Recordist Martyn Stewart gives nature a voice in final project

Martyn Stewart was labelled the “David Attenborough of Sound” by National Geographic.

Armed with a microphone and recorder, for six decades Martyn Stewart has been on a one-man mission to give nature a voice in its fight for survival.

It’s been a lifelong dedication and, having been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in December 2019, he is now using his final project as a rallying call to preserve the ecosystems of his adopted homeland.

Martyn has teamed up with Scottish producer Robert Shields, a.k.a. ONR, for an album that combines the sounds of the wilderness with indie-rock and orchestral compositions.

Imperfect Cadence takes listeners from rugged Highland cliffs to Lowland plains, merging sounds from the likes of Culloden, Rannoch Moor, Bass Rock and Loch Lomond in music.

“Scotland will be my final resting place,” Martyn, 69, said. “It’s one of those places on Earth that is kind of unique, with pristine wilderness, nature living in harmony with the land without our intrusion.

“Every single place you go, every corner you turn are these beautiful, precious soundscapes. We have to be able to preserve that.

“I hope the album becomes an icon of these places. We’re just so disconnected with nature and maybe people can look at it in a different way.

“We’ve got the natural sound and we’ve got beautiful music with it. It’s almost the feeling of being there. If some appreciation of the land and music comes from it, we can keep this going forever.”

A lifelong passion

Combined with a flourishing love for the natural world he was able to explore in the greenbelt next to the Midlands council estate he grew up in, Martyn’s passion for sound started aged 11, with a microphone from his late older brother Alan’s school rock band.

“It’s almost like having a musical diary, really,” he explained. “Alan was a great guitarist, but was a terrible singer. I nicked his mic and my brother John had this old reel to reel recorder.

“I fell in love with the blackbird that announced its presence every single time I walked into the bluebell woods. I still have that recording.”

To date, he’s recorded in over 60 different countries, with 97,000 files and 30,000 hours of natural sound.

Scotland is somewhere he’s always kept coming back, partly inspired by Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water and Martyn’s father being Scottish.

“I’m one of these eccentric crazy guys,” he laughed. “For a recordist Scotland’s a dream. I started going up there when I was about 16, to where Robert lives, around Cummertrees by the Solway Firth.

“On my trusty recorder I’d record the ambient sounds and the bird life there. Every opportunity I had, I went north of the border.

“To work with a Scottish artist with Scottish sounds, it’s like the genie’s granted a wish.”

Soundscape extinction

Based in Florida, where he recently braved a battering by the ferocious Hurricane Milton to record more sounds, Martyn is more than aware of the impact humanity has had on the Earth.

The ultimate end goal of his work has always been to help save the planet.

“In my lifetime, two thirds of my sounds have gone because you can’t replicate them,” he said. “Where I stood in the Serengeti, there’s a road that goes through now and breaks the soundscape.

“In North America you’ve got thousands of planes in the sky between eight in the morning and ten at night.

“I was born when there were 3.4 billion people on the planet. We’ve over doubled that – eight billion making a bloody din.”

While his cancer diagnosis upended his world, it has made him more passionate than ever to embrace small wonders and redouble efforts to use what time he has left to help preserve them for future generations.

“It’s pushed me to strengths I didn’t realise I had,” he admits. “I refuse to believe there’s something wrong with me at times. My body tells me differently. I just cope with it.

“Doing something you really love is easy, and if I had ten Roberts in my life working with this stuff, I’d live forever.”

A lasting legacy

Producer Robert said he was delighted to work with Martyn after a chance encounter with him in the famous Abbey Road studios.

“I’m really in awe of how he’s lived his life,” he said. “It’s very rare that you meet people who are so driven by what they believe. It’s just incredible what he’s done and he’s a lovely guy as well.

“I’d love it if people can listen to it and get the same kind of feeling I got when I first heard the recordings.”

As well as the new album, Martyn’s sounds are available online as part of his Listening Planet Library.

It’s quite a legacy to leave behind, but that’s a word that he humbly shies away from.

“All my credit goes to my niece Amanda,” Martyn said. “She knew how important it was to me, and wanted to create a legacy.

“The sounds are available academically to people, a voice to protect what we have left. That’s the most important thing, way above me. I had a microphone and a recorder – any clown can do that.

“I always believed one day someone would find some sort of benefit. I’m glad it’ll live on. Not me – I’ll be dust under a rock in Camusfearna when I’m gone!”

‘On the precipice of disaster’

Martyn was out in the winds of Hurricane Milton recording, posting to Instagram:

“Even though Hurricane Milton was one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever faced, what truly consumed my thoughts was the World Wildlife Fund’s latest report. A staggering 78% of wild animals have vanished in just 50 years!

“While recording the hurricane, my mind was in overdrive. We’ve created hell on earth for wildlife. We destroy everything I find beautiful.

“In my lifetime, I’ve documented this beautiful Earth in all its glory—and in my lifetime, I’ve witnessed its steady decline.

“Losing our wild spaces and the creatures within them is as heartbreaking as the thought of losing a loved one. It’s catastrophic. We hunt, we pillage, we destroy, and we kill. Humanity has become like a bad odour that lingers in my life.

“We are standing at the precipice of disaster, yet we remain blind to it, trapped in our own selfishness.”

Visit biophonica.com/imperfectcadence