Whale calls, surface activity and ocean ambience occupy a three-dimensional world. In Among Whales, Jules Ryckebusch explores how to capture that space and bring it into an immersive listening experience.
His Sonic Days session follows the workflow from hydrophone design and array geometry to deployment and playback, drawing on recordings made off Hawaii during humpback whale season.
Hearing the space around a whale
Field recordist Thomas Rex Beverly has documented his use of custom hydrophone arrays designed and built by Ryckebusch for expeditions in Hawaii and French Polynesia. His account includes listening examples and explains the practical challenges of suspending multiple hydrophones at different positions and depths.
Those recordings offer a useful introduction to the topic: the whale’s voice is one part of a larger environment, with movement, distance and activity above and around the listener. Beverly provides stereo listening examples online, alongside details of the multichannel capture.
A complete underwater workflow
At Sonic Days, Ryckebusch will introduce a low-noise hydrophone that connects to conventional P48 multichannel recorders, then follow the choices involved in building and using an underwater array.
Placement and deployment are central to the result. The session connects those field decisions with the final listening experience, exploring how spatial relationships between whale calls, surface sounds and ocean ambience can be preserved in reproduction.
For field recordists, sound designers and immersive-audio practitioners, it offers a chance to follow a project from the sensor in the water to the sound in the room.
Meet the speakers at Sonic Days
Jules Ryckebusch
Wednesday 18 November 2026, 15:30–16:30 CET
Room 0.40 – Motion Picture Sound Editors
Track: Audio Technology
Sonic College, Kolding
Explore the session and add it to your Sched programme.
Sonic Days takes place on 18–19 November 2026, with a warm-up programme on 17 November. Explore the full programme and plan your visit.