It was raining here this morning. That cold drizzle (mizzle) that makes everything wet through and doesn’t even offer the limited excitement of a heavier downpour! To be fair it has since brightened up and is now a rather nice sunny almost spring day.

I’m aware of the sound of the rain more since I spent a few weeks listening and recording an album of Recordings of the Rain last year. It was a very wet July here in 2023 with endless rain and I was frustrated that I couldn’t get out more for walks and to make field recordings. I’m not a big fan of me and my recording gear getting soaked through!

So I decided to listen and record the rain from my house and garden instead. I was also experimenting with different microphones and trying to expand my experience of using contact mics which is still very limited.

This is a recording of a metal chair in my garden made with a hydrophone.

It was interesting to focus in on a specific sound that only happens sporadically and for limited durations like the rain—equipment always ready to go and ears alert for the rain starting. I’m usually more about exploring a place and intuitive about what I record. Walk around, listen and hit record when I find something interesting.

I only lightly scratched the surface of listening to and recording the rain, there is definitely a whole lot more to explore there.

The album is on Bandcamp…

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