So when I recently discovered that David Oakes – an actor best know as Godwin from the Netflix series Vikings: Vallhala – has a podcast in my favourite genre, that’s been running for several years, is independently produced, and has a penchant for puns, it was refreshing.

Trees A Crowd celebrates nature and the stories of those who care deeply for it, and David’s own passion for environmentalism is apparent. As well as talk-and-walk conversations that place us outside with artists, scientists, creatives and environmentalists, his narrations and miniseries are a great use of his actor-skills. Plus the music (by folk musician Bella Hardy) is a fun little nod to trees he is so connected to.

I of course reached to David to ask him more about the show…

Tell us about Trees A Crowd – how did the podcast come about?

Back in 2018 there weren’t many Nature podcasts – it was well before the glorious bloom of ‘naturalists with microphones’ that emerged during the pandemic – and I wanted to listen to one. The BBC had a few natural history shows, but they were mostly short interviews or sound bites – people saying “one point five degrees” over and over again, and I felt the most important climate and nature messages were getting lost through repetition and the false comfort that ultimately breeds in unhearing ears.

The cult of personality was in it’s heyday too – Global Politics rife with egos placing the climate far down the list of priorities – and I wondered whether you could use personality to push a variety of positive green messaging instead.

Put those two things together, and you have the germination of the TAC seed.

David with Leigh Morris of Manx Wildlife Trust

With a name like Oakes, is it safe to say you’ve always had an interest in trees?

My first name is Rowan too; trees everywhere! I grew up in the New Forest, my Great Aunt was a Botanist, her husband the Chief Executive of a Wildlife Trust… I think everyone in our family had little chance but to hold nature closely to their sole in one form or another.

Personally, I envy the alternate timeline where my a-levels took me towards a degree in Biology or Zoology, rather than English literature and Drama. But, as it turns out however, I seem to be able to maintain a foot in both camps – a career on stage and screen, whilst also serving as an Ambassador for both the Woodland Trust and the Wildlife Trusts.

Why podcasting? What is it about the medium that appeals to you?

People talk candidly; especially in long form interviews recorded in the wild. The microphone gets lost in the leaf litter and tongues loosen. Suddenly it’s not an interview, it’s a conversation. Wherever my day job takes me, my microphones travel with. And the opportunities the show has opened up have been genuinely life changing. Whilst the reels have spun I’ve walked the New Forest with Chris Packham, downed home brewed scrumpy with George Monbiot, bathed in the dawn chorus of Kielder Forest with David Attenborough’s preferred Sound Recordist, Chris Watson. In the name of the podcast, I’ve dived the Atolls of the Maldives with the Manta Trust and the Olive Ridley Project, been given a personal tour around the grounds of Hampton Court with the Head Gardener of Historic Royal Palaces, and sat on the banks of a river whilst two, then four, then six Hippos walked worryingly closer and closer to hear what our conversation was all about!

David with Nicole Pelletier of Manta Trust

You seem to have a lot of fun, does this podcast let you be creative in a different way?

My greatest pleasure to date was creating the third season of the show – one with an episode devoted to each of our nation’s native 56(ish) tree species. As with the interviews, my goal was to illuminate the secrets of arboreal botany and the mysteries of the palaeo-pollen record in such a way that the layman would get excited by things such as leaf pigments and the calyx of a crab-apple. “56(ish) Trees” was a f**kload of work (you have to be insane to produce a weekly podcast), but I think the end result is quite something. I had to call in oodles of favours – each species had original artwork, there was a Cherry Tree related folk song performed specially by the award-winning folk singer Martin Simpson, poetry readings by Sam West, Natalie Dormer, Katie McGrath, Francois Arnaud, friends from casts past and present – pretty much the entire ensemble of “Vikings: Valhalla” appear at some point or another pretending to be Thor or some other aspect of ancient human mythology… and the series culminates with an original composition by the Novello-winning Leisure Society. It was a true labour of love for many many people.

