Sound Fields is a publication and event series dedicated to the art of audio documentary in theory and practice.

Read more about us here.

We are a collective of audio documentarians, artists, journalists, academics who are interested in building community and making space for important conversations and musings about the field of audio documentary.

You can read more about us here.

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We have a whole issue about that!

But in short, we’re generally talking about audio work that’s grounded in reality, facts or – in broad terms – claims about what’s true. In terms of form, audio documentaries often combine several sound recordings, voice or music elements in the editing and mixing process. Most narrative podcasts are, at their core, documentaries, but not all documentaries are narrative podcasts. You can find our work on the radio and on podcasts, but also in audio installations and public spaces, or on quiet corners of our own websites. Many audio documentarians make work that uses narrative or storytelling techniques and structures to convey meaning, emotion and information, but at Sound Fields we are also keenly aware of the limitations and potential exploitation of these tools. And all of us are most excited about audio documentary work that challenges existing power structures, destroys familiar tropes, and tears through boundaries of form and convention. 

We publish open calls for every issue.

The current one is here.

Our editorial board and lead issue editors will review all submissions. Commissioned essays and Q and As will be chosen by the editorial board through a consensus decision making process with an eye toward including a range of responses and viewpoints related to the issue theme.

We will aim to get back to you in December 2025, with final deadlines for new commissioned written work in early 2025 for publication in spring 2025.

Email editors@soundfields.org and we’ll reply as soon as we can.