Since I began thinking about this project, it was only a matter of time until I captured one of the most famous field recordings – rain. Of course, the weather is out of my control, and so this event is here now, all on its own. I’m sure there will be plenty more, but I wanted to make this one a bit unique. And so I set off towards this audio hunt.

It’s 7am in the morning, and on my [headphone] commute to work, I try to find a spot where I can spend a minute recording. I need to be away from loud gusts of winds. And I would like to stay dry during the process. I settle on a semi-empty two level open garage, where the acoustics of the cement walls could compliment the sound. In the back alley, where the entrance opens up towards the falling water, I begin my session.

The rain is falling all around, but the loudest drops land on a plastic covering of a huge metal container, empty of yesterday’s garbage. In the background a police siren wails. At first, I am a bit annoyed at it – it is intruding on the sound of the rain. But then I let it all wash over me – the rain, the siren, the cars squeezing the water between their rubber tires and the asphalt, the subdued deep rumbling of the engines. It is all there. Happening as is. The only way that it could have ever been. And so it is captured. Rain.