The morning insects give way to the morning dawn chorus of birds, howler monkeys wake with their calls, bellbirds, oropendola , white throated capuchin, resplendent quetzal, sunbittern and falcons are heard through the wet jungle as Cicadas bring an end to the day...
https://www.facebook.com/MartynStewart.Recordist/

https://soundcloud.com/martynstewart/the-listening-planet-album-collections-thailand-promotion

Costa Rican Dream

Welcome to The Albums.
Explore and discover the vast and fascinating collection of natural sounds captured by Martyn over the decades from across the globe, each curated to transport us through a myriad of wonders, from Borneo, Cuba and the Daintree, to Alaska, Panama, and the Serengeti.

Recording the world one sound at a time, to educate the ear and calm the mind.

“Every single recording I’ve made, 90,000-plus files, has a unique story behind them. When you actually see something disappear – I saw the Hawaiian crow disappear on the Big Island; there’s 25 left in captivity – it’s heartbreaking. But if we treat the robin or the magpie, the lion or the polar bear, like it was physically endangered, we’d go a long way to understanding what we need to do preserve this planet.”
— Martyn Stewart

https://thelisteningplanet.com/the-albums/

The listening Planet Album collections (Thailand Promotion)

Visit the Listening planet at www.thelisteningplanet.com and find that soundscape to help you sleep or to just chill.
Never leave your home and let us take you to over 55 different countries.
Rain, Thunder. wind. Mental health https://www.facebook.com/thelisteningplanet

Listening Planet Promotions

Have you ever wondered why your ocean recordings don’t sound like the way you hear them??
Most people record the ocean by standing close to the shore and pointing a microphone at it.
The thing is, Microphones are not ears….
The best way to record the sounds of the ocean is to do it in three steps and mix them together to create a better perspective.
Try recording 50 yards away, then record another separate track 100 yards away and the same, 150 yards away.
When you mix together it sounds more realistic like this.

https://www.facebook.com/thelisteningplanet

20230618T Melbourne Surf Mix

When I was a kid I could distinguish between an alarm call and a song from a bird
https://www.facebook.com/thelisteningplanet

20230623T Blackbird Communication

I started therapy when I was very young……
I didn’t need my mum to go with me
I went alone.
I needed no money
And if I listened, I could hear a calming voice 
My therapy was and is healing.

You could have it too.

Close your eyes and listen……

Ditch your therapist and trust in nature, she listens and heals for free.

free. https://www.thelisteningplanet.com  https://www.thelisteningplanet.com/isanyonelistening

20230625T Nature's Therapy

What language can we learn to better understand?

French, Italian, Spanish? What about German?…..

Well certainly, it is beneficial to communicate in these languages while in these countries but what language can we learn to benefit everybody?

I’ll give you a clue!

The Language of the planet. 

Imagine…if you could lay bare the whole acoustical spectrum of the natural world…
in all its wonder…

To hear the simple flow of water babbling down a stream and the song of the skylark as it takes flight.  To  witness the oceans dawn chorus and the song of a humpback whale as it begins its dance or the hiss of cicadas drifting on waves of heat-humid air.  

To feel the world come alive, to relearn a language critical to our understanding of the world around us.. and to see that our acoustic planet is not simply a random and orderless cacophony, but a palpable ecological dimension of life on earth.

The sounds of nature have long been associated with mental wellbeing, allowing our imagination to linger on what we hear, transporting us… but they also reveal the densities and intricacies of life – its health and fragility.  Sound can also echo a disappearing world, a sonic landscape undergoing an extinction event of its own – one that is, with painful irony, happening silently.
We want to bring NATURE’S VOICE to the world in a way that it has never been felt or experienced before. ..to connect hearts with minds, knowledge with action and to ignite a passion to safeguard its future.
#thelisteningplanet
www.thelisteningplanet.com

The Planet actually talks but we need to listen

Agile Gibbons break the morning air, hornbills call from their perch, the cicada and other stridulating insects saturate the biophony with their nonstop sounds.
This is Borneo
Recordist: Martyn Stewart
Microphones: MKH 40/30
Recorder: Sound Devices 722
Location: Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan Province, Borneo, Indonesia
See  https://thelisteningplanet.com/the-albums/

Borneo Sample

In nature's dance, a timeless rhyme,
No wars conceived, no famine's grime.
Mother Nature weaves a gentle song,
Where harmony reigns, and peace belongs.