‘Come for the Vikings, stay for the trees!’ – what has been the reaction of listeners who might know you from something else entirely?

Surprise. I think people remain a little shocked by how much an actor can know. But what isn’t always apparent is how much research I’ve had to do. I learn a great deal each time I prepare for an interview, and then more besides when I actually sit down and press record. I have to legitimise my voice in the environmental world – there’s no need for just another face off the telly talking too much – so I make sure that I’m adding to the debate; make sure that I ask informed questions that genuinely push the guests; make sure that the collective mass of interviews, over a hundred now, highlight all the wonderful ways humans interact with the wild world.

What’s your best (or worst) tree-related pun?

I WISH I had spent more time on the title! I mean, for one, should there be an apostrophe?

And what does it even mean?! Sure, the bastardisation of ‘Three’s a crowd’ into my arboreal alternative makes sense(ish) if it’s just me and the Chief Naturalist at Sequoia National Park talking about Giant Redwoods (see Season Two); but what about when I’m talking to two guests about Bison reintroduction in Kent, or a collective noun of anti-rhino-poaching rangers in the middle of the Kuhnene Desert in Namibia??! Puns just tie you in knots.

But, if I had to choose, the episode from the tree season which focuses on our native Hawthorn species had the subtitle: “May Fairies protect your Midland bush against any Common Haws”. I hate it – it’s unbelievably puerile – but it makes perfect sense as a pun from a botanical and folkloric perspective. I’m sorry.

Lastly, aside from your own, do you have a podcast recommendation for readers?

Simple; the Beef and Dairy Network. Can’t describe it. Sometimes it terrifies me. Listen.

Listen to Trees A Crowd now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps >>

Main photo of David Oakes by Martin Behrman

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Who are you and what’s your podcast about?

I’m Marion Atieno Osieyo. I’m an environmental leader and communicator from London, UK. I created Black Earth Podcast, an interview podcast celebrating nature and inspiring black women leaders in the environmental movement. The podcast facilitates informed, inspiring and authentic conversations on what it means to take care of nature.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

The first podcast I ever listened to (and still do) was On Being by Krista Tippett.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

I wanted to tell new narratives about black people’s contribution to Earth care in a way that celebrated the diversity and beauty of our culture as well as the beauty of nature. In the opening episode of the podcast, I talk more about the specific turning point for me which led me to starting the podcast.

I pitched my idea to the Spotify SoundUp programme in 2020 and was selected to take part in the programme. The programme gave me the opportunity to refine the podcast further as well as learn about how to tell great stories using the podcast format.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

I’d say On Being has been the biggest inspiration for me in terms of how to structure and host impactful interviews.

I also like Mothers of Invention, which was the first environmental podcast I listened to and felt the issues were covered with enough depth but also accessible.

Aside from podcasts, I listen to alot of interviews, which I feel helps me think about the questions and structure of the conversations in the podcast.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

All my guests have been my dream guests. I’m grateful they have been a part of Black Earth podcast. One person I’m looking forward to interviewing is Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados.

Why podcasting? What is it about the format that appeals to you?

Through my work as an environmental leader, I get access to incredible science about the state of our planet. I also meet interesting people with visionary ideas and unique life stories. The podcast format is a perfect way to blend the two – science and unique life stories- in an intimate and accessible way.

Podcasting allows me to integrate nature sounds (bioacoustics) in the interviews, bringing to life the beautiful sounds of nature that are all around us. The episode with Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, was recorded when she was in a forest. You can hear the sounds of nature and we were able to amplify that with nature soundscapes in the sound design.

Through podcasting, I can tap into oral storytelling and communal listening practices which are important parts of my ancestral heritage.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

You can check out our website and listen to our episodes: blackearthpodcast.com.

We use our social media to continue informing and engaging with our listener community so connect with us on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn @blackearthpodcast

Personally, I’m on Instagram @earth.marion and LinkedIn.

