I was in the Yucatan making recordings of different areas for a documentary. I went to many Estuaries this being one of them. There was a tower about forty feet off the ground where I could gather the sound of the birds as they woke in the morning. I started recording around four am and used a holophone with six microphones in it to record surround sound.

Ria Lagartos Estuary Surround Sound

I recorded the sounds of the owls as they talked to each other from across the pond. This happens quite often during the summer and some during the winter months. It is a slightly spooky sound they make but very wild all the same. 
I used a holophone microphone to make the recording onto my Sound Devices 664 mixer/recorder. It was about four in the afternoon on a warm summer evening.

Owls Hooting At Shaw's Pond

This was recorded while I was in a blind with flamingos all around. If you listen you can hear the chicks as they call out to the parents. The chicks were only about a month old at this point and are very dependent on their parents to bring them food. You can also hear as the parents fly off to gather food. 
I recorded this with a holophone microphone six channels using my Sound Devices mixer/recorder.

Flamingo Colony SurroundSound

I know many people will record the sound of waves and I admit it is really hard to get a true representation of what you actually hear. I tried using a holophone surround sound system and I feel if you listen to it on a surround system it sounds pretty close to what I was hearing. 
Either way it was a beautiful beach with no one but myself on it. Oh ya the leather back turtles were amazing to watch as they crawled up on the beach to lay their eggs. There must have been thousands of them and it went on for days.

Ocean Waves

I have been in the broadcast business for over 25 years, working on everything from news, features, documentaries, commercials, and sports. I spent my first twenty years in the business as a cameraman, but have always been interested in the challenges faced by audio. Due to a shortage of quality audio technicians in my area, I began to transition into the sound field about nine years ago. Currently I work in both capacities which keeps me active and challenged. Having many years of knowledge in all of these areas has proven to make me an invaluable asset on low budget shoots. Being able to step in and help when needed helps move the production along.

My primary residence in Vermont is convenient to two interstates, making it easy to get to most locations in New England and eastern New York state within a few hours. An available apartment in Somerville, MA allows me to work in the Boston area as a local as well.

Mark Shaw