At dawn at the Sam Nail Ranch in Big Bend National Park, Texas.
A lot of birds and a bear finally touching the microphones!
Nagra Ares BB+ · Neumann KM184 · ORTF

220502 · Dawn · Big Bend · Sam Nail Ranch · Texas [ Birds and a bear!]

One hour at dawn from darkness to sunrise. 

Two main soloists : Grive Musicienne (Turdus philomelos)and a surprising three tones Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) plus Chouette Hulotte (Strix aluco), Alouette Lulu (Lullula arborea), Grenouilles vertes, Pigeon ramier (Columba palumbus), Bécasse des bois (Scolopax rusticola), Loriot d'Europe, etc.

Be patient, treasures are in the details.

Nagra LB · Sennheiser MKH 8020 · AB

220515 · 5:15am ·  Grands Murcins (Loire, France)· One hour at dawn

Three different moments within a quiet windless night. This is not an exceptional recording but I like the atmosphere anyway.
A howl, a fox and a blackbird can be heard as well as a frog and probably some rodents close to the tripod.
The microphones and the recorder have been left the whole night.
The photo has been shot in the morning when I came back to pick the stuff up.

Recorded with a Nagra Ares BB+, Neumann KM184, ORTF near my house, in la Creuse, France.

220725 A Quiet Night in the Woods

Recorded live on October 14th, 2011 at the Nishio Historic Park, Japan.
Was recorded with a portable Sony PCM recorded.
Cleaned and mastered by Lê Quan Ninh in 2022.

111014 Improvisation @ Nishio History Park

Set 1 - Duo Shunichiro Hisada & Lê Quan Ninh

Recorded in my garden (Creuse, France) on October 25th, 2022 at noon. Only one group of common cranes going South.

Unfortunately, the day was a bit windy.

Recorded with a Nagra Ares BB+, a pair on Sennheiser MKH8020, AB.

221025 · Noon · Passage of a group of common cranes (Grus grus)

Duet with the butoh dancer Moeno Wakamatsu in a very large hall. Only sounds and silences.
At the end, music from outside can be heard.

221105 · 9:25pm · Palazzio Ducale · Genova · Italy

This performance took part in the festival Testimonianze Ricerca Azioni XIII organized by Teatro Akropolis in Genova, Italy.

Recorded with a Tascam DR100 MKIII and a pair of Neumann KM184 in XY.

Consumed by the Invisible · Duo with Moeno Wakamatsu

Warning: the sound is obviously over saturated at several points !

After my first encounter with the bear (https://soundcloud.com/lequanninh/220502-dawn-big-bend-sam-nail-ranch-texas-birds-and-a-bear), I left a recorder and a pair of microphones a little further away and went up to record the birds overhead with a second piece of equipment. When I came back down an hour later, the tripod and microphones were on the ground. One of the windshields had been bitten off as well as the tripod which had lost a piece of protective foam. Fortunately, the pair of Neumann KM184 were not destroyed nor the cables cut...
Everything has been recorded and this is what we hear here.

(The photo of the bear has been found on the web)

Recorded on May 2nd, 2022 after dawn at Sam Nail Ranch in Big Bend National Park (Texas) with a pair of Neumann KM184 and a Nagra Ares BB+

220502  · 7:15am · A bear bites the windshields of the microphones...

Alarm called of a Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)at dawn.

Recorded in La Blanchette (Creuse, France)with a Nagra Ares BB+ and a pair of DIY AOM5024 microphones on either side of a tree trunk.

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Cri d'alarme d'une Grive Musicienne (Turdus philomelos) à l'aube.

Enregistré à La Blanchette (Creuse, France) avec un Nagra Ares BB+ et une paire de microphones DIY basés sur des capsules AOM5024 de part et d'autre d'un tronc d'arbre

230214 · 7:30am · Alarm call of a Song Thrush

This recording has been made 35 meters underground in a lava cave in the Snæfellsjökull National Park (Iceland) on February 22nd, 2023.

Recorded with a Zoom F3 and a pair of Sennheiser MKH8020 in AB. Headphones recommended.

230222 · 1:30 pm · Water drops 35 meters underground in a lava cave

Recorded in the beautiful park called "Landes et Tourbières de La Mazure" (Creuse, France).

I put the couple of microphones against the trunk of the tree. The wind made the rest.

Recorded with a Nagra Ares BB+ and a pair of Neumann KM184 in ORTF.

