Headphones a must: these are binaural recordings.

Exploring Binaural

Some selections. May be added to.

(I lived in Tasmania for just over eight years. I left in June 2009. This was my first journey back , after fourteen years. With different ears.)

2023.09.06-29 To Tasmania and Back, by Car

Victorian Smooth Froglets (Geocrinia victoriana), also known as Eastern Smooth Froglets, singing from the margins of a forest pool between bouts of strong wind through the crests of Eucalyptus regnens. Recorded at noon in early Spring in Great Otway National Park, Victoria.

Listening at a low to mid level with good quality headphones (binaural recording) is recommended.

Recorded on the land of the indigenous Gadubanud (Katabanut) peoples.

2023.09.06 Smooth Froglets between the Wind. Early Spring.

A calm and meditative ambience recorded during early evening at the edge of Lake Elizabeth, Great Otway National Park, just before the onset of strong winds followed by heavy rain that continued throughout the night.

Listening at a low to mid level with good quality headphones (preferably open-backed) is recommended. Binaural recording.

Recorded on the land of the indigenous Gadubanud (Katubanut) peoples.

About the recent natural formation of Lake Elizabeth: https://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/coranregn.nsf/pages/corangamite_landform_lake_elizabeth

2023.09.07 Lake Elizabeth Quietude 1. Early Spring.

A calm and meditative ambience recorded during the early evening, in a rare still moment prior to heavy rain and high winds, near Lake Elizabeth, Great Otway National Park.

Listening at a low to mid level with good quality headphones (preferably open-backed) is recommended. Binaural recording.

Recorded on the land of the indigenous Gadubanud (Katubanut) peoples.

About the recent natural formation of Lake Elizabeth: https://vro.agriculture.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/coranregn.nsf/pages/corangamite_landform_lake_elizabeth

2023.09.07 Lake Elizabeth Quietude 2. Early Spring.

'Windy dawn quietude' might sound like a contradiction, but the recording earns the label 'Quietude' thanks to the complete absence of any anthropogenic noise. To be sure, the wind soughing through Mountain Ash forest and soft tree ferns dominates the soundscape, but the Eastern Smooth Froglets and the small birds of dawn nevertheless make their presence clearly heard. This excerpt from a longer recording, made in Great Otway National Park, Victoria, begins at Second Light.

Good quality headphones (preferably with a 'flat frequency response', and open-backed) are recommended, especially as this is a binaural recording. The original 96/32 recording has been converted to 48/24, but is otherwise entirely unprocessed.

Recorded on the land of the indigenous Gadubanud (Katabanut) peoples.

2023.09.07 Windy Dawn Quietude beside the Smooth Froglet Pool. Early Spring.

While staying for a week in Launceston, Tasmania, with my daughter, we were very fortunate to enjoy a private tour of Waverley Mills. Of course, I asked whether I could I bring my recording gear along to make some recordings in the factory. No problem. Here are some ear-glimpses. However, the one vitally important element that isn't heard in these glimpses is the people on the floor who make the whole manufacturing process happen. Their knowledge and skill, matured over many years, was deeply impressive. (I did record some impromptu informal 'interviews', or conversations, on the floor, but without particular individuals' (and management's) permissions, these couldn't be included, here.)

To provide some background to Waverley Mills, I quote from a description written by Susan West in 2017: "Waverley Mill was built 143 years ago [150 years ago today], in 1874. Waverley has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the decimation of the Australian manufacturing industry. At its peak, Waverley employed over 300 people, and its beautiful blankets and fabrics were sold all over the world. Waverley even supplied Qantas with business and first class woollen blankets for all of their aircraft.

The wool manufacturing industry in Australia has virtually died. Today, most of our wool gets exported in its raw state to be processed in China. We then buy it back as fabric or finished goods. Only one woollen mill in Australia has survived all this – Waverley Mill. Unless we can save it, it will be lost forever. Waverley is a fully functioning mill – from carding and spinning, to dyeing and weaving. Waverley already has the equipment and staff to produce the highest quality rugs, throws, blankets, scarves and fabrics. ...

There are other groups making beautiful woollen products in Australia. Waverley Mills is the last mill to card, dye, spin, weave, and finish, all under the same roof. No one else is left who is doing all of that!"

Source: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/australia-s-last-woollen-mill-needs-your-help#/

Track photo by Nina Hamilton, published in Emma Do (2019), 'Yarn for the Ages'. (https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/fashion/article/inside-waverley-mills)

Recorded on the land of the Tyerrernotepanner (and possibly also the Pyemmairrener) people of Lutruwita (Tasmania).

2023.09.11 Waverley Mills. Launceston, Tasmania.

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.

2023.09.07 Windy Dawn Quietude beside the Smooth Froglet Pool. Early Spring.

𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕭𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