The Explorers
We are two avid explorers, creative technologists, passionate about wildlife and sustainable living, story-telling through field research... and we’re also brothers.
Axel Drioli
Director, Spatial Audio Designer and Producer, Soundscape Ecologist, Conservationist, Entepreneur, Producer, Researcher,
Founder of Sounding Wild.
Ario Drioli
Wildlife Photographer, Graphic Designer, Nature Enthusiast.
Exploring the African-Eurasian
bird migration flyways, wildlife
and their habitat, via land.
A 2+ years journey for the purposes of connecting with the stories of one of the greatest migrations that take place on Earth.
We will be up-close and personal with wildlife and local communities on this incredible route that takes place annually to capture and share their stories.
We revive our generation's curiosity about nature.
Core motivations
Cutting-edge natural history storytelling.
Wetlands are some of the best natural solutions for holding carbon and slowing down climate change.
To renew curiosity toward nature in our generation.
Our generation will take important ecological decisions over the next 20 years, we're running out of time!
The Plan
Create stories to inspire others.
We intend to use science-based research studies in the field to bring innovative story-telling around natural worlds to create location-based experiences at each migration hotspot we visit and then share our findings and content via online channels to connect our peers to nature.
The mobile studios
4WD overlanding vehicles to reach the toughest environments.
A 10.2 loudspeaker system and a series of Virtual Reality headsets to showcase our work wherever we are.
Modular setup, from sleep to work.
A custom-built mobile studio to safely transport all our equipment.
3kW power supply via solar panels to charge our equipment and keep our operations running remotely and on-the-go.
Our
approach
Technology is on our side.
Using it to capture content like never before,
and to attract tech-savvy generations towards nature.
Clear goals.
Accessible, online and on-location stories by making them simple, fun and straightfoward.
Focusing primarly on one target audience.
Connect people with nature, in contact with it is not enough.
Flexible, without time-constraints.
Location adaptability, quick problem-solving, fast planning, self-sustainable, award-nominated production skills and pre-packaged production protocols help us deliver what we promise, within our time-frame.
Exploration Outcomes
Digital Audiences
From audio-only pieces to short- films and award-nominated 360 video productions.
Workshops
Sharing our creative research
and production processes on our journey, within an academic format for our workshops.
Field research and
data processing
We have designed our research model based on a practical hypothesis to document and understand scientific aspects of behaviours and environments on the migration route.
Locals and Wildlife awareness.
Making the local communities participant of what we have found, through our cutting-edge Virtual Reality, 10.2 loudspeaker system installations.
Exploration protocol
Within our standard timeframe of 3 weeks for each location we explore, understand, create and share.
1
Research migration stories subjects
2
Meet the local field experts
3
Explore the location
4
Develop a story based on what's available at that time.
5
Create a VR installation + stories for the online audience
Soundingwild Records
Our own record label is dedicated to share the sounds of the natural world.
The difference from any other record label?
Its revenue is split between the organisation that takes care of the nature we capture, the sound recordist, and the record label.
What's next..
The Sounding Wild team will spend the last months of 2022 planning the next phases of the project, each phase is an expedition based on bird migration movements and seasons.
Phase 1, May to August 2022 finished, 4500 km driven through 3 European countries.
Phase 2 consists in travelling North starting in Gibraltar, in February 2023, following the migration coming into Europe during Springtime, destination North-East Europe in June 2023.
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Phase 3 includes the West African coast journey, starting in Morocco in August 2023, and reaching Central Africa in 6 months.
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Phase 4 sees the team exploring further south to Cape Town, period and length of this expedition to be determined.
Phase 1.
What we have done so far.
4500 km driven through 3 European countries.
Collaborated with 3 natural parks.
Captured over 400 GB of pictures.
Recorded over 200 hours of audio.
Captured 30+ wildlife stories.
2x of the best Virtual Reality headsets available.
10 loudspeakers and 2 subwoofers used at each location.
Around 360+ people have experienced our installation so far.
At each location over 2 days, 6 hours a day, over 120 people have fully experienced 8 minutes of a beautiful VR wildlife story from start to finish, with 2x VR headsets available.
Workers from the parks were available before and after the experience to interact with the audience.
Clémence, naturalist, has joined us as Environmental Educator Coordinator.
We have a sharp-clear idea of why, how and what we are doing.
What we are looking for
We are looking to collaborate with NGOs, academics, film-studios and high-quality equipment producers and manufacturers.
Sponsorship
We need support to keep going, we know how much.
Collaborations
To support our work and make this journey possible, we are looking for like-minded sponsorship.
Equipment
To capture and share our stories effectively.
