Saturday November 17th 2018

Today's image is of a wheelbarrow. I realise this is exciting stuff. In the world of Insta-Pintrest-Whats_Chat this sort of thing goes nuclear. Shared endlessly around the globe, and in doing so making the photographer a household name. Not entirely sure that's going to happen today. 

My morning. Monty Don has kindly recorded a couple of Tweet of the Day episodes for the Christmas season. You'll have to listen to know which birds he's chosen. I'm mixing these first thing on Monday and with Mr Don being well known in the gardening sphere, I had a notion to featurise his words by adding the sound of a) a spade digging and b) a wheelbarrow trundling along; sourced from the mighty BBC Sound Archives. I've got the barking dogs by the way for you Nigel and Nellie fans. I could hardly believe it, the only digging spade sounds like an executioner at the guillotine and there is no hint of a wheelbarrow trundling along happily anywhere. Initially I thought oh well,  it's not worth it, I'll just forget it. Then this morning after Julie had gone to a learn to knit session, I thought while it's quiet, I'll record my own wheelbarrow.  I'm a sound recordist, I have a gravel path,  I'll pop my portable recorder in a Rycote sausage and I'll be away. What could be simpler! 

I'd forgotten about the creation of human transport for one thing. The bane of every sound recordists' life in the modern world. Cars, planes, motorbikes, tractors, bicycles, pigeon shooting out the back, a DIY drill, horses, and even what sounded like an ice cream van. It's November!! The list of extraneous noise expanding by the minute. Stop and actually listen where you are right now. Everyday activity filters out anthropomorphic noise, but put on some headphones and start listening to what's going on and you soon realise acoustic noise trashes the peace of the natural environment. Anyway, after half an hour of wheeling, stopping, sitting, listening, wheeling, listening, light blasphemy, wheeling and so on, I managed to record about 4 passes with my trusty barrow. I just hope the listeners appreciate that to make a 90 second programme sound rich and wonderful, takes about 8 hours. That said, as I've been writing this while eating a meat feast pizza, best go and clean up the keyboard, kitchen and my shirt, before the knit and natter trainee returns.