Freesound Forums

Every now and then, I come across brilliant sound recordings made with an ordinary smartphone. These particular recordings were created by @tferrino.

This person has truly mastered the art of capturing sound at just the right moment. The recordings may not be of high technical quality, but the story told through the audio is absolutely beautiful.

https://freesound.org/search/?q=dog+rio+janeiro+tferrino&f=category%253A%2522Soundscapes%2522%2520subcategory%253A%2522Urban%2522&s=Date+added+%28newest+first%29&si_tags=0&si_name=0&si_description=0&si_packname=0&si_sound_id=0&si_username=0&d0=0&d1=*&ig=0&r=0&g=0&dp=0&cm=0&mm=0

Moreover, the recordings are well documented, and I find that important. Imagine trying to locate a night recording in Rio!

Let’s hope more and more people start uploading this kind of recording to Freesound. They’re beautiful snapshots of time and place.

That's a fantastic observation! I completely agree—technical quality often takes a back seat to the actual content, especially when it comes to capturing a unique moment or a sense of place.
It's really cool that people like @tferrino are sharing those "beautiful snapshots of time" even if they're just using a phone. It definitely encourages the rest of us to record and upload more of those spontaneous, compelling soundscapes.

I encourage people, to tag recordings done with phones with "Phone-recording". There was also the Dare2025-02 which encouraged us to showcase how usable phone-recordings are, and that it's not about the gear!

If you minimise noise and isolate your subject, get the microphone close, that's 85% of a great recording!

And remember, something is better than nothing! Get recording