A new interactive map is out to document the sounds of a changing LA. Here’s how to contribute

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To see (and hear) the map: Visit the L.A. Field Recording Club’s website — there are already a few recordings to get things started.

What kind of recordings are accepted: The club lists “birds, traffic, water, people, machinery, footsteps, or something unexpected” as examples of what they’re looking for. You can use anything to record, from fancy microphones to your phone.

What’s field recording: They’re long-form recordings meant to capture the sounds made in a specific place. It’s often done in natural environments, but you can do it anywhere. Crowded bars, busy freeways, even parking lots are all fair game — in fact, one of the first recordings on the map is from the eighth floor of the Americana at Brand’s parking lot.

Field recording as meditation: “There’s a certain fluctuation of sound happening — a pulse you might say — in this city," L.A. Field Recording Club founder George Jensen told LAist’s Robert Garrova. "Once people sit and be still for a moment, they hear it.”

How to field record: Some basic tips from this radio producer:

• Record as much as you can. You can always edit it down later, and there’s nothing I hate more than missing a cool moment of audio because I just turned off the recorder.
• Get into a comfortable position before you hit record. Mics can pick up even slight movement, and your arms get tired quicker than you think. 
• Don’t be afraid to get as close as you safely can to the source of a sound. A phone with good mic placement might very well capture a sound better than an $800 microphone from far away.
• Monitor your recordings in real time if you can, and listen back to them if you can’t. You may be surprised by the differences between what you hear and what your mic records.

To contribute to the map: If you have recordings you’ve already made, or want to go out and submit some of your own, you can send them to the club's email, lafieldrecordingclub@gmail.com, by following the instructions in this post. You can also bring the files to one of the club’s meetups.