Name: Mattie Spring Nightscape by Lang Elliott – Music of Nature
Duration: 11 min 58 s
Description: Night chorus at Mattie Spring in Las Cienegas National Conservation Area near Sonoita, Arizona. Listen for the snores and chuckles of a Chiricahua Leopard Frog and the toots of Western Screech Owls. 8:19pm, 6 April, 2017. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

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

ZEN FROGSCAPE: Several species of frogs and toads sounding off near midnight, with Barred Owls hooting in the distance. Recorded May 26, 2016, around 1am at Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area near Ithaca, New York. © Lang Elliott.

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

THE NIGHT before leaving on a weeklong journey, I drove to a nearby wildlife refuge to see what the frogs and toads were up to, knowing full well that changes were in the making and the amphibian soundscape would likely be quite different upon my return. I really didn’t plan on doing any recording. I just wanted to pay my respects to nature before leaving town. Little did I anticipate the wonderful mix of sound I would stumble upon.

Stopping alongside a large beaver pond, I noted that quite a number of Pickerel Frogs were snoring, so I decided to capture a soundscape featuring the chorus. To my delight, a lone American Toad soon began trilling from the other side of the pond and several Barred Owls started hooting from different locations way off in the distance. Wow … the addition of the toad and the owls elevated the chorus to a whole new level, producing a fantastic mix possessing a meditative zen-like quality … frog and toad “audio-haiku” at its best.

It is extremely difficult to get a pleasing, natural mix of frogs and toads where one species or the other is not overwhelming the soundscape. While the Pickerel Frogs may be a tad too loud, they do strike me as acceptable, especially given their prominence along the shoreline. What I truly appreciate about this recording is its extraordinary depth, with the different sound-objects originating from a variety of distances and directions. Especially delightful to me are the intimate water sounds (produced by small fish?), which inform the listener that the pond is only a few feet away.

If you set the volume so that nothing is overwhelming your ear, you should be able to relax into a very pleasurable and soothing listening experience. Please let me know what you think. I’m hopeful that this recording will transport you into nature and provide a taste of the magic to be found there.

Species in Chorus:
Spring Peepers (a small chorus that varies in intensity)
Pickerel Frogs (snoring sounds)
American Toad (a single male producing long, musical trills
Green Frogs (a few croaks here and there)
Barred Owls (distant hooting)
Gray Treefrogs (way off in the distance at the very beginning)
Minnows (I’m guessing they are making the occasional splashes)

Zen Frogscape

LONE TREEFROG CALLING: A lone Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis)with drip from pines and cricket trills. Recorded 1am, 8 August 2016, on a backroad near Moro Bay State Park, Arkansas. © Lang Elliott. 

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

DURING A RECENT visit to Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arkansas, a large thunderstorm blew through at dusk. I took shelter in my car due to the high winds, but the storm soon subsided. In hopes of homing-in on a frog chorus or two, I began driving the backroads near the refuge. 

I was initially disappointed … everywhere I went there was nothing but the sound of drip from the trees. I guess it was too late in the summer for the frogs to jump into action. So, I gave up my frog-quest and headed back to camp, stopping and listening every so often, just in case. And that’s when I got lucky. I found a single Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) sounding off from shrubbery next to a remote sandy road. 

Listening closely, I realized that I had stumbled upon a quite a jewel, a sublime soundscape that features not only the lone treefrog and drip from the storm, but also the continuous trills of crickets … a perfect combination to produce a meditative and immersive listening experience.

Imagine actually being there. A hot summer night after a rain storm, pitch black darkness, gentle drip from the the pine woods, crickets softly trilling, and one frog punctuating the soundscape with intermittent rattling calls. Simple yet complex. The music of nature at its best.

Lone Treefrog Calling

The gentle gurgling of a mountain brook. Recorded at 8am on New Year's Day 2017 in Shindagin Hollow near Ithaca, New York. This is the location where I've just produced a video for my new Patreon page.

Gurgling Mountain Brook

A winter soundscape from the rolling hills of upstate New York. 8am, 16 March 2013, Shindagin Hollow, near Brooktondale, New York.

Incredibly relaxing, with varied bird sounds set against the gentle trickling of a mountain brook. Listen for the songs and calls of Blue Jay, Pileated Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, and American Crow.

This is absolutely my favorite winter soundscape to date, at least from the area around where I live. During most of the winter months, the landscape is rather devoid of natural sounds, except (of course) for the excited gurgling of brooks and whooshy breeze in the forest canopy.  On this fine day, however, birds kept chiming-in, no doubt in anticipation of the unfolding of spring.

Winter Birdscape

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

Night chorus at Mattie Spring in Las Cienegas National Conservation Area near Sonoita, Arizona. Listen for the snores and chuckles of a Chiricahua Leopard Frog and the toots of Western Screech Owls. 8:19pm, 6 April, 2017. © Lang Elliott, musicofnature.com

Mattie Spring Nightscape

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

Don your headphones and join me on a windy ridge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Listen and enjoy a full 15-minutes of soothing binaural immersion featuring a panoply of bird songs typical of high altitude spruce-fir forest in the southern Appalachian(be sure to listen using headphones … otherwise it may sound like a bunch of noise!).

It was mid-May in the year 2000. I was traveling in an old Chevy van and had just spent the night on the ridge. I rose at the break of dawn and was disappointed at all the wind. Deciding not to be stymied, I ventured into the spruce-fir stand and soon homed-in on a Winter Wren, singing excitedly from a low branch. I quickly set up my soundscape microphone, placed it in a special homemade "wind box," and then hit record. 

I'm quite pleased with this spacious soundscape. It features the songs and calls of a number of birds, plus a mammal sound. At the beginning, note the prominent songs of a Winter Wren and a Black-capped Chickadee, followed over time by the caws of American Crows, scratching sounds of a Red Squirrel, the squeaky songs of a Gray Catbird, the rising zhree-zhree-zhree-zeeee of a Black-throated Blue Warbler, the sprightly pleased, pleased, pleased t'meet'cha! of a Chestnut-sided Warbler, and finally the soft musical whistles of a Robin.

Recorded 7am, 18 May 2000, along trail to Clingman's Dome.

Wind Over the Ridge

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

DAWN AT WILLOW POND: An early spring dawn chorus at a swampy wetland. Recorded around 5:30am, 28 April 2013, in Finger Lakes National Forest near Trumansburg, New York. © Lang Elliott.

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

LISTEN FOR Spring Peeper, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Flicker, Common Grackle, Canada Gooe, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Swamp Sparrow, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, American Toad, American Robin, and much more I'm sure!

I like this recording, which documents the lively chorus around the pond in late April. It's busy, for sure, but not overwhelming as are some dawn choruses. Note that I had to reduce the volume of one or two spring peepers in post because their calls were a rather ear-splitting. Thankfully that is easy to do these days, given the advanced editing tools at my disposal (I couldn't have easily pulled that off back in the reel-to-reel tape days).

Dawn at Willow Pond

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.

Mattie Spring Nightscape

Lang Elliott – Music of Nature

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