Field notes on this project will be added, here, a little later.

Exploring mid-side for my nature field recordings

A wide and deep, gently rhythmically hypnotic, mallee heathland dawn, from an evening to morning recording made with a mid-side rig utilising an omnidirectional mid microphone. (Relaxed listening with good quality headphones with flat frequency response, especially open-backed, at a moderate volume, is ideal. But what you hear, and how you hear it, depends, most of all, on what you're listening for, and  how you're listening. This is not a 'pop' recording (and no apologies for that).)

Recorded respectfully on the land of the Ngargad (Ngarket) people.

Track photo: taken at the recording location, in Ngarkat Conservation Park, on the second morning of recording.

2025.09.13 Ngarkat Dawn. Early Spring.

Sitting on a blanket on moist grass in a clearing between two forests.
The pine forest is behind, the eucalypt forest is in front.
Left is east, right is west.
The sounds from in front blend with those from behind, both to the left and to the right.
The variable breeze pervades throughout.
The sky above is ever so gradually lightening, and all around, beings are awakening.
Like forever, the natural mystery of Mind is happening.

(From an ongoing series of recent exploratory field recordings with a mid-side rig, this one with cardioid mid microphone. This track is an excerpt from a longer recording.)

@Bandcamp

2025.11.02 A Dawn between Two Forests. Spring.

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 1. Boobook and Jet.

ORTF: 8040s (preamp gain 65 dB; additional 5 dB gain in post).
Mid-Side: 8050 and 8030 (preamp gain 65 dB; both channels at 0 dB in M-S decode).

Louder foreground sound sources, mitigating the noise floor.

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 5. Common Bronzewings and Blackbird.

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 1. Boobook and Jet.

ORTF: 8040s (preamp gain 65 dB; additional 5 dB gain in post).
Mid-Side: 8050 and 8030 (preamp gain 65 dB; both channels at 0 dB in M-S decode).

Louder foreground sound sources, mitigating the noise floor. And a passing helicopter in the mid-far distance.

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 4. Grey Shrike-thrushes at Dawn.

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 1. Boobook and Jet.

ORTF: 8040s (preamp gain 65 dB; additional 5 dB gain in post).
Mid-Side: 8050 and 8030 (preamp gain 65 dB; both channels at 0 dB in M-S decode).

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 3. Koalas at Dawn.

ORTF: 8040s (preamp gain 65 dB; additional 5 dB gain in post).
Mid-Side: 8050 and 8030 (preamp gain 65 dB; both channels at 0 dB in M-S decode).

Parallel clips of 'silence'. Some of the sound is environmental, and some is microphone self-noise. The A-weighted self-noise level of all three types of microphone is specified by the manufacturer as 13 dB.

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 2. Silence samples.

Although my ideal is to make and share nature recordings free of anthropogenic machine noise, I'm not averse to sitting through first light and dawn in natural places that I know very well will be noise-polluted - simply because I want to hear (and record) dawn choruses in such places, even if I will never, or rarely, share such recordings publicly. At different places, and at different times, dawn choruses are always quite different. Despite intrusive and discordant noise, I still want to experience and to hear what the birds and other animals will say (express, manifest) in such places, and how that will sound in each such physically different space. I feel that I owe them the respect and the effort to set up my recording gear, settle down, and listen and record through the darkness into first light and dawn. I don't wish to avoid, ignore or spurn them just because they have no choice but to exist and to  live their lives in the midst of abrasive human noise. To the contrary, I feel it's deeply important to experience, acknowledge, and respect their lives, their lifeworld, the reality of their way of being, precisely because they are not fortunate enough to live freely and naturally, there where they are and must be. Before I leave, after sunrise, I always thank them, and apologise to them for what the species to which I belong has inflicted upon them (and upon itself), and pray for their future protection and well-being.

This, then, is one of those rare occasions when I have decided to post an excerpt from just such an attended dawn recording, mainly because I find it fascinating and informative, and amusing. To my mind, it provides yet more evidence that Blackbirds (which aren't native to Australia, but released here by English settlers) and native birds don't really get on very well. The conflict or competition is not physical or violent, but expressed through 'voice' and creativity. In this instance, the Blackbirds seem to be ousted and chased away by some extremely vocal and virtuosic Grey Shrike-thrushes. (I should point out that I don't think of what birds do with their 'voices' as 'song' or 'music'. I think that such a notion is merely a somewhat fanciful human interpretation and imposition.)

