• 11/02/2024

    I recently gave a presentation to members of BatAbility, exploring the story behind my recently released album, Walking with Bats.

    During the presentation, I talked about the four main phases of the album’s development—planning, recording, editing and launch—and explained how I approached a range of complex challenges in the field.

    Walking with Bats: The Story Behind the Album is available to BatAbility Club members here.

    MF

  • 13/01/2024

    Pond Sediment (part of a four-work Habitats suite composed in early 2020) has just been re-released on the album MUSLAB: Planeta Complejo Vol. 4.

    Put together by Cero Records, the album features works from the October 2023 MUSLAB exhibition, which was held in the Museum of Anthropology and Contemporary Art in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The exhibition explored the complex relationships between cultural identities, social processes, diversity, globalisation and evolution by natural selection (using sound, video art and photography as primary media).

    Planeta Complejo is currently available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and YouTube.

    MF

  • 13/12/2023

    I recently had the pleasure of talking to Steve Roe on BatChat (the Bat Conservation Trust’s official podcast), about the approaches and ideas underpinning my recent Bandcamp release Walking with Bats.

    The full interview is now available on Apple Podcasts and Buzzsprout.

    MF

  • 28/11/2023

    Walking with Bats is now available on Bandcamp!

    The album features eight narrated wildlife walks, exploring the fascinating echolocations of bat species in various locations throughout south-west England and my native Northern Ireland.

    Bonus tracks include: a binaural reconstruction of the foraging trajectories of a common pipistrelle; a stereo recording of noctules flying over a football pitch; and a recording of Natterer's bats gleaning insects directly from the surface of a willow tree.

    The MP3 version of the album is free to preview on Bandcamp. Supporting purchases will enable full-quality downloads, and fund similar conservation-focused recording projects in the future.

    Development of the field recording techniques used for Walking with Bats was made possible by an Arts Council England DYCP grant, awarded in December 2022. My thanks to the Arts Council for approving the project, and allowing me to develop new approaches for ultrasonic storytelling.

    Enjoy!

    MF

  • 16/11/2023

    Sound Identification of Terrestrial Mammals of Britain & Ireland has just been published by Pelagic, and is available for direct purchase here.

    The comprehensive title provides a long sought-after, authoritative scientific resource for mammal sound ID throughout the British Isles, covering 42 species and incorporating over 300 figures and high-resolution spectrograms. A downloadable sound library of more than 250 recordings is included.

    Sounds from my own archive are featured in the book, along with other contributions from fellow members of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society.

    My thanks to co-author Neil Middleton for involving me in the project.

    MF

  • 03/10/2023

    I was recently asked by Sound On Sound Magazine to contribute an article on the techniques and technologies behind parabolic reflector recording.

    It’s available now on the SoS website, and in print format in most major newsagents/supermarkets throughout the UK and Ireland.

    Topics covered include the historical background to parabolic listening, technical considerations, microphone selection, and basic parabolic fieldcraft. The article should be particularly helpful for beginner wildlife recordists, or experienced practitioners who haven’t yet tried a parabolic reflector for long-distance sound capture.

    My thanks to the editors of SoS for the opportunity to contribute.

    MF

  • 25/08/2023

    Machair Impressions will be audible in the coming days via the Scottish temporary arts radio station Radiophrenia, which broadcasts intermittently from the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.

    The work features five sonic impressions from the perspective of a great yellow bumblebee, composed out of source materials gathered around the Hebridean Island of South Uist in August 2019.

    See the Radiophrenia playback schedeule for more info.

    MF

  • 06/07/2023

    I recently had the privilege of collaborating with leading biological sciences researcher Jérémy Froidevaux, who is developing machine learning technologies for use in bumblebee identification.

    In order to help train Jérémy’s adaptive software, I provided him with a series of recordings featuring common UK bumblebees (including B. terrestris, B. hortorum and B. hypnorum), and rarer species such as B. distinguendus and B. muscorum ssp. agricolae.

    Some of the recordings I provided are available on my 2020 album Humble, and a handful have also been worked into my soundscape composition Machair Impressions.

    MF

  • 29/06/2023

    Over 300 of my wildlife recordings—some featuring rare and endangered UK species—have been processed into the British Library’s Wildlife and Environmental Sounds Collection. The recordings are available under British Library catalogue reference C1946.

    The donated sounds are freely available for the purposes of academic/scientific research. All entries include detailed metadata and contextual information, including location notes, weather data, technical specifications and written field observations.

    Some recordings should be available for streaming directly from the British Library website in the near future.

    MF