Animals roam in instinct's grace,
No destructive footprints to erase.
They coexist, a balanced chore,
Unlike the chaos mankind may implore.

A symphony of life in every tree,
No battles fought for territory.
The rivers flow with a tranquil ease,
A stark contrast to man's unease.

Man, with the power to create,
Yet often wields it with darker fate.
In nature's arms, a lesson found,
To nurture, not destroy, on sacred ground.

So let us learn from nature's lore,
Embrace the love that life implores.
In the tapestry of Earth's grand art,
Find the peace that lies in every heart

https://www.facebook.com/thelisteningplanet/

Man Verus Nature

The world is literally getting quieter - and not in a good way. Since 1970, we've lost nearly 70% of Earth's wildlife populations, and with them, the natural symphony that once filled our planet.

That's such a striking way to think about extinction - not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of silence. And this story about sound recordist Martyn Stewart really brings that home.

You know what fascinates me? He started recording nature's sounds when he was just 11 years old, back when the world had only 3.5 billion people. The recordings from those early days capture something we can barely imagine now - nightingales filling English evenings, wolves howling under Alaskan moons.

And now when he returns to those same locations, what used to take minutes to record can take days. It's like nature's orchestra is missing most of its musicians.

The statistics are pretty devastating. Beyond that 69% decline in wildlife, we've lost up to 75% of insects in some areas. Most people don't think about insects, but they're literally the baseline rhythm section of nature's symphony.

That makes me wonder - what exactly replaced all those natural sounds?

Well, Stewart describes it perfectly - the constant drone of traffic, the whine of development, aircraft noise slicing through skies that used to carry nothing but bird calls. We're basically drowning out nature's voice with our own noise.

The part about recording the last Kauai oo bird is heartbreaking. Imagine being there, knowing you're documenting the final notes of a species that will never sing again.

And here's what's crucial to understand - these aren't just beautiful sounds we're losing. They're vital communication networks. Birds warning about predators, frogs indicating clean water, forests sharing information about danger through sound. When we lose these voices, we're breaking down entire ecological communication systems.

That reminds me of research showing how noise pollution affects everything from bird breeding patterns to plant pollination. It's all connected.

Exactly! And Stewart makes this brilliant point about how silence in nature isn't peaceful - it's actually a warning sign. It's like walking into a usually bustling city and finding it completely empty. Something's very wrong.

The way he describes wetlands really struck me - they've been halved globally. That's not just habitat loss, it's the disappearance of entire acoustic environments.

You know what's fascinating about wetlands? They have unique acoustic properties that help animals communicate more effectively. When we drain them, we're not just destroying habitat - we're literally changing how sound travels through the landscape.

That's such an interesting perspective - thinking about ecosystems in terms of their acoustic space.

And in healthy ecosystems, different species evolve to communicate in different frequency ranges - like nature's version of radio channels. When we lose species, we're not just losing individual voices, we're disrupting this incredibly complex network.

So what hope does Stewart offer? Because this all sounds pretty bleak.

Well, he's seen firsthand how resilient nature can be. Give an ecosystem space and protection, and the sounds can return. Species can rebound. But he's clear that time is running out - we need to act while there are still enough voices left to rebuild these natural choruses.



www.thelisteningplanet.com

The State of the Planet

More thunder!  Lots of storms here this summer.  Recorded using MKH 8020s in DIY closed-cell foam SASS, to a Sound Devices 702, volume 30, increased in post by 15 dB.  Yellow-rumped Thornbills and Eastern Yellow Robins are calling.  Capertee Valley, NSW, Australia.  22 degrees C.  February 17, 2012, 2.15 pm.

846 THUNDER 8020s SASS 170212

I am a sound recordist, specialising mainly in nature recording. I have been involved in countless TV documentaries and radio with over 150 feature films to boot. I have recorded in over 40 countries. If you were able to upload all my sounds to an iPod it would play for over 1137.5 days continuously.
Vist the website at www.thelisteningplanet.com take a look at my facebook fan-page for more details. http://tinyurl.com/6czrhqg

The State of the Planet

Martyn Stewart

Recent comments

Sound Found

Related tracks