Field Recordings (non Fleurieu Sound Map) - 2010 to present

From the second floor of Hababusch hostel (Geleitstrasse 4, Weimar, Germany)  Recorded on an Sony MD MZ-NH700 with a Sony stereo condenser microphone.  Lots of passing conversations, cars idling, bicycles and the chiming of distant bells.  The hostel is in one of the areas of Weimar where the sound field is immediate and dense with human activity and reverberations.

Sounds from a window in Weimar, Germany - 1pm; 20 September 2008

Luxmore Hut is located about 15km south-west from Te Anau on the South Island of New Zealand.  It is the first hut along the Kepler Track (a 60km tramping track circuit) in the Fiordland National Park.  The hut is roughly 1400km above sea level and is the highest point of the track.  There are incredible views from the hut of the surrounding mountains and Lake Te Anau.  At the time of our arrival there had been an unseasonable late snow drop which covered the whole mountain plain in thick (deep) snow with the very likely chance of avalanches, had we decided to tramp further (we didn't.)  This recording documents the seemingly ferocious winds that surrounded the hut in the early hours of the morning.  I couldn't sleep very well - I was pretty spooked by the jolts of wind, the creaks of the hut and the occasional short whistle.  Even more disconcerting was the silence as the wind suddenly dropped for a few seconds before starting up again.  Recorded on an Edirol HD-09 hard disk recorder with mic gain and limiter activated.


Winds pass through Luxmore Hut, New Zealand - 3am; 8 October 2010

On a beautiful sunny afternoon in Te Anau, Lauren and I took a casual stroll along the banks of Lake Te Anau.  I discovered a couple of service shafts that had some attractive sounds that one could make out from a distance amongst the ambiance of lapping water, distant cars, twittering birds and chattering insects.  I recorded both of these shafts by positioning the recorder 'belly up' on each of the metal doors.  I placed my jumper over the recorder on both occasions as to isolate the sound of rattling pipes and subtle resonances coming from each of the shafts.  You'll hear distinct differences between the shafts - in terms of texture, dynamic, resonance and overall loudness. The respective recordings have been normalized and EQ'd (very slightly) in an attempt to faithfully restore these recordings to a semblance what I heard at the time.  As a result of this process there is a little noise on both of these recordings.  If only I'd had a couple of transducer mics on hand! Recorded on an Edirol HR-09 stereo HHD.

Two shafts by Lake Te Anau, New Zealand - 2pm; 11 October 2010

A-B stereo recording (AT-4051 pair to SD MixPre-3) of Grey-headed Flying-fox colony in Botanic Park, Adelaide on the morning of Saturday April 2 2022.

https://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/about-adelaide/our-sustainable-city/biodiversity/grey-headed-flying-fox/

Grey-headed Flying-fox colony, Botanic Park, Adelaide (early morning, 2 April 2022)

On our way back down from Luxmore Hut, where we had spent the previous night we arrived at Brod Bay shortly after lunchtime.   Brod Bay greets you at the base of the track after a couple of hours of downward tramping.  It was dreary and misty when we left the hut and this trend had continued by the time we arrived at Brod Bay.  This recording was made by placing the Edirol on a branch facing the Lake Te Anau (conveniently sheltered from drizzle by a branch above.)  A bit of wind buffets the stereo image occasionally and low band filtering crossed my mind but decided to remain faithful to the atmosphere instead.


Back at Brod Bay (Kepler Track), New Zealand - 2pm; 10 Oct 2010

Now this is most definitely a Kea.  This recording was made around 6am as I wandered about the Fox Glacier township on a bright sunny morning.  This fellow was perched on the roof of a cafe and it was the first time I heard the Kea's call - which is very similar to its related parrot genus, especially the sharp and complex harmonics. 

Kea, Fox Glacier Township, New Zealand - 6am; 4th October 2010

This is a recording made with a single hydrophone immersed in a borehole's water column in Langhorne Creek, South Australia. 

The hydrophone is at about a 20 metres depth below ground level and a couple of metres within the water column.

The low resonance is from the acoustic properties of the borehole itself and the booming (with a slight flutter) can be attributed to wind shearing around and across the exposed openings of the bore. However, even when the wind drops away a resonance is still apparent which might be associated with distant vibrations from farm machinery or irrigation systems further away.

However, the most curious aspect of this recording is what appears to sound like water circulating and coursing through the porous mesh of the borehole. What is especially odd about this sound is that it dissipates over the course of about two minutes, before diminishing almost entirely. Every time the hydrophone would be lowered deeper into the borehole, this sound would materialise again and - much like earlier observations - dissipate gradually. When another set of recordings were made at the second borehole (further up the road) a similar phenomena was present.

