Name: The Amazon rainforest wakes up by George Vlad
Duration: 10 min 12 s
Description: Early in the morning in the Amazon rainforest - the air is thick with humidity and wildlife sounds. The insect chorus is deafening, and birds are trying to do their part by calling incessantly everywhere. Long version at https://youtu.be/2KWrudRbgO8

Thunderstorms sound absolutely fascinating in the rainforest as the microphones pick up the beautiful detail of water droplets hitting the vegetation. Longer version at https://youtu.be/MN_JT6hAyMs

Thunderstorm in the Borneo rainforest

It's the end of June. Most birds are engaged in breeding chicks or the chicks have already left the nest. There aren't many forest birds who sing anymore. I find Icterine Warbler singing in the black alder forest. At some point, Wren will join him. 
Recording contains sound that sounds like white noise. The air is no longer crystal clear like the mornings of May. Wind in the leaves, the insects and maybe my new pair of em-172 microphones are contributing to this. From time to time there is a knocking sound, these are two trunks of trees that are pushed together by the wind. The photo was taken exactly where the sound was recorded. I believe there is some kind of crepis in the picture

The Icterine Warbler and The Eurasian wren 25 June at Alam-Pedja Nature Reserve, Estonia

The soundscapes are incredibly lush and beautiful in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The dry forests on the border with Guatemala are home to immense biodiversity. Longer version at: https://youtu.be/G9f-ZkW86BM

Nature and wildlife sounds recorded in Mexico

Of all the rainforests I've visited in Madagascar, Masoala seems to be home to the most complex and lush soundscapes. The best moment to experience this is clearly the dawn chorus, although dusk choruses can also be pretty lively. Long version at https://youtu.be/HVktNJpC6D8

Dawn in Madagascar rainforest

These recordings were made with deep respect in the country of the Ngarrindjeri peoples.

With respect, with sadness, with hope. Everything here has changed; except for the sound of the ocean. Where the waters meet, is where the sounds merge. The sound of the ocean, permeating all, remains the same.

Unprocessed excerpts from original recordings. (Listening with good quality headphones - preferably open-backed - with a flat frequency response is recommended.)

An Afterword: I am deeply pleased and honoured that the original recordings from which this piece was composed have found a perfect home in Megan Spencer's important and heartfelt podcast, 'Bringing His Spirit Home: Private Arthur Thomas Walker, Ngarrindjeri ANZAC', as immersive field recordings made in, and expressing the natural spirit of, Arthur Thomas Walker's home country. This educational podcast is one of four produced by Megan, commissioned by the Virtual War Memorial Australia, and can be heard here: https://vwma.org.au/education/bringing-his-spirit-home-private-arthur-thomas-walker-ngarrindjeri-anzac.

Some of my earlier Kurangk/Coorong recordings have also been happily woven into Megan's related podcast, 'Walking in Two Worlds: The WW1 Story of Ngarrindjeri ANZACs Cryril & Rufus Rigney', which can be heard here: https://vwma.org.au/education/podcast--walking-in-two-worlds--the-ww1-story-of-ngarrindjeri-anzacs-cyril-rufus-rigney.

@Bandcamp

2022.10.09 From the Mouth of Murrundi to Goolwa Beach. Kumerangk, Kurangk. Night to Dawn. Spring.

On Saturday, 12 November 2022, South Australia, including the whole Adelaide region, experienced an uncharacteristic extended storm of unusual intensity. Several storm fronts, arriving from the NW over St Vincent's Gulf, hit Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula. The storm has been described as "one of the strongest thunderstorms in recent memory",* causing flash flooding, wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h that tore down huge gum trees (many of which crushed houses, cars, and electricity lines), as well as flattening giant electricity pylons, leaving around a hundred thousand people without power. 

