BARKSCAPES

WHAT MAKES BARKSCAPES SO UNIQUE?

BARKSCAPES is built around one simple idea: to capture the authentic character of dogs barking across a wide variety of real acoustic environments, preserving the unique sound of each location rather than recreating it through artificial reverberation or digital processing.

From intimate, close-up barks to distant calls echoing through entire villages, forests, and open landscapes, this library offers a level of acoustic realism that is extremely difficult to achieve artificially.

No more time wasted on reverbs that don’t fit. These are the real ones.

WHAT IT CONTAINS

• More than 30 different dogs, ranging from small domestic breeds to fierce, aggressive barkers, captured both individually and in groups.
• A wide range of moods and behaviors, from encounters with strangers to reactions to wild animals such as foxes and wild boars, including howling, warning calls, and long-distance communication between dogs.
• Close, dry barks captured with a frequency range extending up to 50 kHz, allowing extreme pitch shifting and manipulation for experimental creature sound design.
• Medium, distant, extremely distant, and muffled barks recorded across village streets, narrow alleys, and behind buildings, featuring natural reflections and acoustic occlusion.
• Extremely distant barks across open terrain, with a distinctive spatial character that is particularly difficult to replicate through conventional sound processing.
• Close, medium, and extremely distant barks in three different forests, each featuring its own dark tonal character and natural reverberation.

HOW IT WAS RECORDED

All dogs were recorded in a remote valley in northern Spain, a natural landscape home to more than 30 small villages, each with its own canine inhabitants. This remarkable variety of locations provided a diverse range of acoustic perspectives, from enclosed village alleyways to dense woodlands and vast open fields.

Every recording session took place at night, in exceptionally quiet environments carefully selected to minimize unwanted background noise. Combined with high-end recording equipment and meticulous post-production cleanup, this approach allowed us to preserve even the most subtle acoustic details, from the sharp transients of close barks to the delicate reflections and fading echoes of dogs calling from extreme distances.

The result is a comprehensive collection of pristine, naturally recorded dog vocalizations, ready to bring authentic depth, distance, and character to any sound design project.

GEAR USED

• Recorder: Sound Devices Mix Pre 6 II
• Microphones: Sennheiser MKH 8040 AB