After autumn had begun, we suddenly had some very warm days. In the woods, somehow most of the life was set back into spring mode, including the insects. Suddenly, the forest floor was covered with small heaps, indicating intensive activity of earthworms. I was interested in what I could hear of their sudden liveliness, so I dug in some contact microphones and listened. Basically, they seem to be eating all the time. And sometimes, they seem to smack, they seem lo like what they eat..
There is quite a lot of hissing due to the self noise of the microphones and the impedance converters, I had to turn up the input to maximum level...
JfR contact pro, mixpre 6ii

earthworms, eating

Large groups of Jackdaws and Rooks sleep in the trees in the city of Leer. Unfortunately, most people don't want them to and therefore they will chase them away.
I made a lightweight rig, AB 60 cm, and followed the crows through the city. You can hear them fly away at 4,5 min and being chased through hand clapping at ca. 9 minutes. In the end they calm down as it gets dark.

230822_0293, 24 bit, 48 kHz WAV recording
No editing in post.
Uploaded as 16 bit FLAC

Rooks & Jackdaws - 2023/08/22 - in the city of Leer

Baltic Sea, Greifwalder Bodden, close to Lubmin. January 2024.
Very little wind, -5 °C. Many ice crystals in the water smoothen the surface. Small waves run into the shore. A low-frequency rumble (fighter jets) creates an unpleasant feeling. 
Distant calls of whooper swans ("Zogen einst fünf wilde Schwäne").
MS-stereo with Rycote HC-22 and self-made figure of 8 mic recorded into MixPre 6II.

Scary Rumble above Baltic Waves

My friends with the "Muse and Method" creative challenge have issued another prompt. This time the topic is "March".

This track was built with two samples from my personal collection of field recordings. The 4-beat rhythm loop is the percussion section of the Shawnee Mission North High School marching band, recorded at the Overland Park Fall Festival in 2011. The horn sound is an air horn on an antique steam tractor, recorded at the Northwest Michigan Engine and Thresher Show, Buckley, Michigan way back in 1989 and played back through a keyboard sampler.

The Marty Street Hi-Steppin' Boogie

In a lightless aqueduct passing below the city. A semi-binaural rig and a pair of Geofons recording in parallel. The recording has not been edited, and the sounds have not been modified in any way. No EQ, no effects.

This is an excerpt from the full-length recording available at https://hearingbeings.bandcamp.com/track/underground-listening-meditation.

@Bandcamp

2024.03.02 Underground Listening Meditation (Excerpt). Summer.

No processing, no effects. Just mixing between parallel simultaneous raw recordings.

A car passes over the overhead bridge. The freight train passes over the farther bridge. We hear the freight train first through the air, and then purely through the resonating steel skeleton of the nearer bridge.

2024.03.01 Listening through the Bridge.

No processing, no effects. Just mixing between parallel simultaneous raw recordings.

2024.03.01 Entering the Bridge.

Sounds from the rainforest at Mount Pleasant (-27.127956, 152.745030) Queensland, Australia, beside the North Pine River on the 15th of March 2024.

Sounds include the flowing North Pine River, insects including cicadas, birds including the Eastern Whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus) and the wind in the trees.

Sound recording by G R Legge. Recorded at 32 bit float, 96kHz (converted to 24 bit) with a Zoom F3 and Audio Technica BP-4025 stereo microphone. 

Photography by G R Legge. (www.onstreetphoto.com)

Mt Pleasant/North Pine River Rainforest (field recording)

I have been trying to record the lynx mating call "WAUW" many times but they are always too far off in the distance. Although this lynx is some distance away the quiet of the night made the recording OK. If you listen carefully and with headphones you will hear an Eagle Owl calling incessantly in the background. Nice combination!
Uppsala. March 19, 2024. 

Clippy EM272 + Zoom F3

Lynx and Eagle Owl

BioPortraits (@bio_portraits )+ Sonido Postal: 
Coro del Atardecer en el Río Las Brusquitas, Buenos Aires - Argentina.

"Grabación de campo realizada en un atardecer del miércoles 13 de marzo de 2024, cuando el sol se ocultaba hacia el horizonte en el Río Las Brusquitas, Localidad de Chapadmalal, Buenos Aires - Argentina.  Dicha grabación esta formada por la mezcla de capturas realizadas en diferentes momentos. La sinfonía de la naturaleza se desplegaba con magnificencia mientras el coro del atardecer inundaba el aire, al inicio de la luna creciente y días antes del equinoccio de otoño. 
Se pudo apreciar cada matiz sonoro, desde el suave murmullo del agua del río hasta el canto de las aves. 
En este rincón de Buenos Aires, la coexistencia de especies es un testimonio vivo de la interconexión entre todos los seres vivos. Aquí, los sonidos biofónicos de la fauna silvestre se entrelazan con los sonidos geofónicos del río, el viento que le da movimiento a toda la flora del territorio creando una armonía única y sublime.
La ecología sonora no solo es un campo de investigación en rápida expansión, sino también una herramienta invaluable para comprender y preservar los ecosistemas. Estos sonidos nos ofrecen una ventana hacia la salud de nuestro entorno natural, revelando patrones de comportamiento, migración y reproducción de las especies que lo habitan. En un mundo cada vez más dominado por el ruido antrofónico, es crucial recordar la importancia de proteger y conservar los sonidos de la naturaleza. Escuchar y apreciar la belleza de estos ecosistemas nos conecta con nuestro entorno de una manera profunda y significativa, recordándonos nuestra responsabilidad compartida de cuidar y respetar la vida en todas sus formas."

— Grabación de campo realizada en un atardecer de Marzo en el Río Las Brusquitas, Localidad de Chapadmalal,  Buenos Aires - Argentina.
—Fotografía: Damián Alférez (Sonido Postal)
— Equipos: Grabadora portátil Zoom Q4
— Fecha: 13-03-2022 
— Hora: entre las 19:00 y 20:00 hs (GMT-3)

Rooks & Jackdaws - 2023/08/22 - in the city of Leer

Gerwin Meijer

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