Capturing Wildlife Sounds: A Useful Guide

By: Steven Shepard & Roger Boughton

For anyone wishing to record the sounds of the natural world, let this book be your guide. Covering everything from the physics of sound to equipment to fieldcraft techniques and more, Capturing Wildlife Sounds is your go-to guide to get started in wildlife sound recording.

I personally own this book and strongly recommend it to any nature field recordist.

Earth Is A Solar Powered Jukebox

By: Gordon Hempton

A complete guide to listening, recording, and sound designing with nature. Authored by the most accomplished nature field recordist of our time, Gordon Hempton.

Covers both science and art as we learn about how sound behaves in natural habitats and how this knowledge can be skillfully applied to produce award winning field recordings and compelling sound designs.

This is another book in my personal collection. It is a tremendous resource for any nature field recordist.

Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World

By: Bernie Krause

The book enchantingly shows how to find creature symphonies (or, as Krause calls them, “biophonies”); use simple microphones to hear more; and record, mix, and create new expressions with the gathered sounds. After reading this book, readers will feel compelled to investigate a wide range of habitats and animal sounds, from the conversations of birds and howling sand dunes to singing anthills.

The Location Sound Bible

By: Ric Viers

A complete guide to recording dialog on location. The topics include audio basics, microphone selection, wireless systems, recording and mixing techniques, and the Ten Location Sound Commandments, but it's more than just cables and connectors.

In The Field: The Art of Field Recording

By: Cathy Lane and Angus Carlyle

A collection of interviews with field recordists from various fields. Learn about artist’s motivations, aesthetic preferences, techniques and opinions on recording philosophy.

Listening In The Field: Recording and the Science of Birdsong

By: Joeri Bruyninckx

A field guide to birdsong biology, Listening in the Field takes the reader on an unconventional tour of sound recording across the last century, from onomatopoeic writing to massive tape archives to digital spectrograms. In this history, ornithologists join forces with sound hunters of many other stripes―experimental musicians, filmmakers, schoolteachers, communication engineers―and Bruyninckx brilliantly excavates the industrial, popular, and pedagogical ideals that endure in 'scientific listening.'

The Great Animal Orchestra

By: Bernie Krause

Dr. Bernie Krause is a musician and a naturalist. For over 40 years, Krause has traveled the world recording and archiving the sounds of over 15,000 species, from creatures and environments large and small.

Not simply about the sounds made by the natural world around us, Krause’s book takes in the tension between human domination and the natural soundscape and how the sounds of nature have been the basis for all that we know as music.

Ears To The Ground: Adventures in Field Recording and Electronic Music

By: Ben Murphy

The book journeys from the bustling cities of London and Berlin to the remote landscapes of Antarctica, exploring diverse environments such as military sites, bird colonies, and ancient neolithic grounds.

Through extensive interviews with artists like Leafcutter John, KMRU, and Matthew Herbert, Murphy reveals how these sounds not only document but also interpret our world, adding context, emotion, and depth to music.

Highlighting both famed and underground producers, the narrative showcases how natural sounds and urban echoes blend into electronic compositions, reflecting on nature, history, and the human experience.