...On entering the water I made a beeline for one of the wetlands I had painted at before to set up the microphones, and was immediately accosted by hoards of blackflies, mooseflies, no-see-ums and mosquitoes!

Boreal Forest Insects

Thunder Over The Meadow’ is a continuous unedited, pure nature recording, that finds us in the serenity and rich soundscape of a late summer afternoon grassy meadow, in Northern Nova Scotia, Canada. A thunder storm approaches from the West,and gradually, we are tempted further into our own imagination evoking feelings of simplicity, calm and awareness.

We hear the quiet sound of long summer grasses waving in the breeze and the intermittent calls of songbirds as the storm approaches, growing in intensity, to eventually recede into the distance, leaving us refreshed and calm. ‘Thunder Over The Meadow’, was a real event, recorded in full omni-directional stereo by Canadian landscape painter and nature sound recordist, Mark Brennan, in the summer of 2013 near his Nova Scotia home.

For a great listening experience headphones are best, adjust the volume to suit your mood, low to relax.

Track running Time, 22 minutes 30 Seconds.
Copyright, Mark Brennan, Wild Earth Voices 2013.
credits
released 14 September 2013

Digital Download Link

Thunder Over The Meadow

A look at the world 'wind' map tells us that this region of Eastern Canada has some of the strongest, most sustained winds on Earth, and here they are in an intimate one hour recording from the Cape Breton Highlands of Nova Scotia. 

The song of the wind over the Northern Forests”

Les Suetes is an uninterrupted soundscape featuring the winds that blow across the Boreal Plateau of the Cape Breton Highlands of Nova Scotia, Canada. Recorded in a sheltered old growth Acadian Forest, it is an intimate exploration of this unique weather phenomenon.

Les Suetes are high winds that sweep in over Northern Cape Breton which is located on the tip of Nova Scotia, Canada. They are south easterly winds that funnel over the Boreal  plateau  and can reach gusts as strong as 150 km/h (94 mph) as they descend the sides of the steep sloped hills.

This nature soundscape was recorded in early June of 2013 and is from a single, on location, recording in the sheltered old growth Acadian Forests near Warren Lake in the Cape Breton Highlands. In June the forests are alive with nesting and breeding tropical migrant birds, who spend their summers in the North. The album has a rich texture that evokes space and relaxation as we listen to the many elements of the soundscape including the early morning wind, the birds of the ‘bottom lands’ and the surrounding forests.

Les Suetes, Album Sample

The wetlands of the Northern forests is the theme of this new album from artist and sound recordist, Mark Brennan and Wild Earth Voices. Recording locations that include the high Tundra plateau of the Cape Breton Highlands to the hidden wetlands of the Acadian Forest of Canada's east coast help us to understand the uniqueness of these ecosystems.

We value water, but do we also give value to the incredible diversity of these places? Listen, relax and become intimate with the wetland of the north.

Download Album

Northern Wetland Album Sample

The start of a new project this year focusing on wild coastlines, This first recording from one of Nova Scotia's most wild beaches, Taylor Head on the Atlantic Ocean, sourrounded by Boreal Forests.  I hope to add the soundscapes from both Western and Eastern Canada to produce a new work that captures the sounds of the wild coastlines. This is a taste of what I hope is to come!

Wild Coast

I have been working for a few mornings now in a large marsh, where way before dawn the Song Sparrow is the first bird to sing out of the silence. Here, a Song Sparrow sings from his perch on a misty morning in April, surrounded by the sounds of the marsh. 

The Song Sparrow

BEST with headphone to get a real feeling of being there. This recording is one of many  recordings made in a marshland I have been visiting this spring in Eastern Canada. Wonderful to hear this amazing eco-system 'wake up' before dawn with the winnowing of Snipe overhead and the morning chorus of birdsong echoing from the nearby woods. I hope to release a new album of the very best of these Spring recordings later in the year. 

Dawn In The Marshland

It's not often you can get close enough to record the illusive American Bittern. Usually they are so secretive they seem to select the most remote areas of marshes. This is a recording made in the spring of 2014 early one still May morning in a large marsh in Nova Scotia, Canada. A flock of blackbirds, Purple Grackles, Red Winged Blackbirds and Rusty Blackbirds congregated at the edge of the marsh and then of course, the amazing deep voice of the Bittern joins in. If you have never heard a Bittern, you should listen!

