http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs/2009/06/save_our_sounds.shtml en-gb 30 Thu 24 Dec 2009 16:50:39 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs/2009/06/save_our_sounds.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs/2009/06/save_our_sounds.shtml?page=10#comment1 Hi Kate, Thanks for uploading my little 2 min projects 'Streets of Taipei' (Taiwan) and 'Causeway Bay to Kowloon' (Hong Kong). Before finding your/this BBC blog, I found your 2007 "travel/doc/journalism" projects on the Lonely Planet website. Your work is really great, a real mixture. I note you wrote the word "cacophony"... I haven't heard this word in a long time, prob because I've lived around Asia since 2006 and am starting to forget some English, even though I'm a fifth generation NZ-er!A couple of notes: I'm so glad the BBC decided to coordinate Save Our Sounds; it gives people like me a great opportunity to share our work. I've been recording sounds for many years, especially since the advent of smaller digital recorders that can be nicely tucked away. Now my bigger/second note: I can't say too much on this public blog, but I think you get the idea that recording with bulky, "professional" looking equipment is not always appreciated in countries where concepts of freedom of speech, basic democratic liberties and democracy are still rather vague notions, often heavily degraded with a local slant.I've had experiences in HK and Singapore where I had to avoid trouble by really emphasising that I am "doing nature recordings" of birds and animal-life (with my small handheld recorder). If I had used any word like "documentary", "report" or worse "Journalism" - I'd immediately be in trouble... I know from experience that people would be asking to see "the right permit" which simply doesn't exist for what I have been doing. These people (regimes) just don't "get it" that a "foreigner" might be only interested in documenting sounds and events from a cultural or perhaps anthropological perspective. Recording a Buddhist parade (which can be very political in some jurisdictions) or the sounds of families chatting, as they walk along the wharf (where ones presence can be easily interpreted as being a spy for foreign intelligence) can bring real trouble. My ready supply of excuses about recording seagulls/wildlife and my small handheld "normal looking" recorder have saved me several times!But I should add that all the ready-made answers and types of equipment are no guarantee of "whatever" happening. If I remain unobtrusive, I can be accused of doing something unlawful. If I use bulky "seen" equipment, it can be considered that the work I am doing must be for a major broadcaster - and I get undesired attention. So for the people who have enjoyed the Save Our Sounds projects from around the world, don't think that it's simply a matter of going outside and pressing the record button. Just as recording the grunts of a gigantic guerilla in its natural habitat are difficult to obtain, it is often equally difficult to obtain the sounds of their human relatives.Glen Clifford... Extended info on my projects at my homepage www.soundandtext.com Thu 02 Jul 2009 08:21:37 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs/2009/06/save_our_sounds.shtml?page=0#comment0 Who is paying fore the MP3 licence to create these upload files? Sat 20 Jun 2009 07:00:30 GMT+1