This coastal field recording captures the voice of the beach at Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island, GA. The sound of the waves creates a liminal space, between land and ocean. Mid-morning, a liminal time, between sunrise and full mid-day. Listen to the recording or check us out over at Bandcamp. This is Liminal Intervals, is a series of work that strives to capture the voice of places in-between. This session was the second in the series. The first session was at Massengale Park on St Simons Island the evening prior.
Session Details
This session took place from approximately 8:45-10am eastern time on January 21th, 2026. It was recorded in three 15-17 minute segments and then overlapped during post-production to create a realistic environment.
Listening Notes
This was the second Perception Archives recording session. Having used the recording equipment for the first time the previous evening at Massengale Park on St Simons, I felt much more comfortable with setting up. Not having to look up terms such as ORTF or XY for mic positioning, understanding what levels made sense for the different layers I wanted to capture, even having the most basic physical knowledge of the cable lengths and where sand could be an issue made this a much more comfortable experience.
Not more pleasurable though. Both were truly amazing and different. Massengale having more of a technical focus as I got familiar with the setup, mixed with the wonder of the beach, the night sounds of the waves, boats, and the night sky. Jekyll, for this recording,I was much more focused on capturing the feel of the place in myself, not just with the equipment.
The conditions, as the night before at Massengale, were almost perfect. Winds were slight, the waves of the morning had more energy than those of the evening. Temps were in the low 40s (again, much warmer than this GA boy moved to SD has had for a couple of winters). It was just after 8:30am and we, my wife, Tammy, and I, carried my gear out to the beach. I quickly got setup and started recording.
I opted for three 15’ish minute recordings that I hoped could be overlapped during post-production to create a fully immersive environment. For technical details, please see below.
Though this session was much shorter than the previous evening, it felt longer. More expansive in my consciousness. The colors of the beach, water, and sky really popped in the winter air. The large trees for which the beach is named felt . . . like home. There is not a better word for it. I felt calm and excited at the same time. On reflection, I think this is where I decided to keep this “project” going. Even though the name didn’t exist for another few hours, the concept of Perception Archives was born.
Field Recording Methods Used
For these recordings, the setup and techniques were the same as at Massengale, though the session was shorter. I used Rode m5 matched pair of stereo mics with “deadcat” wind filters into a Steinberg UR22C into my MacBook. For DAW, I used Logic Pro (v11.2.2). There were three 15’ish minute sessions at various layers in various configurations.
The first session was at approximately 20 feet from the surf and intended as the primary audio and stereo space within the recording. I used ORTF mic positioning at a height of about 5 feet to capture the stereo presence of the waves and attempted to keep to a -10dB maximum.
The second session was at approximately 10 feet from the surf and intended as the “punch” for the recording. I used a single m5 at 3 feet angled down at approximately 45 degrees to better pick up the up close feel of the waves and kept to a -6dB maximum.
The third session was at approximately 30 feet from the surf and intended as the atmospheric background for the recording. I used XY mic positioning at a height of about 6.5 feet to capture the openness of the beach for the recording and kept to a -16dB maximum.
The experience at Massengale was very helpful in ensuring the tracks needed minimal gain changes in post-production. Even more true for this session, the three sessions blend together extremely well. Balancing the three tracks was a minimal effort of gain staging. There were no wind issues.