Marshland Morning Chorus

If any of you can help me with the bird song in this recording I would be much appreciated, British Columbia is new to me! Perhaps in the comments, Thanks!

If you have ever stepped foot on one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands you will understand the charm, tranquility and uniqueness of these special places, Islands anywhere seem to evoke a gentleness.

When I first went to Quadra and Saltspring Islands, this is what I felt, they each have a timeless quality, where deliberate slowness seeps out of such places.

Both islands also have some very unique sounds and while I had time to sample the islands culture my main reason for visiting was to search out the rich soundscapes of their many hidden wild gems. 'Voices Of The Gulf Islands' is the best of many hours of recordings from Saltspring and Quadra Islands nestled between British Columbia's mainland and Vancouver Island.

The album will take you from high mountain tops to sheltered coves, an old growth forest ravine and a rainy dreamy wetland. Many of the sounds contain water in its many states, lazy swells, bubbling brooks, rain or a calming cove at first light. I hope you enjoy this album as much I did recording it! 

Voices Of The Gulf Islands, Sample Track

THERE IS NOW AN EDITED VERSION AVAILABLE below for download. This new version has the bumps and clicks from the rain hitting the mics taken out. Otherwise it is exactly the same as this original version. To download the new version just visit the link below.

http://wildearthvoices.bandcamp.com/track/for-the-earth-morning-chorus-at-davids

This is 42 minutes long, downloading it to an MP3 player and listening quietly will give you a better sense of not only the place but the idea and story that goes with this recording. This is not a perfect recording, there are bumps and clicks that have been left in, unedited. 

Sound can tell us many things,  this was something I promised myself I would do. The Deep Green philosopher, Earth activist and supporter of Deep Ecology, David Orton was a friend and mentor to me for many years. He died yesterday (May 12th 2011) after a lifetime fighting for the Earth.

Like Arne Naess, the founder of Deep Ecology, David believed that the richness of his life came from a deep spiritual relationship with the Earth and not from monetary values. He lived simply, gardened and worked towards developing the theory of left biocentrism within the Deep Ecology movement, he opposed and publicly spoke out about deforestation, uranium mining, herbicide spraying, social justice issues, sealing and many other problems that face the continuing survival of all sentient beings we share the Earth with. David set the bar high for others working towards a better world, he was uncompromising and challenging, but above all, he had a deep rooted integrity that could not be shaken, his written work will echo down the generations for many years. 

The recording comes from the day after he died, within sight of his family home on an old farm that has now grown up to being wild again. I had initially gone there this morning to make a ‘perfect’ recording, but somehow David has had the last say. A freight train, carrying the materials of industrial society, reared its self into the dawn chorus. As I sat there I felt as if it was a motif for how we are exploiting every corner of the earth in our quest for growth and consumerism. But there is a catch, if you take the time to listen, you will find that the train disappears, it becomes a distant hum and the morning chorus takes over in the quiet of the rainy dawn, finally fading, another metaphor and a reminder we shall all return to the earth.

One of David's quotes goes like this, “"Most of the people I work with did not come to their positions based on reading deep ecology books, or listening to university lectures, or having worked out some philosophical position which is perfectly logical and consistent."

What he is saying here, is that if we want to live deeply and peacefully, to understand our place in the world with love and compassion, then we need to make a connection with the Earth, we can only do this by spending time with it.

If you look at the track photo you can see Davids home off in the mist, this was the next morning chorus after he had died the previous morning. 

In the recording you can hear the American Bittern, Spring Peepers, Swamp Sparrow, Raven, Mourning Dove, gentle wind, rain and Davids dog Lucy! This recording can be downloaded. To read about Davids life you can visit his blog below, which has links to his written work.

http://deepgreenweb.blogspot.com/

If you would like to leave a comment please do so. They will remain private.

For The Earth
(He signed every email with this!)

Thankyou David.

