Location: Rogen Nature Reserve, Sweden
Weather: 15°C, clear, no wind
This is a recording from a week long trip to Femundsmarka National Park and Rogen Nature Reserve during the end of august
The borderland around Femundsmarka National Park in Norway and the Rogen Nature Reserve in Sweden is one of the loneliest, and to me, most beautiful regions in all of Europe. Having already wandered twice through this vast wilderness (without microphones), I was finally able to capture the pristine soundscapes that had so deeply enchanted me. The feeling of absolute stillness in the fjäll, the whisper of gnarled pines in the wind, or the distant murmur of a cold stream.At the moment of this recording, it is around 10 p.m. The air is completely still at Skedbrosjön, where tiny waves gently lap against the stones of the shore. The sun is just sinking behind the ridge of Skedbrofjället, staining the sky a luminous red. From the far end of the lake drifts the presence of a stream, its inflow shaping the soundscape. With the slightest movements of air across the water, the timbre of its murmur shifts from time to time. Now and then, a fish leaps — perhaps an Arctic grayling, perhaps a pike?
During the recording I slipped into a deep meditation. To express what I felt, I would like to share a passage by Jörg Zink, whose words I find profoundly beautiful:
SILENCE
For several years now, I have spent my holidays in a small hut right by the sea. The weather there is steady, almost unchanging. Nearly every morning a faint breath of wind drifts seaward, leaving the water smooth and still. Then I set out. I paddle for an hour, six or seven kilometers, until I can lay the oar across the boat.
In those morning hours there is nothing to hear but the soft gurgle of tiny waves against the skin of the boat. Once, a bird. Once, a leaping fish. Somewhere in the distance, the muffled chug of a fishing boat. Otherwise — nothing. Nothing to see but a pale blue sky streaked with a few gray-white clouds, a dark, undulating line of coast, and the water.
To listen into such stillness for half an hour can mean more, and heal more deeply, than a week of rest. Doing nothing but feeling the space, drifting with the birds, watching the fish, and simply being a creature among them.
Later, one remembers — when work and haste return. In the midst of tasks, one closes the eyes and hears again the gentle gurgling against the boat’s skin. And one knows once more: silence exists only as long as we listen. Where listening ends, noise begins — from without, or from within. To be one with people, and with the world, is possible only through listening.
Nevaton MC59 Omni, AB 55cm at 90°. Quality open headphones are recommended.
Location: Bohlenbergerfeld, Lower Saxony
Weather: 10°C, clear, no wind
The late evening of this day in 2025 will mark the peak of the maybug (cockchafer) flight in northern Germany.
The sheer number of maybugs was already immense in 2024, and seems to be at a similarly high level this year too. The late evening was particularly striking for about a good hour. I noticed this loud buzzing and droning by chance when I let the cats out of the house. Maybugs were everywhere! There must have been thousands on the property alone. The crowns of the oak trees were teeming; there was scratching and buzzing everywhere. While setting up the microphones right on the bank of the pond, under the oak trees and a large beech, two maybugs already collided with me.In the first five minutes or so of the recording, a rather mysterious incident occurred: First, you can hear the tomcat lapping water at the pond, and shortly thereafter, two sounds that cats make during fights or when annoyed. A moment later, something rustles on the embankment, followed by loud footsteps in the gravel where the microphone stand was also positioned. Unfortunately, I can't say for sure what it was, as I was comfortably sitting in front of the TV at the time. Probably a deer, perhaps a Sasquatch.
Nevaton MC59 Omni, Baffled AB 35cm at 90°. Quality open headphones are recommended.
Location: Stapeler Moor, Lower Saxony
Weather: 14°C, clear, calm
This May 1st, 2025, will be well remembered for its sunny and warm weather. Towards evening, the light southwesterly wind died down completely. I set off for Stapeler Moor, a former peat extraction area between Friesland and East Frisia. With little wind and a favorable wind direction, the nearby wind turbines are not, or barely, audible. On this day, a wonderful soundscape revealed itself. The call of the cuckoo was joined by tree pipits, redshanks, willow warblers, and little ringed plovers.The attentive listener will notice the high-pitched whirring in this recording. It's a huge swarm of mosquitoes, which, about a meter above the crown of the nearby pine tree, was likely heralding the start of the mosquito season. Sheep can be heard repeatedly in the background. These are Heidschnucken, small moor sheep that graze on the periphery of the moorland. They are protected around the clock by wolfdogs. The wolf has returned to this region in the last five years or so.
