Exploring Binaural

[00:00] Part I; [02:55] Part II, "Hammerklavier"; [13:24] Part III

Radio bardo ₂₀₁₆ ᶰʸᶜ

This is a bit from overnight unattended recording. I woke up with uneasy feeling as the sound resembled Shahed drone sounds I have heard from youtube videos. It was still pretty dark (4:50 AM).  

Drone sound in the night

Recorded with clippies em272 and mxpre 6ii at 192 kHz (32bit float), slowed down to 1/20 of the original speed and rendered to 24bit/48 kHz


Different species of bats circling a barn

I had a lovely time in the Siggefora wolf territory. My droprigs did not catch any wolves unfortunately but two singing males Great Grey Owls, two Ural Owls and two Pygmy Owls in addition to Red Deer and Fallow Deer. But the best recording was that of a singing Hazel Grouse. During the autumn they sing quite actively pairing up for next Spring.

Siggefora, Uppland. August 28, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272 as tree ears

Hazel grouse is actively singing during the autumn

Somehow, it was quite touching to listen to these little creatures, munching their way into a mushroom somewhere from below. I suppose they might be very small worms, but I did not see them, so I am not sure.
JrF ecoutic into leaf audio field amp into mixpre 6ii



Forest mushroom being eaten – from underneath

. (2025)

A rich morning soundscape recorded on the banks of the Cuyabeno River deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Features the magical sounds of Russet-backed Oropendolas.

The Amazon: Oropendola Morning - Album Sample

The Amazon: Cuyabeno Night - Album Sample

Sundown Wild Forest 5:55am (pt. 2)

Migrating Cranes are gathering on strategic places along the coast two-three weeks before leaving the country. This is from an overnight recording inside a barn in Preiviiki Fields not long away from here.

The wind was a strong North Westerly with small showers and very gusty. Five days later the Crane was gone. Listen with headphones, thanks!

http://www.rupuranta.net/weblog/filet/200910/

(MKH8020 ab60cm, MixPre 32>24/48, no processing, flac)

Jan Eerala Finland

Wind Barn & Cranes - 10/9/2020 - Preiviiki Fields

On this early Monday afternoon in late Spring (the buzzing insects are bees), the feel of an impending hot Summer is already explicitly tangible, and even implicitly audible.

(Headphones necessary: binaural recording.)

(Recorded very near to the location of https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20201005-spring-a-local-dawn.)

Recorded on the land of the Kaurna people.

2020.11.02 Early Afternoon. Spring Is Becoming Summer.

(Headphones necessary: binaural recording.)

Recorded on land of the Kaurna people that is now a Conservation Park.

2020.11.04 Night Listenings. Late Spring.

For this 'Dawns of Deep Creek' recording, I returned to the location of my very first dawn recording at Deep Creek, made in December 2018. (You can hear it here: https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20181212-first-light-and-sunrise-at-deep-creek-early-summer. You can also hear another recording, made at the same time of year, but in a different location, the following year, in November 2019, here: https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20191124-from-before-first-light-to-after-sunrise-at-deep-creek-late-spring-early-summer.)

The first time, the dawn chorus was already happening by the time I began recording. This time, I was in place, set up, and recording, hours before nautical twilight. I've condensed the first 1  hour and 14 minutes of the original recording into the first 7 minutes and 12 seconds of this version. Those first 7 minutes and 12 seconds comprise, in the main, the voices of Owlet Nightjars and microbats. (And the variable wind, touching the forest trees along the crests of the valley.) Beyond 7 minutes and 12 seconds, the recording runs in uninterrupted 'real time'.

With nautical twilight, the first dawn birds, in order of appearance, are: Grey Fantails, Australian Magpies (distant), Fantailed Cuckoos. After a while, European Blackbirds make a significant contribution; and at around the same time, the plentiful native Grey Shrike-thrushes become vocal, with their fascinating, intricate, always-shifting, call-and-answer repertoire, underpinned by the meditative, mantra-like calls of Common Bronzewings. As the light increases, the wandering Wrens become acutely vocal. And so the dawn progresses, through variegated phases...

During the period of this recording, the inland weather station at Parawa recorded the following data: wind speeds ranging between 2 and 22 km/h, with wind gusts ranging between 9 and 41 km/h, and wind directions ranging between ENE and ESE. Temperatures varied between 14.5° C and 19.4° C. Relative humidity varied between 54% and 97%. Note, though, that the Parawa weather station is about 10 kms inland from the coast, whereas the sound recording location was only about 1 km inland from the coast.

(Headphones necessary: binaural recording.)

Recorded on land of the Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri people that is now a Conservation Park.

2020.11.28 From Before First Light to After Sunrise at Deep Creek: Late Spring/Early Summer

These recordings were initially intended as an experiment/test of the capacity for the representation and resolution of spatial and kinetic relations of a binaural rig. But I also appreciated the recordings as interesting field recording pieces in themselves.

Here, I've selected four excerpts from three longer recordings. (Personally, I prefer the longer recordings, because they allow more extended attention  to the variability of the details of the soundscapes. But I opted for relative economy, here.)

Excerpts [1] and [4] are both from the first recording, which was made from a position approximately equidistant between two freeway bridges passing over a small creek and dirt road (-35.113204, 138.988621), with the central axis parallel to the bridges. One of the bridges carries traffic outbound from the city, and the other, traffic inbound towards the city. I was especially curious to know how the rig would capture and represent the spatial and kinetic relations of the sounds of these movements, from this particular position. I felt that it did quite well.

Excerpt [2] is from the second recording, made from underneath the northward bridge. Excerpt [3] is from the third recording, made from underneath the southward bridge . In each of these, the spatial and kinetic relations being captured and represented are, respectively, a little different. I was also curious to hear how sensitive the rig was to other environmental sounds, such as the wind through the reeds in the creek, and various species of birds in the trees and reeds near the bridges.

(Headphones necessary: binaural recording.)

2020.11.27 Between and Under Bridges (11). Late Spring. Afternoon.

This experimental piece comprises eight segments linked by brief cross-fades, and selected, respectively, from eight longer recordings. The first and eighth of these were recorded at different points along the waterline. Each of the other six, respectively, was recorded inside one of six boat caves that were carved by hand into a sandstone cliff overlooking the ocean over a century ago. Each cave differs in depth, breadth, height, and internal spatial form and texture. Each one filters and shapes the sound of the sea differently, although the differences can in some cases be subtle. This piece is intended to be meditative, and listening for these differences - and the transitions between the spaces - is intended to be an essential element of the meditative auditory experience.

The recordings were made consecutively during the hours after midnight and before dawn. The same recording level was used throughout. The low tide turned just after midnight; while the recordings were being recorded, the tide was rising.

(Good quality headphones recommended: this is a binaural recording.)

Own this soundscape

2020.12.04 Six Boat Caves and the Sea

𝔈𝔵𝔭𝔩𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤, 𝔱𝔥𝔢 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔞𝔟𝔩𝔢, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔯, 𝔞𝔰 𝔞𝔫 𝔈𝔳𝔢𝔫𝔱, 𝔞 𝔐𝔬𝔡𝔢, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞 𝔇𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔬𝔣 𝔅𝔢𝔦𝔫𝔤.

2020.11.02 Early Afternoon. Spring Is Becoming Summer.

𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕭𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘

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