Listen to Black Earth Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps >>

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Many of us lead extraordinarily busy, stressful lives in distinctly urban environments, often lacking any contact with mother nature. City life is undoubtedly exciting and upbeat, but studies have shown that missing out on the benefits of the stimuli present in nature can affect our mental wellbeing and happiness levels, and could actually be crucial to us living a balanced and fulfilled life.

But does nature really need to exist in our own ‘modern’ lives in order to make us happy and mentally well? The BBC Earth team believed this to be the case, and set about validating their theory. In conjunction with The University of California Berkeley they studied the effects on people’s emotions of watching episodes of the nature documentary series Planet Earth II, with study groups involved from global areas as diverse as Europe, India and Australia. What they found was that viewing these clips of nature actually promoted “significant increases in feelings of awe, contentedness, joy, amusement and curiosity”, but also reduced “feelings of tiredness, anger and stress” (read the findings here).

It is certainly beneficial to immerse ourselves in nature from time to time, even watching nature on film can help us to achieve a more positive mental state, but is it actually possible to improve our mental wellbeing by simply listening to the sounds in nature? There are many soothing sounds gleaned from nature which can be bought to provide a background ambient soundtrack to be played at home, in the car, or even at work. Rainforest sounds, surf sounds, gentle bird song – are all supposedly beneficial and relaxing – but do they actually work to actively promote a better mental state of wellbeing?

Brighton and Sussex Medical School researchers wanted to find out, so set about investigating this further by giving subjects two sets of sounds to listen to (natural and artificial) while recording their brain activity on an MRI scanner. Subjects were also given tasks to perform during the experiment to measure attention and reaction time.

They found that the sounds from nature produced brain activity associated with outward-directed focus as well as higher rest-digest nervous system activity associated with a relaxed body state. There was also an improvement in facilitating external attentional monitoring tasks and mental concentration. The artificial sounds created an inward-directed focus of attention – which is brain activity associated with negative states of mind including anxiety, worry, and depression. Interestingly, subjects responded better to sounds from nature that they were familiar with.

“We are all familiar with the feeling of relaxation and ‘switching-off’ which comes from a walk in the countryside,”  said the studies leading author Dr Cassandra Gould van Praag. “And now we have evidence from the brain and body which helps us understand this effect.”

These results have been supported by other studies in the field of psychology, indicating any immersion in to the world of nature can greatly improve mental wellbeing. One such study by a PhD psychology student at the University of British Colombia focused on small outcrops of nature in the urban environment, where participants in the study were asked to document and photograph examples of nature in their daily routine and record how they felt about them.

Holli-Anne Passmore who conducted the study said: “This is about the tree at a bus stop in the middle of a city and the positive effect that one tree can have on people.”

Another group photographed human built artefacts, and there was also a control group. Her findings were significant.

“Post-intervention levels of net positive affect, elevating experiences, a general sense of connectedness (to other people, to nature and to life as a whole) and prosocial orientation were significantly higher in the nature group compared to the human-built and control groups” she concluded in her paper.

Nature is literally amazing, it is all around us, but we just need to spend more time observing it. Watching my four-year-old son stop in the street to examine a dandelion growing in between the cracks in the pavement, or to observe an ant scurrying about its business brings a smile not just to his face, but to mine too. He looks at the sky – the moon and stars at night, and the clouds in the day – while I am usually poring over the path ahead, my vision filled with the grey urban landscape. I should learn from him, noticing the natural world is always a wonderful experience and we should all do it a lot more if we want to be happy – even if it is just to watch nature from a distance on our laptop or television screens, or by letting our minds associate with the familiar sounds of nature by listening to it on our stereos or phones. It could be the secret of a contented existence.

Further reading:

Indigenous people and nature: a tradition of conservation

The Mental Health of Aboriginal Peoples: Transformations of
Identity and Community

Listen to the BBC Earth podcast on BBC Sounds, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

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BBC Sounds AudioLabs – Talia Randall

Pod Bible: What was your introduction to podcasting as a listener?

