Hello I’m Geoff Sample, musician and naturalist with a passion for the sounds of life.
Wildsong is the name I give my field recording practice. Wild as in beyond the active control of human culture and industry; song as in the perception of the wider, more-than-human soundscape, not just as a web of information, but very much as experienced through our proto-musical perceptual system. From birdsong to the tidal pulse of the oceans – embodied, physical and neuro-rhythmic.
In the 90s and 00s my book and CD sound guides were popular – in the era before Merlin and Xeno-Canto, my Collins Guide to Bird Songs & Calls was a best-seller. And alongside work for UK conservation organisations and the BTO, I’ve contributed sounds and voice to film, BBC radio and TV, and collaborated with contemporary visual artists on a wide variety of innovative projects.
Wildsong began as the CD label Wild at Heart in 1993, with the release of the album Birdsong in Britain; but along with name changes, technological developments and social evolution, it’s become a catch-all for my fieldwork in general, investigating and recording the natural soundscapes of my native areas.
There’s a major focus on birds, since they have developed acoustic communication to such a high degree and in particularly diverse and beautiful ways. But there’s another reason too: in my home landscapes of northern Britain, they are by far the major component of the audible biophony all year round. At this rather cool latitude and oceanic location, the abundance and diversity of amphibians and the larger, sound-producing insects is low. Mammals are scarce, usually secretive and their voices rarely heard – other than domestic and agricultural animals that is. So birdsong has long been a dominant fascination.
So, my wildsong archive covers 35+ years of specific and ambient recordings exploring the natural soundscapes of Europe, with a number of long-term site studies in northern Britain, especially my home area of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders; and it includes in-depth coverage of many bird species (vocabulary, variety, context).
Tuning in to the voices and expression of other creatures is a fascinating way of engaging with questions of what it is to be alive, animal on this planet earth. To trace the path of voice from amphibians and insects through birds and mammals is to become aware of a wider musical heritage and feel a real sense of continuity in anima, the breath of life.