I walked 800 kilometers from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela on the Camino Frances in 28 days, carrying all of my recording equipment and clothes. That journey is now over, but the sounds I recorded along the way will hopefully be with all of us for the rest of our lives.

The first days took me over the Pyrenees to Pamplona, where I recorded ambient sounds such as sheep, rivers, insects, owls, birds, and so on during the day and at night. The sounds of pilgrims passing by with an always pleasant Buen Camino, footsteps, and, of course, the ambience of nature, cities, and villages.

It’s a wonderful library that takes us through a diversity of smaller towns, forests, the legendary Meseta (which I highly suggest not bypassing like others), wine country, empty and bustling villages, as well as the ambience recorded in larger cities.

I recorded church bells, tranquil surroundings, bustling streets, small side streets, dogs barking, a variety of birds, rivers, school recess, buzzing bees, wind, market ambience, and the ambiance of other Pelegrinos going by during the following weeks. But don’t worry if you’re looking for buzzing flies; this sound collection has them all.

Everything was recorded using a Sound Devices MixPre6ii and a Schoeps DMS kit that included two Schoeps CCM4 cardiod microphones and one Schoeps CCM8 figure eight microphone. It was the ideal equipment for such a great journey, but if I do it again, I’ll make sure to record everything in VR.