For The Earth, Morning Chorus at Davids

On Vancouver Island there is a bio-region that encompasses a large part of the Western side of the island near Tofino. This region is known as Clayoquot. Back in the 1980's and 1990's the area was fought over between logging companies and environmentalists who wanted to see the area protected. Much of the region contains old growth forests and after almost 1000 arrests around Kennedy Lake, and many more thousands protesting, a large part did eventually become protected. I remember watching these protests on TV, as did much of the world and it was quite a profound few days in May of 2014 in which I got to experience the place for myself.

The recordings come from the high elevations of Clayoquot, around the Kennedy River and near Clayoquot Provincial Park. The Kennedy River makes its way down from the mountains into Kennedy Lake and eventually the ocean. It is an important salmon spawning river. Throughout the hour long album you can hear the rivers presence, it is hard to escape the sound of it's many rapids and falls.

The First 3 tracks are quiet and contemplative, perfect for quiet meditation, recorded on the edge of a tiny lake at 4.30am, you get a real sense of the space you are listening too. The final 3 tracks come from an area near the Kennedy River, up much higher in elevation, we find ourselves in a canyon, listening to Clayoquot wake up. The album is a celebration of this incredible bio-region.

Clayoquot Album Sample

The morning sounds of a gentle dawn in a cove on Quadra Island In British Columbia, Canada. 

Quadra Island Cove, Salish Sea British Columbia

The dawn chorus near the Kennedy River, Vancouver Island, Canada. One of the words most pristine coastal rain forests. 

Near Clayquot Plateau Provincial Park Kennedy River BC Long

The song of the Pacific Chorus Frog in the rain. Recorded in the Mount Maxwell Eco-Reserve, Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Update: this track will be used in an exhibit in the American Museum Of Natural History in New York. 

Saltspring Island Pacific Frog Chorus Mount Maxwell Rain

In his book, Reflections From The North Country, guide and wilderness advocate, Sigurd Olson talks about, the great silence. Anyone who has spent more than a few days in a wilderness setting will know if they have heard the great silence.

Olson calls it ‘ancient overlapping silences’, those sounds that we come to know subconsciously, something from within the realms of our own evolution that settles us, that evokes gentle feelings of calm and knowing. Here in this single track release, is my own experience of the great silence from recordings made during a late summer wilderness canoe trip with a close friend. Edited down to 15 minutes, this is what we heard, this is our great silence.

The sounds you hear are quiet, as you would hear them in nature. I would suggest finding a quiet place to listen with headphones. If you can, try to really listen, to pay attention to all the intricate living sounds of this wild place, almost like a meditation. The hope is that it will enable the listener to understand the depth and interconnectedness of wild nature and then take this new awareness out into the world.

I have deliberately left out a description of this track, everything a surprise, a puzzle, just like being there.

The Great Silence, Sample

The haunting song of the Fox Sparrow, recorded on the Cape Breton Highlands boreal plateau, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Fox Sparrow Cape Breton Highlands

In the early morning hours of late May, 2016 a late spring thunder storm passed over northern Nova Scotia. It was accompanied by a gentle breeze and rain. This is a recording of that storm as it moves in from the South West. It is a perfect accompaniment if you enjoy a good thunder and rain storm to help you relax. Recorded in full stereo. The microphones are placed inside a SASS array which records the sound almost the way human ears would hear it. With recordings like this you can actually tell which direction the storm, and even the rain drops, are coming from, it gives an almost 3D effect.

To purchase the full 12 minute track, you can visit 
https://wildearthvoices.bandcamp.com/album/night-storm

Night Storm Sample

In May of 2016 I made a trip to record in the wilderness of Mount Carleton Provincial Park in Northern New Brunswick, Canada. Recording among these woods, wetlands and streams was a joy, seldom have I experienced so much natural silence. This is a small section of a 10 minute recording of morning bird song in the Acadian Forest of Mount Carleton. Some of the birds you hear include the Purple Finch, Pileated Woodpecker drumming, Ruffed Grouse, Brown Creeper, Ovenbird, Black Capped Chickadee and Magnolia Warbler, the woods were full!