Stapeler Moor, together with Lengener Meer, Spolsener Moor, and Herrenmoor, forms a contiguous protected landscape area (Landschaftsschutzgebiet) in the border region of the districts of Friesland, Leer, Wittmund, and Ammerland. In the generally densely populated Northwest, it is considered one of the most remote areas.Nevaton MC59 Omni, AB 50. Quality open headphones are recommended.
Location: Hopelser Wald, Lower Saxony
Weather: 11°C, sunny, 3-4 Bft. west
This recording was actually intended more as a test for my new Nevaton MC 59 microphones with a wide cardioid pattern. Ultimately, it turned out to be a small stroke of luck.Towards early evening, I headed to the eastern part of the Hopelser Forest in East Frisia, so that with a westerly wind, I would be at least somewhat shielded from the traffic noise from the neighboring town of Wiesmoor. The forest was teeming with life; many bird species were energetically heralding the spring. You can even hear the harsh call of a fox at the beginning. Notice the airy rustling of the spruce canopy during the occasional stronger gusts of wind. At 6 PM sharp, another sound drifted through the trees: the church bells from Wiesmoor. They echoed for a long time, like a lingering chord, as the wind slowly subsided and the birds began their evening song. This combination created a meditative musicality that perhaps even the birds themselves seemed to enjoy. The bells must have rung for at least 10 minutes. The beat frequencies came in waves with the soft wind gusts, while the traffic noise almost completely disappeared. Wonderful!
Nevaton MC59 wide cardioid, NOS 35cm, 90°, angled slightly towards the canopy. Quality open headphones are recommended.
Recording on set for a film documentary with 9sekunden. You can watch the teaser "ROMEIROS - on a pilgrimage for mercy" on this site under Sound Design. Stay tuned for more!
A MIRROR OF ONE | Music And Sound As A Medium For Transcendence (live excerpt)
A Mirror Of One is an attempt at creating music in its purest form. Just a wave of energy, representing everything there is. A sound mirror for self reflection. As the sound wave fades into subconscious bass, the church room and its surroundings reappear into conscious existence and sound louder than ever. This performance was part of my final exam for my studies in music design. Recorded in Trossingen, St. Martins Kirche in Germany (July 2022).
SOUND MAPS OF NORTHERN GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS | 6 Months Of Field Recording
„You listen to the place, not the sound.“
This quote from sound ecologist Gordon Hempton describes very well how field recordings are perceived by us. Unlike composed instrumental music or especially electronic music, which is only placed in an (artificial) space, a sound from outside does not describe the instrument, but very accurately the character of the place including many of its inhabitants at a specific time. This sound is highly complex and contains a huge amount of information. The work “Sound Maps Of Northern Germany and the Netherlands | 6 Months Of Field Recording” is an extensive documentation of the sounds of the north and the coast during times of very quiet air spaces (COVID-19 flight bans). I made recordings on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog and the East Frisian island of Langeoog for sounds of the sea. Moor and forest recordings were made in Friesland and the Geest regions of Schleswig-Holstein. Time of day, day, season and weather have a huge influence. The finished 30-minute sound composition reveals a large portfolio for the full spectrum of sonic characteristics. I tried to explore the relationship of anonymous natural white noise vs. distinct, clearly recognizable sound. First introduced by sound ecologist Bernie Krause, I used the parameters „geophony“, „biophony“ and „anthrophony“ to organize my recordings. In total, I gathered about 600 recordings or almost 100 hours of high quality sound material. Following this work, various (film) music compositions were created using this source material, mainly oriented towards experimental ambient music under the alias Aron Stadler.