Talia Randall: It was probably one of the big guns at NPR that first got my attention. I also loved Two Dope Queens. Recently the shows I’ve been addicted to are Harsh Reality, Wild Boys and The Trojan Horse Affair. I think an investigative podcast works best when the host really inserts themselves into the topic and doesn’t pretend to be neutral. I also enjoy The Polyester Podcast. It’s a self-published, intersectional feminist and culture show. I think the seriousness they give to seemingly throwaway or ‘bad taste’ subjects is really refreshing

In terms of audio more broadly I was very briefly involved in pirate radio quite some time ago and before that, the first thing that properly had me as a listener was Blue Jam by Chris Morris. I’d be scared to listen back to it, I can’t tell you how much that twisted my melon.

PB: Why was audio the right medium for your project?

TR: We all know that a good podcast is an intimate experience. As a listener I really enjoy the feeling of someone inviting me into a corner to have a natter about some random, interesting topic. It’s a bit like having a gossip in the smokers section of club. You hear a revelation, inhale sharply and then rush to share the secret with someone else.

Obviosity my podcast is less gossip and more feelings about nature but I want that mood to be present; a one-on-one chat with a stranger, before you know it, you’re getting to know each other really well; you’re sharing revelations with each other.

There’s also that vibe when you’re on a walk – how your mind can wonder with your feet. Spending time alone in nature is a joy and a privilege and there was something about the meandering thoughts you have on a walk that chimed with the style of the podcast.

PB: What the biggest thing you’ve learned from making the podcast?

TR: Honestly, that I can do it! I was learning everything as I went (which is usually the case for me but certainly not on a platform this big). Learning how to edit, to sound design, putting the whole thing together. I mean every time I opened my laptop was a crash course in learning a new skill with a hefty deadline looming over me. I’m neurodivergent too so holding that all in my head was messy and complex

I also learnt that I can take on the subject matter. This last time year if you’d have told me I was gonna make a nature show I would’ve howled with laughter, yet here we are! Check in with me next year, maybe I’ll be making something about another subject that will surprise me. (I’m currently open to commissions babes)

PB: What would you like to see more of in the podcast space?

TR: We need a much broader range of audio makers and stories. I think this is true of arts and culture in general. I’ve had a few comp tickets to award and industry events via the Audio Lab scheme and although there’s been lots of great things and I’ve learnt loads, there is so much more than needs to be done to make more audio creatives (and listeners) feel like they belong. For example, I might be misremembering but I don’t remember any wheelchair access at many of these events. I think there needs to be a conversation about transcripts and captions for podcasts. I’d like to see more genuine risks on lesser known talent and, honestly, we need to talk more about cash. Money and the arts are so opaque and until we stop expecting people to work for little money (or no money) we just won’t have more perspectives.

Listen to Blossom Trees and Burnt Out Cars now on BBC Sounds and other popular podcast apps. 

Come back next week, when Adam Zmith will be talking about The Film We Can’t See. Check out the other interviews in the series here.

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The Lodge Cast not only gives us a great insight to these animals, it also explores how to combat the threats of climate change, reduce the risk of flooding, and increase biodiversity in the UK. We spoke to hosts, Eva Bishop and Sophie Pavelle, about why beavers are so important, and how The Lodge Cast came about…

The Lodge Cast may initially seem quite niche, but you go “beyond beavers” – can you tell us a little about your podcast?

The Lodge Cast is a fun twist on exploring the serious matter of how we regain a healthier state of nature in the UK, how we cope with and adapt to climate breakdown and the role people and beavers can play as we urgently drive to restore our landscapes. For Beaver Trust, beavers have always been more than just a flagship species, they are a unique teacher of ecology, a totem for systemic change and a valiant symbol of hope.

