Thank you for stumbling on this little corner of the internet. My name is Houstin, and I’ll be your guide into this site and all its accompaniments. Let’s start with an FAQ, shall we?
What is FieldLog?
FieldLog is an app (currently online and Android) that allows users to log metadata from Field Recording activities. It allows users to track their gear (recorders, microphones, and kits which are various combinations of the two.) More importantly though, it allows for the logging of takes or the recordings themselves. For each of the takes you can record a name, notes you may have, what recorder settings were used, tags (either user-generated or tags complaint with the Universal Category System or UCS from here on out,) as well as snapping a photo to add, logging the location, and even pulling current weather conditions from the web!
Why is this important?
Wikipedia defines field recording as “the production of audio recordings outside recording studios, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds.” As it’s outside of those nicely treated studios it can be a messy job (or hobby or project or afternoon activity) and messy tends to make it harder to be organized.
Modern digital cameras have EXIF, and many even have GPS and this inspired me to make FieldLog due to my own choatic approach to recordings and wanting something high-speed/low-drag to remember /what the heck did I record???/
What can I do with this?
- Log takes fast: name, start/stop, # of tracks, sample rate, bit depth, tags, notes, equipment, etc.
- Tagging: UCS codes for consistency in the metadata world, free tags for free styling.
- Keep context together: photos of the setups, location, and weather
- Manage gear: save microphones and recorders, build kits, and assign inputs
- Skim-at-a-glance: group recordings by day or kit; thumbnail images and small weather emojis
- See it on a map: tap pins to view take details, and see all your recordings
- Stay private: mobile app keeps everything local unless explicitly synced to server
- Backup/Restore/Export to CSV: For speeding up post processing back at home
Who is this for?
Field recordists, sound designers, journalists, researchers, nature recordists, Foley artists, hobbyists, students, or really anyone who wants clean notes attached to messy real-world recordings.
How much does it cost?
The real question! Getting into new pursuits, especially technical hobbies is always expensive, and the community around field recording has done lots for me over the years, especially when learning things that have applied to my own career. As such, I want to make sure that the basic functionally of FieldLog is always free. I guess my way of giving something back that I think would have helped me tremendously when starting out.
As I plan to actively keep developing this, and adding features, there are some features that will most likely have to live behind a paywall. As more companies start charging for their own API access, I’ll need to find some way to deal with those costs. Think things like Google Maps integration (vs the current OpenStreetMap) or precision historical weather data.
Who made FieldLog?
Just me! Like I said above, my name is Houstin. I’m a mid-career electrical engineer with a strong interest in sensors and sensing. Thanks to various other interests I was pursuing, I picked up a Zoom H1 in 2016 and went on a trip to Niagara Falls with it. Despite the difficulties I was immediately hooked. A few years later I picked up a Zoom H4n Pro and with that developed some specialty contact mics that wound up becoming the core of a work project (real time analysis of large agricultural equipment, a story for another time) and from there things just kind of snowballed.
These days I’m rarely without a recorder on me, and that is what led to the creating of FieldLog. After a particularly busy spring in 2025, I went back to my trusty Sony PCM-A10, and started listening back to what I recorded, and honestly, only remembered about half of it…
Why not spreadsheets?
I’ve tried them, great at tables, not great in the field.
- Too slow on the phone, tapping tiny cells with cold hands is not fun
- No structure: sample rates, bit depths, and tag types benefit from limitations, but the rest is flexible on purpose
- Media is awkward or near impossible: Photos, gps, weather are all things that I can’t easily do with sheets
- No map! I like being able to see where all I’ve gone at a glance
- Syncing. (well, coming soon)
Why not a pocket notebook?
- No auto-population, no automatic time, name, gps, weather
- No photos, just sketches
- Hard to search
- Need to retype it later anyway
- Easy to lose or damage
What can I expect/what is coming?
Right now the Android app is in a soft launch and is production ready to use. The web app is what we call an ‘alpha’ test. Feel free to make an account, log takes, check out your travels on the map, and email me if you find any bugs or have any new features you would like!
I know most recording professionals are in the Apple ecosystem, and I apologize that I have not made an iOS version yet. The good news there is the site was laid out with mobile-first architecture and design, so it should just work on anything with a web browser. If the app gets enough traction, I do have an idea of how to implement a cross-platform version, but that is a dream for another day.
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