Binaural recordings made during a brief trip to Land Between The Lakes, Kentucky, October 14-16, 2019. All recordings © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Autumn Trek - Blog Post

During a mid-March visit to Big Bend National Park in Texas, I recorded this immersive binaural soundscape at dawn in Santa Elena Canyon. It features wind blowing through a dense thicket of Carrizo Cane (an invasive species from Asia that is now common along the Rio Grande), which produces clicks and clatters as gusts pass through the stiff, bamboo-like reeds. Ravens nest in the canyon and croak repeatedly as they fly up and down the Rio Grande River, their calls echoing off the steep cliffs above. Such a pleasing, enveloping mix of the sounds of the wind, ravens and reeds!. Please wear headphones for optimal immersion!

Recorded by Lang Elliott on March 17, 2021 shortly before sunrise. © Lang Elliott, All Rights Reserved.

Wind, Ravens, Reeds

Recorded this morning at 5:45am in Chiltern-Mount Pilot National Park, Victoria, Australia

First Light at Chiltern

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First Light at Chiltern, Victoria, Australia

Enjoy this lovely late winter dawn chorus recorded around 7am on March 30, 2022, in Shindagin Hollow, near Brooktondale NY. Various birds sound off against a backdrop of the gurgle of water flowing over beaver dams. Species heard include Blue Jay, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Hairy Woodpecker, Mallard, and American Crow (and perhaps more that I didn't notice?). Temperature was around 28F with no wind.

© Lang Elliott, musicofnature.org

The Leading Edge of Spring

It is late summer in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. As night unfolds, crickets trill, their songs mesmerizing and tranquil. Then, without warning, Coyotes howl and yip, their reverberant echos reaching out in all directions. Exhilarating, intoxicating wild music, flowing deeply into the recesses of our minds.

NOTE: This is a 3-D binaural recording. Please wear headphones for a realistic spatial listening experience that wil make you think you're actually outdoors, immersed in the natural world. 

OF FUTHER NOTE: I recorded the coyotes one night in mid-July in a forested area in upstate New York. There was very little background sound, so I returned three weeks later to same spot to record crickets trilling gently. I then added the cricket chorus to the coyote track to provide a more relaxing and meditative background. Also ... long silent intervals between three different outbursts have been drastically shortened.

Recordings © Lang Elliott, Music of Nature. All Rights Reserved.

Coyote Reverberations

NOTE: This is a binaural soundscape ... please listen using headphones! Otherwise, you may not appreciate the magic.

I always strive to keep my ears well-tuned, in order to perceive uplifting soundscapes that might easily escape notice, but sometimes I am not quite up to the task. Such was the case in late July of 2018.

I met up with two recording friends at one of my favorite wild areas … Shindagin Hollow in upstate New York, near where I live. We were very glad to see one another and immediately began chatting about this and that as we hooked up our recording equipment (they with parabolic reflectors and me with my binaural soundscape microphone). Then we dispersed, heading into the forest in different directions, each hoping to capture something of value.

It was then that I paused for a moment just to take in the scene … a foggy misty morning following a rainy night … the deep forest of hemlocks and hardwoods … drip from leaves in all directions … and subtle bird songs. I took a long slow breath and began to amble down the trail. At that moment, a wood thrush caught my attention, singing in the distance though quite clear. I stopped and listened more attentively … another was sounding off from even farther away, and a very faint one as well, unless I was just imagining it. And did I just hear a hermit thrush, buried in the mix?

Oh my, I almost did not notice … there, right next to the road, a lone ground cricket trilling prominently from the gravel. How could I have missed such an obvious sound? And then I detected a barred owl, hooting way off in the distance. And a mourning dove, just audible, cooing softly time and again.

Suddenly, I shook myself awake, finally aware of the miracle before me! The magic I was hoping to find somewhere down the trail was actually right next to me, fully and elegantly expressed! I did not need to walk down the trail in search of anything because nature was already showering me with an exalted mix, an elixir so pure and powerful that it thrilled my entire being, but only after I became fully receptive to it. Had I kept walking, I would have missed it entirely. Thank you wood thrush for breaking the spell of my self absorption, for unplugging my ears and inviting me into the here and now!

So finally I jumped into action … I quickly set up my soundscape mic, hit record, and prayed that nothing would interrupt this amazing concert so freely given. How careful we must be to keep our minds calm and quiet and our senses free of interference, so that we do not miss the extraordinary beauty that nature showers upon us, sometimes subtly, and often when we least expect it to arrive.

© Lang Elliott, Music of Nature. All Rights Reserved.

Thrush Dripscape

RESTFUL ROBIN: A pristine binaural soundscape recording of a distant American Robin, singing at dawn near a small mountain brook. Recorded 27 April 2013, in Shindagin Hollow near Ithaca, New York. © Lang Elliott.