230304 · 4:20pm ·  Tourbières de la Mazure (Creuse, France) · Tree creaking

Thousands of Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) leaving one tree for another, passing over the microphones.
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Des milliers d'étourneaux sansonnet (Sturnus vulgaris) quittant un arbre pour un autre en passant au-dessus des microphones.
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Recorded with a Nagra LB, a pair of Sennheiser MKH8020, AB 70 cm, no editing.

230612 · 5:55 am ·  Etang Des Landes (Creuse, France) · Flocks of Common Starlings

Two superimposed recordings of an advertising display in Caen (France), slowly panned, detuned and EQ'd.

Recorded on July 14th, 2023 with a Mole-Rat device, a Tascam DR100MK3 and processed using Reaper.

EMF Variations I

DJ Set "Contemporain" (#emilieskrijelj et @lequanninh) en public le 17 novembre 2023 au @exhibitronicfestival à Strasbourg.
Mix de disques vinyles de musique contemporaine, musique improvisée, free jazz, poésie sonore, etc.

"Contemporary" DJ Set (#emilieskrijelj et @lequanninh) live on November 17, 2023 at the @exhibitronicfestival in Strasbourg. A mix of vinyl records featuring contemporary music, improvised music, free jazz, sound poetry and more.

231117 · DJ Set "Contemporain" · Exhibitronic Festival · Strasbourg

Treatise (1967) by Cornelius Cardew.
Performed live on December 3rd, 2011 at Atelier MusikFabrik in Cologne (Germany). 
Pages 45 to 70, 75 to 88, 136 to 139.

ensemble]h[iatus : Tiziana Bertoncini, Isabelle Duthoit, Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Géraldine Keller, Lê Quan Ninh, Thomas Lehn, Thierry Madiot

111203_Treatise_Hiatus_Atelier_musikFabrik_Cologne

Treatise (1967) by Cornelius Cardew

Damdaj (2009) by Vinko Globokar
Recorded live at the Alte Feuerwache (Cologne, Germany) on September 12th, 2010.

ensemble]h[iatus
Martine Altenburger, Tiziana Bertoncini, Isabelle Duthoit, Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Géraldine Keller, Lê Quan Ninh, Thomas Lehn, Thierry Madiot, Angelika Sheridan

Damdaj (2009) by Vinko Globokar

De Grands Z (2010) composed by Jean-Christophe Feldhandler

Recorded live in Aubusson (France) on April 23rd, 2011.

ensemble]h[iatus
Martine Altenburger, Tiziana Bertoncini, Isabelle Duthoit, Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Géraldine Keller, Lê Quan Ninh, Thomas Lehn, Thierry Madiot, Angelika Sheridan

De Grands Z (2010) by Jean-Christophe Feldhandler

Recorded with cheap DIY omni microphones based on AOM5024 cells and a Zoom F3.

240305 · 11:30 pm ·  Slight rain in the night (Creuse, France)

Among others, nice duet with a robin and a black bird
Parmi d'autres, joli duo entre un rouge-gorge et un merle noir
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Protocole proposé par Jean-Louis Sicaud de l'association SONATURA : enregistrer à sa fenêtre entre 6h00 et 6h30 où que l'on soit. Ici l'enregistrement ne commence qu'à 6h30 car seuls les avions étaient réveillés à 6h00 ! ;-)
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Recorded with a Nagra LB and a couple of MKH 8040 ORTF

240314 · 6:30 am ·  At my window after dawn (Creuse, France)

La neige fond et goutte le long de la paroi rocheuse et soudain une légère grêle tombe du ciel...

The snow melts and drips down the rock face, and suddenly a light hailstone falls from the sky...

240401 · 1:04 pm ·  Route Forestière de Béguerre (Vercors, France)

240330 · Sound (dis)obedience Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia) · Lê Quan Ninh percussion solo

A few green frogs recorded in the village of Saint-Silvain-sous-Toulx (Creuse, France) around a watering place near a vegetable garden. In the distance, to the left, other, much more numerous frogs, subjects of another recording.
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Quelques grenouilles vertes (grenouilles communes) dans le village de Saint-Silvain-sous-Toulx (Creuse, France) autour d'un point d'eau près du potager de la maraichère. Au loin, à gauche, d’autres grenouilles bien plus nombreuses sujets d’un autre enregistrement.
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46,26195° N, 2,18256° E
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(Zoom F3, Sennheiser MKH8040, ORTF)

240413 · 9:00 pm · Grenouilles Vertes · Green Frogs (Creuse, France)

A little further on than the previous recording, a hidden pond with many more frogs.
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Un peu plus loin que le précédent enregistrement, un étang caché avec bien plus de grenouilles.
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Saint-Silvain-sous-Toulx (Creuse, France) 46,26339° N, 2,18290° E
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(Zoom F3, MKH8040, ORTF)

240413 · 10:00 pm ·  Grenouilles Vertes · Green Frogs (Creuse, France)

The bees were very active on this sunny day in March. Above, birds singing at the top of their voices (northern wren, robin, common chaffinch, tits, etc.)
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Des abeilles très actives en ce jour ensoleillé du mois de mars. Au dessus, des oiseaux chante à tue-tête (troglodyte mignon, rouge-gorge, pinson, mésanges, etc.)

