“This recording was taken from the yard of Vahandukht Melkonyan – an 89-year-old great-grandmother and the last person left living in an almost-abandoned Armenian village. Her home sits on the border with Turkey. Just a few hundred meters from her home, across that border, are the ruins of the famous 11th-century Armenian city of Ani. Even though Vahandukht looks at Ani from her garden every day, she has never been able to visit: this border has been closed to civilians for over a hundred years. But she is so close that she can hear sounds from the ancient city, including the muslim call to prayer.

We did a whole episode with Vahandkht on our show Country of Dust: https://countryofdust.com/podcast_episode/the-last-tonir/“

“After dinner we went to find a place to watch the sunset and wound up at a park a few miles up Route 9. It was dusk and we settled on a bench facing a pond where the fish were having a feeding frenzy. Their heads would ripple up out of the water to grab a bug and I tried to get a clean recording of the sound but couldn’t manage it. Every time their head popped up, one of us would laugh.”

“Late one August evening, my partner and I were driving through the mountains of Portugal’s Serra da Estrela. As we were passing through the village of Sabugueiro, we suddenly heard a chorus of bells. In a flash, we saw a shepherd leading a herd of goats to their shed for the night. We stopped the car and I followed them through the small, cobbled streets for a while, until they turned a final corner, leaving all the village dogs barking. 

(recorded on iPhone)”

“One of the sounds I associate most with Lisbon (where my mother was born), is the eerie polyphony of the Ponte 25 de abril. The red suspension bridge across the river Tejo hums and howls as cars and trucks drive over its metallic grating. Now and then, trains join in from the lower deck. This recording was made around midnight, right underneath the bridge on the north bank. 

(recorded in stereo AB with two omni’s from Immersive Soundscapes)”

“I want to share a recording from June 2025. It was recorded with zoom h1n – X/Y capsules, near Campo Imperatore in a place called ‘Little Tibet’ in Parco nazionale d’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise – Italy. I recorded it during Abruzzo Trail, a bikepacking event.”

“At the very bottom of the Iberian Peninsula Spain and Portugal are separated by a natural border – the river Guadiana. Vila Real and Ayamonte sit on opposite sides of the river, two towns very much connected, with people constantly moving back and forth across the border.”

“This tape was gathered in Boise, Idaho with a contact microphone affixed to a tree root partially submerged in the Boise River.”

“Photo is view from lying in tent where I recorded when the sun came up in morning.”

“I was having a drink at the back deck of the Historic Mayflower Pub in London, right on the Thames. The tide was high and choppy. I managed to slip a couple of microphones through the floorboards to get the wonderful sound of the Thames. I love how you can hear passing boats and the pub crowd in the background.”