Acadian Forest Morning Song

 The album, Ancient Forest, took a year to record. Within these recordings you will hear the soundscape of an increasingly rare eco-system, the old growth virgin forest. Recorded on location in Abrahams Lake, an old growth Red Spruce and Hemlock forest in Nova Scotia “Ancient Forest” will take you deep into this living cathedral in a listening experience that will captivate and relax you. I was compelled to produce this work because of the rarity of this place, many of the sounds you hear are the same sounds that echoed through these trees thousands years ago and because it has never been touched by humans the soundscape is perhaps as close to true wilderness as you can experience. The track Boreal Forest Sunrise was recorded nearby in an ancient wetland.

To see Mark Recording the track "Standing With The Trees" see the film on vimeo 
http://vimeo.com/25600262


credits
    released 23 June 2011
    Wild Earth Voices, Mark Brennan 

digital album download

Ancient Forest, Album Sample

There is a prominent headland on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore that is now protected called Taylor Head. What makes it special is its Boreal headlands that jut out into the Atlantic ocean creating a sound environment all of its own. Recorded on location on May 18th 2010 just after daylight by Mark Brennan.

The original unedited recording at just under 1 hour, captures the dawn chorus in a remote cove on this Headland. Typical of the region, migrating Boreal forest birds can be heard and offshore the quiet life of the inshore lobster-man fades in and out, sounds that have been heard since early in the last century. 

Atlantic Headland, Album Sample

At one time or another many of us, through the stresses of everyday life, find it hard to sleep, let alone relax.

When a thunder storm rolled over my rural home, in July of 2012, I was quick to set up my stereo recording equipment next to a small still water. I got wet, very wet as the storm approached from the South West.

Recording thunder isn't easy, you have to baby sit the recorder most times to ensure the levels don't overload. What you get here is thunder and rain, the real thing, not synthesized, but recorded out in the open on a humid gentle summer day in Nova Scotia. There is also a hint of the evening bird chorus in the nearby Acadian Forest.

I have edited the track to help the listener sleep,  with a 1 minute fade in and a 3 minute fade out, it's perfect for sending you to dream land!

For now, to make it more accessible, the recording has been produced as a single track, downloadable for 99c or you can listen to the whole track here:

http://wildearthvoices.bandcamp.com/track/thunder-and-rain-for-sleep

Running Time 13:57.

Thanks,
Mark Brennan
www.wildearthvoices.org

Bandcamp

Homestead Thunderstorm

This new release by Wild Earth Voices takes you on a journey in the Early Spring through the sounds of the Acadian Forest of Nova Scotia. Set in one of the most pristine areas of Eastern Canada, Kejimkujik National Park, Mark traveled here by canoe, with permission from parks administration, recording the natural soundscape for almost a week. He worked in the area of Peskowesk Lake through rain and wind recording what is undoubtedly one of the loveliest times of year in the Acadian Forest. This 3 minute sample gives the listener a sense of this 10 track album, from dawn, following the morning chorus in wetlands, forests and river valleys we take a journey into the Spring Wilderness of Nova Scotia. 


View a short film on the recording of this area here. 
https://vimeo.com/56763440

Peskowesk, Album Sample

A Wilderness Lake, reveals the rich soundscape of the Boreal and Acadian forests of Eastern Canada during the Northern Spring.

Recorded in two specially chosen locations the album takes us into the forests and along the shorelines of both Ayers Lake in New Brunswick and Abraham Lake in Nova Scotia, both treasured locations by many who love the Natural world.

The sounds come from a collection all recorded on location and feature many of the tropical bird migrant brids and amphibians to be found in these places. “These days we have to travel far to find such pristine soundscapes and habitats, I was very fortunate to have been able to record in these wonderful locations, and to also to experience them on a deep level.” Mark Brennan, Wild Earth Voices.

These are the sounds of prime evil forest, as they should be, and as they were heard long before the industrial revolution. 

A Wilderness Lake, Album sample

The theme of this album seems quite obvious, water. The recorded soundscapes you hear in this release are a meditative celebration of something many of us love. We are drawn to water in ways we cannot understand. Oceans, rivers, gentle streams, quiet rain, there is something deeply calming and soothing when we listen. You will understand what I mean if you have ever sat on the edge of the world to listen to a crashing ocean, or spent a quite night in the wilderness, lulled to sleep by a gentle frog chorus in a nearby wetland.

