David
De La Haye
Underwater Sound Recordist
David de la Haye (b. Jersey, 1981) is an award-winning ecological sound artist, composer, bassist, and music technician. He uses hydrophones to share the experience of listening underwater and raise the cultural value of aquatic environments.
David explores our perception of beauty, microsound, and more-than-human interaction with nature through meticulous hydrophone recordings and bioacoustic technologies. He is currently commissioned by Swiss Academy of Sciences, co-delivering a large-scale project for Creative Scotland, and working alongside Prof. Anne Whitehead on 'Sounding The Angel'.He is a PhD student at Newcastle University, in the same department he completed his masters degree on Glitch and Aesthetics of Digital Failure in 2004. Prior to this he studied bass at Leeds Conservatoire.
His eclectic collaborative portfolio includes international tours, artist residencies, educational workshops, and gallery installation. When not recording ponds, he can be found on stages around the world playing bass with Monster Ceilidh Band and Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies.Notable achievements include winning the Ivan Juritz Prize; an Ivor Novello Composer Award nomination; becoming an associate of Sound And Music; winning Sound Of The Year Award 2020 for ‘Best Listener’ (with his then 2 year old son!); and being shortlisted for Times Higher Education 'Outstanding Technician of the Year' during his 10 year tenure as Music Studio Manager/Technician at Newcastle University.One of his favourite recordings is of Grey Seals vocalising underwater. Collected with the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, they were added to the British Library and featured in Countryfile Magazine for their 100th episode. Listen here.David is the son of a dustman and lived in the proverbial flat. His tireless work ethic continues to this day. Now based in Durham, he sat on the Cultural Committee for D2025, UK City of Culture.
Current Projects
With Ears Underwater
"A fascinating audio experience"The Wire - Office Ambience 461
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