Character before kit
We start every guide with how a sound behaves, not what it costs to capture. Most techniques here work with a phone and free software.
About
Our Sound Ethos
Bongo Garden Whimnor began in a garden shed with a borrowed recorder, a leaky gutter and a pair of bongos. It is still a small, independent workshop guide written for people who want to make something of their own.
Plain language
Every audio term is explained the first time it appears. If a sentence needs a glossary, we rewrite the sentence.
Tested in real gardens
Techniques are tried on our own recordings in ordinary gardens — with traffic, neighbours and weather — before we publish.
How we work
We are an editorial team of home recordists and hobby percussionists. We do not accept payment for gear mentions and we do not use affiliate links. When we name a product, it is because it is widely available and representative, not because anyone asked us to.
Where we cite history or research — Schafer's soundscape work, Krause's niche hypothesis, Reich's phase music — we describe it in our own words and point you to the original source. We correct errors promptly; if you spot one, please tell us.
Recording ethics
- Wildlife comes first: no disturbing nests, no playback lures.
- Neighbours come second: no sharing identifiable private conversations.
- Credit always: other people's recordings are used only within their licence.
Audio on this site
We only publish playable audio when a real recording exists and we have the right to share it. Waveform diagrams on our pages are labelled as illustrative unless they were generated from actual audio.