Sophie Pavelle exemplifying a beaver

This interview is going out on Earth day and you describe the beavers as an ‘ally’ in climate change. Why is that?

Beavers have been described as a hydrological and ecological swiss army knife (kudos Ben Goldfarb); they and their wetlands directly help tackle flood, drought, water quality, carbon sequestration, biodiversity loss and eco anxiety. Just a few of the things we are seriously up against as climate breakdown intensifies. So we want to welcome beavers back, live alongside them again and let them build some resilience back into our rivers, for wildlife and us. The ecological, let alone financial implications of beaver reintroduction is urgent and compelling.

You start the episodes with some beaver facts, all of which are absolutely fascinating – can you give our readers a taste by telling us your favourite thing about beavers?

Eva: Extremely hard to choose, but the thing that leaves me most in awe of these fluffy climate rebels is the wake of life that blossoms in their presence. You introduce a beaver to a stream, and weeks/months later it’ll be BUZZING with life. Nothing else, not even we, can do that with such efficiency and effectiveness.

Sophie: Ah, man! Where to start?! I keep on returning to the fact that there is just no other animal quite like the beaver. They are the true definition of a ‘keystone species’ – exerting an astonishingly disproportionate impact on an environment relative to their size and numbers. They keep us on our toes, challenge our thinking and offer hope for nature’s resilience like nothing else. I cannot get enough of them.

Eva Bishop Beaver Trust

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

We felt the one thing missing from the wealth of wildlife and environment podcasts is a healthy dose of beaver.

Seriously though, one of our main objectives at Beaver Trust is to bring beavers back into mainstream consciousness as one of our native species – to learn to live alongside them again. Releasing a podcast allows us to talk about it with experts in the field and bring real life, bring solutions, have the difficult conversations and not be afraid of where they take us. A fun-but-real podcast seemed a good place to reach new audiences with this message of hope for restoration and make everyone feel a part of the solution.

It seems beavers are pretty overlooked as a significant part of reversing the environmental damage in the UK. Which episode would you direct our readers to as an entry point to give them an idea of how important beavers are?

Emily Fairfax – Fighting Fire with Beavers – Emily is a globally leading beaver expert, scientist and communicator. She studies the wildfire resilience effects of beaver wetlands and listening to that episode would give a good flavour of the benefits beavers can offer.

Are there any podcasts you take inspiration from?

Sophie: I have a real mix of comedy and then long-form podcasts in my library. During lockdown I really enjoyed ‘Feel Better, Live More’ with Rangan Chatterjee, as he really gets under the skin of his fascinating guests, and isn’t afraid to explore really deep and difficult topics. I feel he really gets the best out of his guests and that’s something we’re really keen on doing in The Lodge Cast.

Eva: I enjoy the Accidental Gods podcast, for its fearlessness in conversation, and For What It’s Earth for is fun exploration of environmental topics.

Eva Bishop

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster?

Eva: Quit the script! When we’re having fun exploring a subject, it’s going to be top listening for our audience.

Sophie: I completely agree with Eva – the best conversations are when we just have a couple topics to hit and then feel confident enough to go off-piste with the guests.

Where can we see beavers ourselves?

On Beaver Trust’s website we have a map showing where beavers are around the UK – although it needs regular updating as their reintroduction progresses! We hope in the future they’ll be a natural part of the landscape and found on many watercourses across Britain. For now, though, there are a few places like the River Otter in Devon, Knapdale in Scotland or the River Avon near Bath where wild beavers can be seen. Many are still in licensed enclosures and not all of these are open to the public. And of course our colleague Chris Jones will always welcome interested parties to the Cornwall Beaver Project near Truro.

Sophie Pavelle

And where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

You can keep up to date with the latest news on beavers, policy and their reintroduction via our website, and sign up to our quarterly, free, newsletter: beavertrust.org. For more regular beaver fun, facts and action, do follow us across all social media platforms: @beavertrust and subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch our award-winning documentary Beavers Without Borders and await the April release of our next documentary On The Edge.