This recording, made in the Adelaide Hills (near Norton Summit), captures a sample of the first and mildest storm wavefront that day. (The recording begins at 10:30 in the morning. This abridged version selects two excerpts from the longer recording, chosen because of the poignant presence of bird calls audible between the peals of thunder. The highlighted parts of the spectrogram in the track image indicate the passages from the longer recording that were selected for this abridged version.) The microphones sheltered from the fairly light rain underneath a 'sweet pittosporum' or 'native daphne' tree (Pittosporum undulatum), native to southeastern Australia, but a 'declared plant' in South Australia ('a woody weed invading native local vegetation', due to widespread ornamental planting).

Travelling farther south immediately after this recording, I was able to intercept the next two storm wavefronts, which were far more intense. Although the storm was utterly awesome and spectacular (lightning bolts plunging into fields, exploding thunder tearing the atmosphere apart), it was impossible to find any spot from which to record the storm, because it brought with it an abundant lashing downpour of rain and wild tree-tossing winds. All the shelters in the state forests had iron rooves: the rain battering the rooves was deafening, drowning out even the peals of thunder.

In the end, I could only just sit and experience it. Which, after all, is the very best thing to do, with Nature. (Most of the time, at least. Not recommended when it gets this violent. Although I have to say that this was truly a very beautiful and awe-inspiring experience; and, personally, I'm very glad to have been out there to witness it. I'm also contemplating possible recording solutions, in case this ever happens again... Enraptured by thunderstorms as a spatial music of nature. All that I have said, here, is the simple truth.)
__________________________________________
*https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/why-the-adelaide-storm-was-so-intense/925471
https://www.sapowernetworks.com.au/data/313806/12-november-storm-update-from-sa-power-networks/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/18/australias-indigenous-people-call-for-seat-at-table-at-cop27
__________________________________________
Recorded with respect upon the land of the Kaurna people.

2022.11.12 Storm above the Hills. Late Spring. (Excerpt)

African savanna ambience with birds singing and insects calling at various distances - a beautiful and calm soundscape full of exquisite little detail. Long version at https://youtu.be/5NyIPnT1Wpw

The sound of the African savanna on a calm day

Early in the morning in the Amazon rainforest - the air is thick with humidity and wildlife sounds. The insect chorus is deafening, and birds are trying to do their part by calling incessantly everywhere. Long version at https://youtu.be/2KWrudRbgO8

The Amazon rainforest wakes up

Peaceful landscape with gentle sounds of life. Recording was made at 5 in the morning, in the place visible in the picture. 

Equipment used: Zoom F3 digital recorder with EM-172 capsules. Recorded 32-bit 48kHz

Morning in the bog. Kuresoo, Soomaa, Estonia Mai 22, 2023

Superb Lyrebird calling in the early morning, not long after dawn, in the Jamison Valley. This particular area of the Jamison Valley is on the slopes of the Narrow Neck Plateau and is covered in lush, wet sclerophyll forest, which borders a small pocket of rainforest.
Some of the birds the lyrebird mimics in this performance are: Laughing Kookaburra, Satin Bowerbird, Eastern Whipbird, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Lewin's Honeyeater, Pied Currawong, Crimson Rosella, Pilotbird, Australian King Parrot. Many of the odd sounds it makes are pure Lyrebird calls as they do have their own unique repertoire. 
In the background you can hear many Bell Miners twinkling.
November, 2014.

Superb Lyrebird In The Jamison Valley, Blue Mountains

A series of recordings made on the occasion of the 2015 Soundcamp for the 24 hour Reveil global dawn chorus braodcast. Our Soundcamp was coordinated by Dawn Scarfe and Veljo Runnel and included guests from the Active Crossover residency. Special thanks to the Palupõhja Nature School for hosting us. Palupõhja is a small village on the Emajõgi river in the center of the Alam-Pedja nature reserve.
http://www.soundtent.org/2015/streams/streams_2015_UTC+2_estonia.html
http://moks.ee/artists/active-crossover-mooste
http://www.palupohja.ee/en

Blackbird and dawn chorus, Palupõhja May03, 2015

Award winning sound recordist, audio director and expedition leader - Dune: Part Two | Mufasa: The Lion King | Horizon Forbidden West | Wordscapes

The Amazon rainforest wakes up

George Vlad

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