Field recordist & sound designer
Vireo Ward
Ward Sound Field
I record quiet places at first light — wet woodland, weather, water moving under roads — and shape them into records, scores and long pieces for sleep and slow work.
Studio card
Every row below opens where it sits — tap a heading to read what it is before you commit to it. Nothing on this page needs an account.
The rig is modest and quiet: two small-diaphragm omnis, a pair of hydrophones, contact mics for bridges and fence wire, and a recorder that runs all night on one set of cells.
Commission enquiries are read once a day, in the afternoon, after the morning's recording is filed. Replies usually go out the same week.
Understory — nine field piecesNew
Recorded across one wet spring in the beech ward.
Nine pieces built from dawn chorus, rain landing on hornbeam leaf and the low hum of a flooded culvert under a farm track. Sequenced to be played whole and quietly, from first light onward. No instruments were added — only editing, and a little tape.
Listen
03-
Nightjar Tapes — monthly mix An hour of new field work, posted at each full moon.
Unreleased takes, failed takes worth keeping, and whatever the month's weather handed over. Each edition opens with a short written note on where the recordings were made and what the conditions were doing.
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Sleep & Rain — long players Six-hour rain beds with no edits and no peaks.
Three continuous recordings — rain on a tin roof, a slow river in flood, and wind held in a hedge line — mastered flat and gently low-passed so nothing startles a sleeper at three in the morning. Safe at low volume on headphones or a small speaker.
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The Ward Archive Every recording, catalogued by habitat and weather.
An open index of the whole collection. Entries carry habitat, season, time before or after sunrise, wind strength and what was audible in the distance — so a researcher or an editor can find the right two minutes without listening through the rest.
Work with me
03-
Scores for film & installationOpen Original sound for documentary, gallery and public space.
Best suited to slow, observational work and to rooms where a piece has to hold for hours without fatiguing anyone. I take two commissions a season, work from picture or from a site visit, and deliver stems as well as the mix.
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Location recording days A full day of quiet capture, my rig, your project.
Dawn start, a scouting hour, then recording until the wind gets up. You receive the raw files, a marked-up log of the best takes, and a short written account of the conditions. Weather moves dates more often than anything else, so two reserve days are built into every booking.
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Licence a recording Single sounds and beds cleared for broadcast and games.
Anything in the archive can be licensed on its own. Files come as originals plus a trimmed, denoised version, with the recording log attached so a sound editor knows exactly what is in the take and what is not.
Elsewhere
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Listening walks Small guided walks at first light, autumn through spring.
Two slow hours, eight people, no talking for the middle hour. You borrow a pair of headphones and a small recorder and leave with your own files. Sturdy boots and a warm layer matter more than any listening experience.
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Dawn Register — seasonal letter A short letter four times a year, at each turn of season.
One page per season: what has started singing, what has stopped, which recordings survived the cut, and a single long piece to listen to before the light changes again. No sales, no archive of back issues to wade through.
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Press & biography Photographs, short and long biographies, technical rider.
For programmers, festivals and writers: two portrait frames, a fifty-word and a two-hundred-word biography, correct spelling of every piece title, and the rider for live listening sessions. Please use the long biography for print.