Sophie: Come say hi on social media: @sophiepavs (Twitter and Instagram)

Eva: Come say hi on Twitter: @evabishop

Listen to The Lodgecast now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast platforms.

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As I write this, there is rain lashing at my windows and thunder rumbling in the distance, which can only mean one thing: English summertime has well and truly begun! But even with the bad weather, the COVID-19 travel restrictions and advice to meet outdoors has caused an increase in outdoors recreation over the past year.

If you’re planning to get outdoors more again this summer, I’ve pulled together a short list of the best outdoors podcasts from the UK for some inspiration and encouragement. From open air interviews, to deep dispatches and news commentary, these podcast will inspire you to brave the elements and get outside. (And if your holiday becomes a test of endurance, listening to these podcast might at least distract you from the hardship…)

Folk On Foot

An award-winning podcast, Folk on Foot sees Matthew Bannister talking to folk musicians at they show him the landscapes that inspire them. Guests have included legends like Richard Thompson and Peggy Seeger, who all play exclusive mini-concerts out on the walks. Despite the outward focus, the podcast adapted incredibly well to staying indoors last year, and the Folk On Foot: Front Room Festivals were nominated for ‘Best Lockdown Podcast’ in the British Podcast Awards. You can read our interview with Matthew to find out more about the show. Listen now >>

The Tough Girl Podcast

In The Tough Girl Podcast, Sarah Williams speaks to incredible women to motivate and inspire her listeners, and increase the representation of women in sports media. With nearly 400 episodes to chose from, you can now find representation from all kinds of sports, countries, backgrounds and abilities. If you’re unsure where to start, why not check out my episode about walking the Camino de Santiago… Listen now >>

Get Birding

From the extremely tough to the extremely accessible, Get Birding is hosted by an 18-year old ornithologist and conservationist Dr (yes, Doctor!) Mya-Rose Craig aka Birdgirl. Each episode, Mya-Rose is joined by a celebrity bird-watcher to talk about their joint passion, and how listeners can get started as a ‘birder’, which can be as simple as sitting at your window. Listen now >>

Ramblings

A legend amongst walking podcasts, Ramblings’ true home is on Radio 4, where it began back in 1999! After 22 years, Clare Balding is still hosting new episodes, speaking to people from all walks of life as they take her along a path that’s important to them. The guests are so numerous now I wouldn’t dare single anyone out, but they have included writers, artists, athletes, actors and people who make a living from walking. Keen-eyed fans will have noticed the cover art recently had a revamp to bring it into podcast style. Listen now  >>

Designing London National Park City

In 2019, London became the world’s first National Park City. Whilst there are undoubtedly other cities in the world that are more naturally aligned to nature reserves, London’s nature sprawls in defiant green and blue (water) spaces within the urban environment. The cover design (a water bird – coot – on a canal next to a floating water bottle) exemplifies that. More of an art piece than a podcast, this consists of just one hour-long episode that takes you along Regents Canal at the level and pace of a coot. Listen now on Spotify >>

On The Outside

When these podcasts inspire you to get outdoors this summer, you might want to delve deeper into the culture and people you find there. On The Outside is a news-panel podcast that shares the important news, the big events and the social issues that permeate the whole of the outdoors. Each episode, a diverse panel from a range of outdoors sports discuss the news stories that matter to them – all in a jargon and judgement free way! Full transparency time: this is my new podcast, hot off the press – listen to the trailer now and sign up to our newsletter at ontheoutsidepodcast.co.uk. Listen now >>

Honourable mentions (I could really go on for days):

The Outdoors Fix – Liv Bolton encourages you to make adventures a bigger part of your life by speaking to people who have found the outdoors to being a soothing part of theirs. Listen now  >>

The Adventure Podcast – An ongoing series where Matt Pycroft has long-form conversations with individuals at the forefront of exploration and adventure. Listen now >>

