any kind of noise pollution the village and surrounding area features a crystal-clear soundscape of natural found-sounds.

1. Atlantic Ocean
Roundstone is home to many white beaches, from small and private to wide stretches. Each beach has its own unique soundscape, with rumbling waves and breath-taking wind offering a rich tapestry of sound. Sound travels for long distances due to a lack of absorbing surfaces. Ocean recordings are a favourite of mine due to their meditative sound, these recordings of the Atlantic in particular have a healing effect and I go back to listen to them time and time again.

2. Cloch na Rón (Roundstone (Irish: Cloch na Rón, meaning “seal’s rock”)
This track features recordings captured during treks through the terrain of Roundstone. Stopping at various points to record the rich wildlife. Our stay in Roundstone was highlighted by spring weather, the sun shone and the rain kept at bay. Along my treks I was greeted by donkeys; hens; cows; sheep; birds; bees and horses, all evident in this track. At one point a pair donkeys took great interest in the microphone, sniffing and rubbing against the furry windshield.

3. Howl
The wind coming in off the Atlantic was ferocious. It was planned to use the wind as a tool to emphasise tension building in certain scenes. One of the locations for filming was in a barn situated up-hill from a large beach. The opening sound in this track comes from within the barn where the wind batters against the corrugated roof. The final section of this track features a recording taken from cliffs near a cottage some of the crew were living in. The cliffs edged out towards the Atlantic, below was a view of sharp jagged rocks guiding the foamed water into patterns, the overall view was of the misty ocean which demanded your attention for as long as you could bare the wind. What felt like rain was actually ocean spray whipped up by the gusts. This recording isn’t perfect; a couple of foot shuffles and microphone windshield noise can be heard, however this adds to the overall rawness of the recording and takes me straight back to standing on those rocks with the wind and spray in my face. Due to this it remains my favourite recording of the trip.

4. Music for Wind
While I was recording the wind from within the barn I was called by the films director to quickly rush over to where they were filming a quick cutaway shot 20 meters or so from the barn, here was a gate leading down to a white beach and this harmonic whistling sound. The Atlantic wind blew through holes in the rustic pipes of the gate, creating these dissonant notes. This was quickly termed ‘The Musical Gate’ by the crew and became the main soundtrack to the film. This sound is also special to me personally, very rarely do you come across such interesting musical sounds created by the landscape. I’m very glad to be able to share this secret sound of Ireland with the world through this release.

5. A Pond Symphony
The final track in this collection sends the listener to a pond. The track opens with the wind blowing through reeds producing a crackling sound. Hydrophone recordings are then introduced showcasing a symphony of pond insects. The sounds were recorded early in the evening of an overcast day with rough wind and the occasional sprinkling of light rain, I enjoyed every moment of listening to the underwater mics as the rain came down. The pond was used as a location for a scene in the film. After the scene had wrapped I stayed behind to be able to record the area in silence. A couple of hours of recording passed and I radio’d back to the crew to come and pick me up.