Another, lesser, reason for posting the excerpt is because it is another exploratory mid-side recording (with a super-cardioid mid mic), made in parallel with an ORTF recording (with a pair of cardioids), which hasn't been posted, here.

2025.11.12 Dawn at Cudlee Creek. Spring. (Excerpt. Mid-Side.)

ORTF: 8040s (preamp gain 65 dB).
Mid-Side: 8050 and 8030 (preamp gain 65 dB; both channels at 0 dB in M-S decode).

Parallel raw clips to illustrate the difference in recorded levels between the ORTF rig (first clip) and the M-S rig (second clip), both recorded on the same recorder and both with 65 dB preamp gain. (Note how the Boobook Owl pauses its calls during the loudest and nearest part of the jet's passage.)

In all of the subsequent parallel clips, the ORTF recordings have been given +5 dB gain, which brings them very close to the same loudness level as the decoded M-S clips. Both rigs are similarly self-noisy under higher gain settings: neither is ideally suited to extremely quiet nocturnal ambience recording. (According to the manufacturer's specs, all three types of microphone have a self-noise equivalent of 13 dB (A-weighted).)

ORTF and Mid-Side (Parallel Recordings). 1. Boobook and Jet.

2025.11.12 Dawn at Cudlee Creek. Spring. (Excerpt. ORTF.)

An Australian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus australis) in reeds beside a bay formed a little way inland from the edge of Lake Alexandrina, within Tolderol Game Reserve.

(One of a set of exploratory 8030/8060 mid-side recordings made deliberately in windy/gusty conditions. Radius hoops and M-S clips were mounted inside a Rycote WS3 with windjammer (hence the 8030 capsule was near the middle of the windshield's length: not aligned with (obstructed by) either of the end-cap connector rings at the two ends of the windshield). The rig was used both hand-held and on a tripod. In this recording, the rig is mounted on a tripod, set low to the ground. No EQ or other processing has been used, in order to present the characteristics of the original recording.)

Recorded respectfully in the country of the Ngarrindjeri peoples  (specifically, the Warki or Warkend family group).

2025.12.17 Reed Warbler. Tolderol. Windy Summer Afternoon.

An Australian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus australis) and a few Spotted Marsh Frogs (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis) at the edge of Lake Alexandrina, Tolderol Game Reserve. Two Little Black Cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) fly overhead.

(One of a set of exploratory 8030/8060 mid-side recordings made deliberately in windy/gusty conditions. Radius hoops and M-S clips were mounted inside a Rycote WS3 with windjammer (hence the 8030 capsule was near the centre of the windshield's length: not aligned with (obstructed by) either of the end-cap connector rings at the two ends of the windshield). The rig was used both hand-held and on a tripod. In this recording, the rig is mounted on a tripod, set low to the ground. No EQ or other processing has been used, in order to present the characteristics of the original recording.)

Recorded respectfully in the country of the Ngarrindjeri peoples (specifically, the Warki or Warkend family group).

2025.12.17 Reed Warbler by Lake Alexandrina. Tolderol. Windy Summer Afternoon.

The first isolated call is likely from a Grey Shrike-thrush. Soon after, high-pitched calls from a pair of male Superb Fairy Wrens. Three White-browed Babblers arrive, moving from tree to tree. As they recede, a single bird - apparently a Grey Shrikethrush (possibly juvenile) - passes through, also moving from tree to tree, repeating a harsh, scolding call. (The Babblers can still be heard in the background.)

(One of a set of exploratory 8030/8060 mid-side recordings made deliberately in windy/gusty conditions. Radius hoops and M-S clips were mounted inside a Rycote WS3 with windjammer (hence the 8030 capsule was near the centre of the windshield's length: not aligned with (obstructed by) either of the end-cap connector rings at the two ends of the windshield). The rig was used both hand-held and on a tripod. In this recording, the rig is mounted on a tripod, set low to the ground. No EQ or other processing has been used, in order to present the characteristics of the original recording.)

Recorded respectfully in the country of the Ngarrindjeri peoples (specifically, the Warki or Warkend family group).

2025.12.14 Shrikethrush, Fairy Wrens, Babblers. Gusty Mallee Afternoon. Summer.

Ongoing experiments, tests, and comparisons involving field recording gear and rigs, made for my personal practical experience and use. In case they might also be helpful or useful for other field recordists, I will be posting them here.

Exploring mid-side for my nature field recordings

Field Recording: Experiments and Comparisons