Sounding the local – experiment with soundscapes

Explore a range of techniques, approaches and microphones to capture and reshape the sounds around you in this hands-on workshop. In this workshop, you’ll explore a range of techniques to capture and reshape the sounds around Chapel FM, indoors and outdoors. We’ll spend time recording sounds at nearby Seacroft Forest Garden, listening back to them, and then editing them into a short soundscape. You'll try using different microphones and recording equipment, such as hydrophones and electromagnetic microphones as well as smartphones and digital recorders to explore a range of sounds. We'll then explore and use audio collaging techniques to create our own impressions of the sounds around us. No prior experience is required. The workshop is open to beginners and to those with more experience in audio. What you’ll need If you have them, please bring: • a smartphone, or any sound recorder you have • a laptop • software to edit audio on your laptop (eg. Audacity, GarageBand, Logic). If you don't have audio software already, I recommend trying Reaper, which has a 60-day free trial. If you don’t have any of these, please let us know. We’ll have extra recording equipment and microphones for everyone to share. If you have questions or would like more information, use the 'contact organiser' button at the end of the page. Workshop leader Rosie Parsons is an audio producer and artist based in Leeds, working between electronic music and radio documentary. Her audio journey began with making work for Radiophrenia, and since then she has produced audio walks, performances and installations as commissions for Manchester Jazz Festival, National Railway Museum, Leeds Museums and Galleries and the British Library. Her work often focuses on listening to archives, exploring utopian ideas and their legacies and weaving these into a rich sonic tapestry. She’s currently the artist in residence at Chapel FM. rosieparsons.co.uk