Microphone: quasi-binaural SASS (Stereo Ambient Sampling System) modified for use with Sennheiser MKH20 mics.

THIS MEDITATIVE SOUNDSCAPE  is a relaxing mix of the distant robin's reverberant song, set against the gentle gurgle of the nearby brook. Other bird sounds are minimal, although a Winter Wren chimes in near the middle of the recording and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drums periodically in the last half. Listen also for various calls of the robin.

This recording qualifies as "easy-listening" primarily because the robin is suitably far away and does not jar the ear (as songbirds may do if they come too close). I've recorded many a robin and have discovered that it's very difficult to capture a gentle and immersive portrait where the robin encourages a long and meditative listening session. Success is related to distance, as well as how the song mixes or interplays with other sounds in the environment.

I am struck by how different the listening experience can be in the wild. Outdoors, I am able to enjoy robins at all distances, even when one comes close to my position. But when played over speakers or headphones, close robins quickly wear on my ear. My best-sounding portraits always involve distant singers, where echoes from the environment degrade songs in a good way, rounding sharp edges and smoothing them out for relaxed and extended listening.

Restful Robin

A wonderfully soothing mid-morning soundscape recorded at Lost Maples State Natural Area near Vanderpool, Texas. 9:30am, 7 March 2017.

Features the gurgling of the Sabinal River and the sounds of various birds, including the downward-cascading whistles of Canyon Wren, the complex songs of Bewick's Wren, and the low coos of White-tipped Dove.

Recorded using a binaural microphone setup.

Lost Maples Morning Chorus

Light rain with the sounds of blue jays and spring peepers. Recorded 5 September 2017 at 10 am in Shindagin Hollow near Ithaca New York.

This is a remarkably immersive binaural 3D field recording that is best appreciated by listening over headphones. The raindrops provide a wide, relaxing soundstage against which blue jays sound off with a variety of nasal sounds and jay-calls. Occasionally spring peepers give brief series' of bird-like peeps ... their "autumn piping" from trees and shrubs, often occurring quite far from their breeding pools and ponds.

In my appraisal, this lovely soundscape cradles one's spirit  and promotes a sense of calm freshness ... such a gentle soundscape that will instantly transport you into the wild (especially if you listen using headphones or earbuds).

When I make a recording such as this, I remember exactly why I do this kind of work.

For a more detailed discussion of this recording, please check out my blog post: https://musicofnature.com/light-rain-and-blue-jays/

Rain and Blue Jays

A relaxing dawn chorus featuring a softly gurgling brook and the songs of American Robin, Hermit Thrush and Dark-eyed Junco. Recorded in a wet grassy meadow in the high country of Oregon's Cascade Mountains. 6:30am, 20 June 2017, along the McKenzie Scenic Highway. 

NOTE: this is a binaural recording. Please use headphones for a realistic 3D listening experience.

Meltwater Dawn Chorus

Northern Mole Cricket singing at dusk along the shore of Hematite Lake. Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. October 14, 2019. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Northern Mole Cricket

This ambient binaural recording features a lengthy outburst from a pack of coyotes, recorded in the middle of the night at Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky on October 15, 2019. Please wear headphones and don't play the recording too loudly!

Also note drip from trees, the trills of crickets, the chuckling and grating sounds of southern leopard frogs, the low grunts from what I think is a crawfish frog, and the single loud croak from a great blue heron.

© Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Long Coyote Outburst

Japanese Burrowing Crickets recorded at dusk at Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. October 14, 2019. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Japanese Burrowing Crickets

Wheezy calls of a Gray Squirrel at dusk. Recorded at Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. October 14, 2019. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Insects singing in early evening, featuring loud calls of a Hairy Woodpecker. Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. October 14, 2019.© Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Dusk Insects With Woodpecker Calls

Brown Thrasher giving subtle song phrases at dusk. Hematite Lake area, Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky. October 14, 2019. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Brown Thrasher Subtle Song At Dusk

It is late summer. We have just arrived at Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arkansas, a land of swamps and forest. At dusk, a thunderstorm passes by in the distance. The storm recedes, darkness prevails, and rain begins to fall.

We walk into a pine stand and sit quietly on a moss-covered log. Raindrops hit shrub leaves and plop softly upon the spongy bed of needles below. Crickets trill, their gentle songs are soothing to our ears. We close our eyes and allow the sounds to flow around and into us. So calm and peaceful, here in the pine woods, after the storm.

August 6, 2016 at 9pm. Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge near Moro Bay, Arkansas.

Night Into Day

After the Storm

Hi Friends! I am a professional nature recordist who travels to wild areas throughout North America and sometimes beyond. My current focus is to gather  immersive binaural 3D soundscapes that effortlessly transport listeners (using headphones) into nature and have a positive and healing effect on the mind, body and spirit.

Long Coyote Outburst

Lang Elliott – Music of Nature

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