We cannot live without water, clean water, it not only flows through the rivers and moves with the ocean but is also contained within the bodies of all living things. These recordings are from pristine areas, where water continues to flow, unpolluted and unhindered, perhaps a metaphor for life for if we treasure water, we also protect the Earth.

The album contains field recordings from deep forest swamps to a wild Atlantic Ocean at dawn and the sounds of an underground spring in the Boreal Forest, even the deep rumble of a stream with 2 feet of ice and snow covering it, carefully selected from original field recordings by Mark Brennan they will take you on an audio journey through, in and with water.

Water, Album Sample

From Shore To Sanctuary is an in depth discovery of the Wild Soundscapes and phonography of Nova Scotia. From its Northern Coast into its deep remaining forests and wetlands we explore these places through the recorded soundscapes of Mark Brennan.

With over 30 original recordings edited into three 22 minute long tracks, From Shore To Sanctuary takes you on an audio journey through Nova Scotia’s more wild places but does not exclude the obvious impact on the natural soundscape by humans.

This release captures the essence of the soundscape of Nova Scotia, the recordings tell a story of how we listen and what we hear around the province. You will hear the pristine wilderness areas, the honest days work of the inshore fishermen off shore to a rumbling train chugging out of the mist late one spring night far from town, and even the sounds of an Ice Breaker some 14km offshore.

“The album has been edited as if I were working on a painting, I have given each track form, substance, focal points and balance to produce what I think is an audio journey for the listener through the soundscape of Nova Scotia, the way it really is.”

From Shore To Sanctuary Album Sample

With this 2012 album release Mark has taken a leap from his traditional genre of Nature recording towards developing ‘found sound’ into an artistic expression of his interest in our own connection to a way of life that has all but died in rural Nova Scotia.

As the last of the ‘Pioneers’ grand children pass on, we are left with unrecorded stories and disappearing buildings. Homestead is the audio ‘story’ of these places today. Recorded over a period of a year, these are the sounds of old hay fields, abandoned farms, rusting wire fences, dump plies, run down barns and even the voice of a grandson of a pioneer, now in his seventies.

Homestead, Album Sample

With all the heavy snow and high wind here in Nova Scotia over the past few days, we are still waiting to hear Spring! A recording from last year, April 8th near Lorne, Nova Scotia, recorded just 16 days from today (March 22nd). It's coming! You can download this and enjoy. Sign up for the Wild Earth Voices newsletter below. Yes, it is free. 

http://thewildplaces.org/sign-up-for-marks-newsletter/

Early Spring Sounds, Nova Scotia

Tough recording conditions on the Taiga plateau of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Northern Nova Scotia. This is the evening chorus, as the sun sets, rain clouds rush across the plateau and a high wind seers everything in its path. Birds calling here at dusk are the White Throated Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat. I was up here with Andrew Skeoch and Sarah Koschak of Listening Earth. You can listen and see Andrew and Sarah's work here:

http://www.listeningearth.com.au/LE/index.php

They have recorded and photographed birds and their habitats all over the world.

Evening Chorus French Mountain Cape Breton Highlands National Park

This 9 minute sample track is a compilation of the 2011 "The Wild Places" album. The original album is 60 mintues of pristine nature recordings from Wild Earth Voices soundscapes of 2010. Wilderness locations throughout Nova Scotia feature, including the Cape Breton Highlands, Old Growth Acadian and Red Spruce forests, Boreal Wetlands and the Atlantic Coast. Mark Brennan's first album release. 

The Wild Places, Album Sample

The summer solstice found me recording a wetland full of 'in song' Green Frogs, on a breezy first day of summer. 

Green Frogs At Dawn

Wild Earth Voices  is a platform to enable listeners to download and experience the sounds of wild nature. Canadian Landscape Painter and photographer, Mark Brennan has long been a lover of what he calls, “The Wild Places”  and has expressed this love through his art and now nature recordings.

Mark makes time to completely immerse himself into wilderness areas and searches out the ‘sweet spot’ for his soundscape recordings in varoius eco-systems and habitats on Canada's East Coast. The sweet spot is the place that best brings out what he feels and experiences while on location.

wildearthvoices

Popular tracks