In this first of a two part series of episodes, Martin talks with Michael Stocker, bioacoustician, musician, naturalist and director of California based Ocean Conservation Research. OCR is an organisation focused on understanding the scope of, and exploring solutions to, the growing problem of human generated noise pollution and its impact on marine animals. Michael is also the author of ‘Hear Where We Are: Sound, Ecology and Sense of Place’, a fantastically rich and accessible introduction to bioacoustics, and which contains much that is central to the aims of the HomeSounds project. The extended environmental sound in this episode comes from a collection of one week’s continuous audio recordings of the Arctic Ocean, provided courtesy of Cornell University’s Macaulay Library. As well as discussing the incredibly rich and mysterious acoustic habitat of the ocean, the relationships between language and environmental sound, and Michael’s personal career path in sound, the conversation also explores the role sound plays in making humans feel safe, and the dangers posed by isolation to this feeling of safety. We return to this theme in the second part of this series, perhaps because of its importance to the HomeSounds project. LinksOcean Conservation Research - https://ocr.orgArctic Recordings - https://ocr.org/arctic/arctic-recordings/‘Hear Where We Are’ - https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781461472841Macaulay Library - Cornell University - https://www.macaulaylibrary.orgBowhead Whale - https://uk.whales.org/whales-dolphins/species-guide/bowhead-whale/Snapping Shrimp - https://ocr.org/sounds/snapping-shrimp/Sperm Whale - https://uk.whales.org/whales-dolphins/species-guide/sperm-whale/Cicada - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/cicadas

Thursday, 18th March, 2021In this episode, HomeSounds creator Martin Scaiff is joined by exquisite musician and friend Jesse Barrett. Together they attempt to discuss and demonstrate something of the role acoustic habitats play in shaping our creativity. They also fall in a big hole, try to start a rumour about a fish-man-creature of the broads and spot a heron. After walking and recording at Wheatfen they retire to Jesse’s self-built studio-come-motorcycle workshop to improvise a piece of sound inspired by the morning.Welcome home everybody.LinksSound-Walk Map - https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1jUZFqhzDg8ZJtZunyn2XDkflSoC38gx2&usp=sharingWheatfen Nature Reserve - https://www.wheatfen.orgMammal Hands - https://mammalhands.comLocusSonus Soundmap - https://locussonus.org/soundmap/051/

Friday, 26th February, 2021On the first sun-warmed day of spring, HomeSounds creator Martin Scaiff and naturalist and outdoor educator Rob Coleman visit Horsey on the east coast of Norfolk. Through a cutting in high grassy dunes they discover a rich sandy beach playing host to a huge colony of grey seal pups. Like sleeping bags stuffed with jelly, and only recently left to fend for themselves, the pups fill the shoreline as far as the eye can see, corralled into groups of 50 or so by defensive groynes stretching out into the sea. In the episode, Martin and Rob introduce you to the grey seal and discuss the development of the colony in this area. Long periods of ghostly, indeterminate calls filling a rushing sea-soundscape, and the crackling hum of industrial fenland, are accompanied by conversation about ignorance, boggy puddles, imagined nature, motorbikes and everyday wildlife.Welcome home everybody.LinksSound-Walk Map - https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1bVXoPxiqmlFCvk4D9ADO-uGmWX60vtZb&usp=sharingFriends of Horsey Seals - https://www.friendsofhorseyseals.co.ukHorsey Windpump - https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/horsey-windpumpLocus Sonus Soundmap (Wheatfen) - https://locusonus.org/soundmap/051/

Wheatfen - 23rd February, 2021, Dawn/MorningIn this second episode, Martin Scaiff is joined by Will Fitch, warden of Wheatfen Nature Reserve, a 52 hectare area of open fen, sallow carr and two small broads (shallow lakes) just outside Norwich, and within the UK's Norfolk Broads national park. The HomeSounds project has installed a live-streaming microphone at the reserve to broadcast a part of its acoustic habitat to the world for free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through the fabulous Locus Sonus Soundmap. Together Martin and Will explore the sounds of this unique and vital area of wetland on a warm, fresh, early spring day. They discover an already pretty frantic dawn chorus, have some close encounters of the swan kind, discuss the busy and rich life of Wheatfen, and learn about the ‘Penguin’, a Norfolk wherry (sailing barge) the remains of which rest amongst the fen following an unfortunate encounter with a stray Luftwaffe bomb. This episode includes a number of extended periods of environmental sound captured at Wheatfen.Welcome home everybody.LINKSGoogle Map for today’s sound-walk: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1mD8SRnrLvnlblsjUH85dFjJhkzgSkDgI&usp=sharingHomeSounds: https://www.recastmusiceducation.com/homesoundsWheatfen: https://www.wheatfen.org/Broads National Park: https://www.visitthebroads.co.uk/Locus Sonus Soundmap: https://locusonus.org/soundmap/051/Live-Stream Microphone Link: http://locus.creacast.com:9001/norfolk_broads_wheatfen.ogg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HomeSoundsRMTwitter: https://twitter.com/RecastMusicYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZfwXmc6L_1QPIYKj9evYWgToday we used the following equipment for recording;Sony PCM D100 Audio Recorder - https://pro.sony/en_GB/products/portable-digital-recorders/pcm-d100Zoom H5 Audio Recorder - https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/handheld-recorders/handheld-recorders/h5/Lom Geophone: https://store.lom.audio/products/geofon?variant=29549909442647Custom Primo EM172 microphones (commentary): https://micbooster.com/primo-microphone-capsules/8-primo-em172.html?search_query=em172&results=21Rode M5 Stereo Pair: http://www.rode.com/microphones/m5 + Rycote BBG Windshields: https://rycote.com/microphone-windshield-shock-mount/bbg-windshield/ in an ORTF arrangement: Rode NTG 3 - Shotgun Microphone: http://www.rode.com/microphones/ntg-3 + Rode Blimp - http://www.rode.com/accessories/blimpEverything you hear was captured either by Martin or Will.

Saturday, 3rd October, 2020, Evening/NightIn this first episode, HomeSounds creator Martin Scaiff sound-walks with naturalist and outdoor educator Rob Coleman along the beach, among the rockpools and upon the dunes of the tiny North Norfolk village of Salthouse in the UK. On a cold autumn night they listen to the North Sea as it washes the heavy shingle into its myriad unrepeatable shapes, tune into bats feeding on insects, in turn feeding on a line of stranded starfish, and drop hydrophones into the small rock pools whose water the retreating tide has forgotten to take with it. Everything you hear was recorded on the night by Martin and Rob. Welcome home everybody.LINKS:Sound-Walk Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1F4m0ixIzGmaqRgUpQCgZS4hPqA2qWURJ&usp=sharingHomeSounds: https://www.recastmusiceducation.com/homesoundsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/HomeSoundsRMTwitter: https://twitter.com/RecastMusicYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZfwXmc6L_1QPIYKj9evYWg