Congo Basin Rainforest 2018

What does it feel like to be immersed in a rainforest, far away from people and surrounded by nature? As daylight starts to fade, this experience is not necessarily a blissful or relaxing one, especially if this is your first time in the Congo basin. Long version at https://youtu.be/X-61RmPgBzA

Nightfall In The Congo Jungle

Listen to a gorgeous assortment of Bulbuls, doves, parrots, weavers, coucals etc accompanied by a constant insect chorus in this part of the Congo basin rainforest. Longer version at https://youtu.be/AZaTWtTMqrw

Calm Morning In The Rainforest

I've taped my microphones to the sides of a tree, slightly closer to each other on one side of the trunk. They're about 20cm apart, roughly the distance between human ears.  Longer version at https://youtu.be/qJxecG7nOKY

Jungle rain - Rainforest soundscape

What does it sound like to be on a sailboat out on the open sea? There are certainly waves, wind and sails flapping. Longer version at https://youtu.be/2klB6wiMobk

The sounds of sailing

Some insects just don't care. I left out my Sennheiser rig to capture elephants feeding at a mango grove and this moth decided my blimp was the best place to hang out and make low frequency humming sounds.

Congo Basin Rainforest - Bugs Close To The Mics

This track is made from source material from Zoviet*France and their Hidden by the Wall project , these field recordings: Water Boatman Stridulation , Horsetail Ponds , Wind Harp , Walltown Crags ,Wire Fence & Rabbit Heugh
Shaun Robert has taken it and processed and edited into a 7’30” piece

20/4/2022

Shaun Robert & Zoviet*France - Repetitivasyllepsisinglip

8 April 2018

A long, cold and snowy winter is finally coming to an end. Just after dawn during a nocturnal unattended sound recording in an old forest. Black grouse is on the leks, and the voices of overflying Whooper swans can be heard. Chaffinches are migrating, and the local Willow tits have begun singing. Black and Great Spotted woodpeckers are drumming, but Ravens steal she show acoustically. Feels good to be alive.

Umeå commune, Västerbotten County (63.56 N, 20.20 E)

SD MixPre-3 with stereo-matched Sennheiser MKH8020s attached to a tree trunk. Amplified 6 dB, 100 Hz low cut filter in post.

Into the old-growth forest – spring advancing, woodpeckers and Raven come alive

Dawn chorus recorded in a gorgeous wild banana grove where a myriad birds were singing. Technical details: Sony PCM M10, Sound Devices Mixpre-D and DPA 4060 microphones. Longer version available at https://youtu.be/KrGEtMZ1WDY

Congo Basin Rainforest - Lush Dawn Chorus In Rural Gabon

Listen to gentle rain falling in the rainforests of Borneo, only interrupted by soft frog calls, occasional bird chirps and a delicate insect chorus. Recorded in with Sony PCM A10 and Lom MikroUsi micropohones. Longer version on Youtube at https://youtu.be/W3nrqOPc5BE

Borneo rainforest - Calm Rain

The track opens with a Wren in full voice, later a Robin makes some 'ticking' calls, nearby a stream can be heard quite clearly even though it was behind an earthen bank. Sennheiser MKH8020's and a Sound Devices MixPre3.  Ballinvally Woods, north-west of Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland.  21st of July 2020 beginning at 5.10am.  Recording 3427.

Dawn Chorus - 21 July 20 - 5.10am - Ballinvally

The opening track from my new album Always There, Somewhere out now on Esc.Rec. 

The album charts a journey of personal discovery through friendship. It’s a record about finding answers in each other, rather than from only within ourselves.

Limited Edition Cassette + Digital Album

Always there, somewhere

The World Recedes

The days are drifting in the air
The grief is longing to be wild
In the deep ocean
The violet meadow
But it stands here
Like the wind can’t fly anymore

Inside me there is nowhere to hide this darkness
Inside me there is a place keeps weeping
For you
Even if
Your smile is shining everywhere
Your smile is shining everywhere

那些日子的氣味
仍在空氣中飄盪
渴望在深海裡、那紫色原野
狂放 的哀慟
卻停滯於此
像是陣不再飛的風

心裡已經無處能夠藏住這片漆黑
心裡仍有一處沒能停止為你落淚
即使 你的笑容
還在各處閃耀著⋯

Everywhere

This has been a stormy fall, and in Finland has been already 40 days with stormy wind speeds as the average is 27 a year.  A small, but intense low pressure passed over creating wind speeds up to 31,3 m/s in the gusts and 27 m/s as average. 

I couldn’t resist recording this storm just in our backyard as it was evident when I opened the front door in the morning that this wind is going to make damage. (The picture)

Recording storms creates mostly undefined white noise that’s not very pleasant to listen. But it seems, that when the wind gets hard enough, there occurs (more or less) strange noise patterns with regular shapes that can make it sound interesting. 

In situ I could hear cars passing and chainsaws running.  I hope there’s a bit of this weird noise left in this recording, at least when listening with headphones.

And yes, when the gusts were as strongest, two trees come down. One pine on the roof of our neighbors sauna building 6.50 and an other one with the tree trunk breaking 8.28 

(MKH8020 ab80cm, SD702, nothing done in edit, 24/48 flac)

Jan Eerala Finland

Storm in my Backyard - 19/11/2020 - Makholma Finland

Loud cicadas calling on a calm afternoon in the Congo basin rainforest, accompanied by other insects flying and buzzing close to the mics. Buy recordings like this one for commercial use at https://mindful-audio.com/african-jungle/

Congo Basin Rainforest - Afternoon - Loud Cicadas

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

Jungle rain - Rainforest soundscape

George Vlad

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