Origins
The library started in a converted cattle shed with a dehumidifier that ran so loudly it had to be recorded and then removed from the first batch of sessions. The early logs still carry a note about it. The name comes from the kestrels that hunt over the drained fields near the base, which were the first subjects anyone thought worth keeping.
There are three people in the working group. The editor keeps the database, the logs and the storage. The two recordists plan and make the sessions. Two of the three split their time with other trades, which is why sessions are scheduled around weather rather than around a calendar.
Working rules
- Plan each session against a written list of textures and the times of day they are most likely to occur.
- Lists are revised after each session and kept with the logs.
- A session that produces nothing usable is logged as a session anyway.
- Record at fixed gains, set before the first sound and never changed mid-session.
- Gain values are written into the log header.
- Clipping is noted by time stamp, not removed.
- Log every session within twenty-four hours.
- Logs name the position, the weather and the wind direction.
- Logs are plain text and are stored next to the audio.
Who the library is for
The library exists for small studios that need one sound for one scene and cannot send a crew to a ridge in November. Sound designers, game teams with a handful of people and independent film makers are the usual users. The collections are built so that a single file can be searched by texture, by season and by level, without having to listen to the whole session.
Nothing in the collections was recorded for a client, and no collection has been commissioned. Every session was made because the working group wanted it on the shelf.