Ambient Orbit returns for a new 12-part series this March broadcasting on Sunday nights at midnight with a repeat on Friday morning at 06:00. The show is a non-presenter led specialist music programme which began in October 2022. It occupies a unique space in Irish radio with its beautifully crafted mix of ambient sounds and field recordings from the Irish landscape including birdsong from the Beara Peninsula, a shoreline at Whiddy Island, the River Barrow in Borris and the waterfall at the Conor Pass, Co. Kerry, allowing the listener to reset and escape the noise of everyday life.
Airing from midnight on Sunday nights, the third series culminated in December 2023 as a live broadcast at midnight on the winter solstice from the Céide Fields in Co.Mayo with a mix of site specific field recordings and live performances from harpist Méabh McKenna and multi-instrumentalist Dan Walsh.
Series two culminated in June 2023 as a live outside broadcast from the stone circle in Lough Gur, Co. Limerick to mark the summer solstice with live performances from Larissa O'Grady, Rachael Lavelle and Ryan Hargadon.
In addition to broadcasting field recordings submitted by listeners, the programme has collaborated with field recordists, sound designers and ornithologists such as Seán Ronayne, Tadhg O'Sullivan, Fintan O’Brien and Aoife O'Neill, all to provide a meditative, relaxing soundscape. The locations are mentioned at the end of each episode to give the listener greater familiarity with the sounds they hear.
The broadcast time of midnight on Sunday nights was carefully selected to provide listeners a smooth atmospheric transition from the end of one week to the beginning of another. The episodes are repeated weekly on Friday mornings at 06:00 to give listeners a calm start to the weekend.
The programme has been recognised for its innovation with a recent nomination for an IMRO award in the Specialist Music category and was performed live at the Moon River stage at the boutique festival Another Love Story. The festival performance featured musicians Gareth Quinn Redmond, Dan Walsh (Fixity, The Bonk), Conor O'Brien (Villagers) and Áine Gallagher. Another live performance took place last November as part of the Gleo festival in Ormston House Cultural Resource Centre in Limerick and featured musicians Louise Gaffney and Alan Massey.
The programme team would love to hear from any field recordists, sound designers or composers that would like to submit work for consideration.
If you would like to submit a field recording, please WeTransfer a wav file of at least one minute in duration to ambient.orbit@rte.ie
The first episode of series four airs on Sunday March 31st at midnight and will be repeated on Friday at 06:00 on RTÉ lyric fm.
You can listen back to previous episodes here.