Location/Lieu : Les Cidours, PNR Millevaches

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Nagra LB, MKH8040, ORTF

240313 · 2:10 pm · Birds above the bee hives · Oiseaux au dessus des ruches

Dawn chorus in a light wind in the Bois de Toulx (Creuse, France) with a bunch of individuals from different species :
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), Common Blackbird (Turdus Merula), Eurasian chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), Great tit  (Parus major), Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), Common firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla), Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), Common Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus), etc.

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Choeur de l'aube dans un vent léger dans le Bois de Toulx (Creuse, France) avec un nombre varié d'individus de différentes espèces :
Rouge-gorge familier (Erithacus rubecula), Merle noir (Turdus Merula), Pinson des arbres (Fringilla coelebs), Coucou gris (Cuculus canorus), Mésange charbonnière (Parus major), Fauvette à tête noire (Sylvia atricapilla), Roitelet triple-bandeau (Regulus ignicapilla), Pic Epeiche (Dendrocopos major), Troglodyte mignon (Troglodytes troglodytes), Pigeon ramier (Columba palumbus), etc.

240509 · 06:00 am · Dawn Chorus · Choeur de l'aube (Creuse, France)

It was still dark when I arrived at Etang des Landes at around 5:30 am. A nightingale was already singing loudly and I was able to approach it without startling it. Frogs croaked in the distance...
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Il faisait encore nuit quand je suis arrivé vers 5h30 du matin à l'étang des landes. Un rossignol était déjà entrain de chanter bien fort et j'ai pu l'approcher sans l'effaroucher. Les grenouilles croassent au lointain.

240510 · 05:30 am · Etang Des Landes (Creuse, France) · The Nightingale and the Frogs

Arriving half an hour earlier than last time, probably the same nightingale in the same bush is already singing. The background, however, is not the same: almost no frogs, but a few Eurasian Coots calling intermittently.
This recording ends when the nightingale changes location.

I used another pair of microphones : Sennheiser MKH8020 in AB at around 2.50 m height.
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Arrivé une demi-heure plus tôt que la dernière fois, probablement le même rossignol dans le même buisson est déjà entrain de chanter. L'arrière plan n'est toutefois pas le même : presque plus de grenouilles mais quelques Foulques Macroules crient par intermittence.
Le présent enregistrement s'arrête au moment où le rossignol change d'endroit

J'ai utilisé un autre couple de microphones, des Sennheiser MKH8020 en AB à environ 2,50 m de hauteur.

240518 · 05:00 am ·  Etang des Landes (Creuse, France) · The nightingale and few eurasian coots

Ensemble Hiatus (aka ensemble]h[iatus) founded in 2006 by Martine Altenburger and Lê Quan Ninh met at Epicentre (Creuse, France) in May 2024 to improvise freely. No pretext, no plan,  just listening to each other. The last piece was recorded live on Sunday, May 12th in the same space.
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L'ensemble Hiatus (aka ensemble]h[iatus) fondé en 2006 par Martine Altenburger et Lê Quan Ninh s'est réuni à Epicentre (Creuse, France) en mai 2024 pour improviser librement. Pas de prétexte, pas de plan, juste une écoute mutuelle. La dernière pièce a été enregistrée en public le dimanche 12 mai dans le même espace.

240512 · Ensemble Hiatus · Free Improvisation 9 (Live)

240511 · Ensemble Hiatus · Free Improvisation 8

240511 · Ensemble Hiatus · Free Improvisation 5

240510 · Ensemble Hiatus · Free Improvisation 3

240510 · Ensemble Hiatus · Free Improvisation 2

240510 · Ensemble Hiatus · Free Improvisation 1

Percussionist. Improviser. Performer. Occasionally composer and field recordist. Co-founder of the ensemble]h[iatus. Co-founder and curator of Le Bruit de la Musique festival. Artistic adviser of Association Ryoanji Épicentre.

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