Freesound Forums

It's been some time since I stopped contributing to Freesound, a community that has been quite important to me for a few years, so I wanted to write a few lines as a proper farewell (my mother language is Spanish and I am not a very fluent writer so please bear with me). Honestly, I don't think it's very likely that I'll record and upload new sounds anymore. Somehow I have lost interest in this, now I rather prefer listening to the world around, but never feel the need to record anything. Not sure why this happened. Maybe I no longer believe that a sound sample can capture “reality”, or maybe I no longer believe there is a “reality”. Maybe I’m just tired/old.

When I first started recording, back in 2006, I was in my mid forties and worked as a botany lecturer at the University of Seville, Spain (the name behind the weird nickname ‘dobroide’ is Javier Herrera Maliani, if you are of the ‘visual’ type of person I’m a skinny guy with a beard). For those of you who read this and have not reached that age, this is a very ‘Proustian’ moment in life, one in which many people if not all often stop looking to the future, because somehow the past becomes more ‘sexy’. In my particular case, the need to record sounds arose the day I knew for sure that my mom was going to pass away, so I decided to record her voice. Creepy? Well, I never uploaded it anywhere nor have listened to it often, but yes, this was my first ‘sound sample’.

Not surprisingly due to my professional life as a biologist, my ears concentrated later in nature (water streams, birds, wind, rain), then in noises you can listen to in human environments (engines, planes, cars, voices, music), and then… anything that could be recorded. Yes, I really mean anything, from the noise of my skin been scratched to random Spanish words. A bit nutty, I guess, but this activity kept me very busy... nearly 16 years! All that time I had the idea that each sound sample I uploaded to Freesound could, first, live longer than me; and, second, could be useful to others. Seemed great.

The last episode of my obsession with recording noises came during the first year of the pandemic, in 2020. I really liked the change that occurred in city noises. The songs of birds, for example, stood out over a city that seemed asleep. No jet planes, no cars, just wind, rain and birds. I did my best to fix that in time. When the worst of the pandemic had passed, in 2021, the old sound environments returned, but found me unwilling to record much. That a few sound samples could last forever seemed to me like an illusion. Lots of people had died, some were close friends or relatives. Lastly, in 2022, I had a heart attack which provided me with a very tangible demonstration that nothing can last forever. I’m ok now (thank you!) but at 64 my main obsession is monitoring my pulse, not recording sounds. Yes, I’m joking (in part).

Now, I have got a lot of joy from messages telling me that something I recorded was being useful to someone out there, or was incorporated in some video production. I also learned a lot from many users about recording, sounds, microphones, and stuff (cheers, Bram!). So thank you freesounders for your input, I really apreciate it. Please receive my last bow.

Your story and motives are in many ways similar to my own. So, know that the torch will not only be carried, it will be multiplied and passed on to others.

Farewell, and thanks for your contributions!

Farewell!

May you find God's peace as you continue your journey.

farewell. find god's peace and all the best

Thanks a lot for this message and for all your contributions Javier!
Freesound would definitely not be the same without your involvement since the very beginning. Your sounds will still be useful and downloaded by many, as well as your many inputs in the forums.

Farewell, and thanks again!

Que te vaya bien Javier, Buena suerte ! ⭐