Three beds
The three files on this page are long, unbroken sounds with no event in them. Each is meant to sit under other material: a scene that needs air, a roof that needs weight, a quay that needs something small and regular at its edge. Nothing has been cut down to make a short clip, so each player shows the whole file, and the time bar tells you how far through it you are.
Wind bed
The wind bed runs for two and a half hours. It is low and dark, with most of its energy below a thousand hertz and no clear source. Every nine or ten seconds the level rises and falls slowly, like a gust passing over open ground without reaching the listener. A faint doubled echo sits under each swell and spreads the sound a little to either side.
Rain on tin
The rain file runs for one hour and forty-five minutes. It is brighter and more even than the wind, with a fine spread of sound above a few kilohertz. A slow waver passes through it about every two and a half seconds, which gives the drumming a rhythm without any single drop standing out. It works best under a close shot of a roof or a window.
Harbour swell
The harbour bed runs for two hours. Its centre is a band of mid-range sound, a little hollow, with a rise and fall about every nine seconds. Under the swell there is a short, soft repeat, like water coming back off a wall. It is the most regular of the three, and the least suited to a scene that needs silence between its events.
Using the files
Each download is the file exactly as the player plays it, an MP3 copy for listening and review. Start with the wind bed for a long scene, then try the rain under a close shot before deciding which of the three holds a scene together. The catalogue lists the field recordings that the library keeps in full.