Looking Sideways – Matt Barr finds the best stories in skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and other related endeavours. The Type Two miniseries that explores the intersection between the outdoors and activism are my favourite episodes. Listen now  >>

The First Mile – Long form interviews and on-location dispatches about the untold stories from the world of adventure. Read our interview with hosts Pip Stewart and Ash Bhardwaj to learn about why they made the show.  Listen now >>

Wild For Scotland – A unique podcast I was lucky enough to do some work on, award-winning Scotland travel blogger Kathi Kamleitner brings you immersive monologues from her trips across Scotland. ‘The Cure’ in particular is very relatable! Listen now >> 

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Photo: Xijian / Getty Images

So what exactly is binaural 3-d audio? Professional nature recordist Lang Elliot explains binaural as “hearing with two ears, as we humans do”, and goes on to define binaural recording as “using a microphone setup that simulates the human listening apparatus”. The sound is ‘captured’ exactly as we hear it, with every element of our 3 dimensional hearing experience recorded by two special microphones, set apart from each other like ears, which emulate the functions of the human head, and can pinpoint and record the sounds we hear in the exact location that we perceive them. As our ears are located on either side of a dense skull, with a sponge-like brain in between, each ear hears the same sound at a different time. Depending on how loud and in which direction the sound emanates from, the brain is able to process and assimilate these tiny fractions of strength and time to map out an accurate signal location. Similarly, the microphones used in binaural recording are designed specifically to replicate these functions, and to be more effective, can be placed within a soft head shaped mould complete with ear canals. By being so close in structure to the human head, all the complex audio frequency variations that occur (which are known as head-related transfer functions – or HRTFs), are recorded to create the 3 dimensional effect of ‘normal’ hearing when we listen back on 2 stereo speakers, or headphones. Of course we are not actually listening to the sounds recorded from the multiple locations and directions that we would be hearing in real life, so the 3-d audio processing used in the binaural recording is in effect, tricking our brains into believing we are actually experiencing this multi-dimensional soundscape, whilst listening back only using binary stereo speakers.

When it comes to listening to the sounds of nature this method is extremely rewarding, and very effective. The sound of a bird swooping overhead, crickets chirping in unison from multiple directions, insects buzzing, and the gentle audio ambience of the natural environment with it’s multiple sound sources can be recreated perfectly using this technique. Tuning in to field recordings made with 3-d binaural audio, it is possible to completely immerse oneself in the sounds of nature and reap the benefit of these often soothing sounds which have been proven to alleviate stress and improve general wellbeing.

There are some challenges however. Binaural audio recording is usually enacted using soft head microphones to replicate the ears and head, but each person’s ears and head are different, and this can affect the timing and distance of the sounds we hear. If the person listening back has a different head shape to the original soft head microphone set up, then the recording won’t seem as effective to them.

Doing accurate field recordings also presents difficulties beyond just the microphone technology, as German field recordist Sebastien-Thies Hinrichson says – “When you do nature sound recording with binaural microphones you have to find locations that are free of human-made noise.”-

Microphones are extremely sensitive and can record sounds from miles away, such as traffic and high altitude aircraft noise. But there are some useful tips for minimising these unwanted noises, which when adhered to, can improve the recordings immensely, such as recording nature at dawn – the dawn chorus is not only loud, but occurs at a time in the early hours when human activity is at a minimum. Also following nature’s pointers can help – a warm, still summer’s morning will yield better results than a windy, rainy one where the ambient and delicate sounds of wildlife will be obscured by the noise of the weather (unless the sound of heavy rain is what you are aiming to record!). And of course, being as far away from human activity as is possible. After all, the aim of binaural 3-d audio, especially when recording the intricate and unspoiled sounds of nature, is to improve a listener’s experience, and by doing so, create an audio world that is wholly satisfying and completely immersive.

Written by Chris Knowles

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