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Meet the LA club lovingly recording the sounds of the city
The LA Field Recording Club crew on an outing.
(
Courtesy George Jensen
)
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Like recording and archiving the natural sounds of LA? Well, there's a club for that
Robert Garrova on the Los Angeles Field Recording Club.
The sounds of Los Angeles are bringing together people from all walks of life to record and archive them, from the buzzing of a bees’ nest in Griffith Park to church bells echoing over goose honks in Echo Park.
And you can listen to these recordings tomorrow in Highland Park.
George Jensen founded the Los Angeles Field Recording Club a little over a year ago. He said it has attracted sound lovers with all levels of recording sophistication, from people using their phones to folks with professional recorders worth thousands of dollars.
A longtime radio guy with shows on dublab and KCHUNG radio, Jensen fell in love with preserving audio moments in the city and beyond after capturing the serene sounds of a cove in Big Sur.
“There’s a certain fluctuation of sound happening — a pulse you might say — in this city," Jensen told LAist. "Once people sit and be still for a moment, they hear it.”
About 20 club members meet up once a month at places like the purportedly haunted Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, a scrap yard in Sun Valley and a section of Griffith Park, where someone recorded a cacophony of bees buzzing around their nest.
Jensen, who works as a prop fabricator in the TV and film industry, said people are drawn to field recording for many reasons: Some love nerding out over the gear; others need the sound to embellish an art or music project.
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The club's next endeavor, he said, is an interactive sound map where field recordists can archive their audio online for all to enjoy.
The club’s outings end up being a bit of an antisocial social club, Jensen joked.
“At the beginning, everybody meets each other... and then you go be by yourself and be quiet,” he said.
Los Angeles Field Recording Club Listening Session
Where: Figueroa Unanimous Radio, 5820 North Figueroa St, Los Angeles (behind the Bearded Beagle shop)
When: Sunday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m.
He added there's a meditative quality to field recording that hooks people.
“I think once people do it, they realize that you kind of stop and listen," Jensen said. "You become in the present. You’re forced to.
"I think there’s, like, a certain therapeutic thing that comes with it,” he said.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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