Environmental Ambient

Environmental ambient is ambient music built from field recordings of specific places: weather systems, animal habitats, industrial sites and the acoustic character of rooms. Rather than synthesising an imaginary space, recordists such as *Chris Watson*, *Francisco López* and *Jana Winderen* edit minimally processed location recordings, gathered with hydrophones, contact microphones and binaural rigs, into compositions where the environment itself is the performer. The approach descends from acoustic ecology and soundscape studies, and it sits deliberately on the boundary between documentary recording and composition, valuing fidelity to place over musical intervention.