The ecologist I was accompanied with on the field trip noted that there is fair amount of rusty sediment present in the water column, so perhaps some of this sound could be attributed to the sediment making contact with the hydrophone, but this doesn't entirely explain the phenomena, since there is a clear acoustic presence in the water column. 

Any thoughts on this (and any other) aspect of the recording are greatly welcomed.

Langhorne Creek borehole: strange sounds and deep resonances

Excerpt of a recording made with a pair of Aquarian H2a hydrophones in the Onkaparinga River. The river had swelled following an overnight storm with strong currents and wind chopping over the water. Snapping shrimp can be throughout this recording.

Onkaparinga River, Port Noarlunga (hydrophone pair) - Oct 2018

A recording made at the end of the Port Noarlunga jetty in South Australia. The jetty ends about 10 metres from a long reef which extends across the water. The ocean was particular rough on this morning following a storm. Waves smash everywhere: against the reef; the jetty's pylons; wave on wave. It was loud and windy on the jetty, but it was also very loud beneath the surface. The mics were immersed approximately 2 metres underwater and certainly got thrown about a bit. Some wind can be heard briefly shearing across the mic cables. Snapping shrimp can also be heard amidst the churning waters.

Pt Noarlunga Jetty / reef (Aquarian H2a hydrophone pair) - Oct 2018

Here's excerpts of some unique recordings I made with a pair of Aquarian hydrophones. I was walking along the Onkaparinga River close to a fence line boundary when I passed what sounded like a pure wave. I realised this was coming from a fence post resonating from the vibration of fixed wires. I pressed my ear to listen closer. It sounded amazing! 

I didn't have any clamps to fix contact mics to the wire, so I decided to bury a pair of hydrophones at the base of two fenceposts. I positioned them so that they were flush and lightly making contact with the base of the post. Both resonances had fundamental frequencies of approx. 360 Hz, with a partial occuring at approx. 420 Hz when the wind picked up and articulated the wires.

I then decided to explore this further by examining the surrounding fenceposts. Excerpt 2 is one of the initial fenceposts with another fencepost that presented a more complex resonance (423 Hz, 637 Hz, 720 Hz).

Excerpt 3 is another set of fenceposts which were far more subtle in resonance, but prone to perculiar artefacts, which (at this stage) I'm attributing to the wind and movement of sand around the base of the posts.

Excerpt 4 was at a point where the posts produced very complex resonances, and it became apparent that these were not so immediate, but rather, derived from activity occuring 50-100 metres along the wires. (the soft tapping you can hear is raindrops hitting the post, wires and sand.)

Any feedback/insight into these recordings would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, TLR.

Fenceposts and wires resonating, Port Noarlunga - Oct 2018

This is a mix of several short field recordings I made at Rassada Harbor, prior to boarding a ferry bound for the island of Koh Lanta. All recordings were made with a handheld Olympus LS-100. 

In this mix you can hear the general ambience of the pier, adjacent to moored boats and ferries; a tyre rubbing against the hull of a vessel; a crowded ticket line; and the sound of the crowd prior to boarding.

Rassada Harbor mix, Thailand - December 2016

This is a mix of several field recordings I made in and around the Old Town on the south eastern fringe of Koh Lanta island. All recordings were made with a handheld Olympus LS-100.

This mix is structured so as to present two distinct soundscapes of the same general location, with a rainshower (starting at 3:33) providing a brief transition between them. 

The first part opens with a brief recording made on the Old Town pier,  followed by a 3 minute soundwalk along the main street in Old Town. Voices, the chugging of scooters and other sounds of activity can be heard clearly throughout. The rainshower occurs, and in the second part, the soundscape of the main street in transformed, with the sound of water dripping and splashing foregrounds the recording, whilst further accenting (or conversely, obscuring) other sounds in and around the space.

Old Town mix (Koh Lanta), Thailand - December 2016

A FLEURIEU & KI SOUND MAP SITE. www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/

Further details regarding this site can be found via this link:
http://www.tristanlouthrobins.com/fleurieu_soundmap/sites/CKA007.html

Piezo-electric transducers (i.e. contact microphones) are incredibly versatile and inexpensive devices. Because they convert sound waves in a dense medium (such as wood or metal) into an audio signal, they are capable of revealing frequencies and complex sounds which would be otherwise inaudible to the human ear.

This recording was made at Carrickalinga Beach in the late afternoon as winds were strengthening and a rain band approached. I clamped a couple of contact mics to sections of a long fence line to listen in on the wire's response to the blustery conditions.

As the fence line was facing the brunt of the winds, a consistent low resonance from the wind shear can be heard throughout this recording. Occasionally, increases of wind intensity elicited pronounced whistles from the fence wire. Rattles, scrapes and pulses are heard throughout: the wire is pushed and pulled by the force of the wind; is brushed by encroaching vegetation; and is struck by grains of sand and a fine mist of rain blowing through the air.

FKISM: Fencewire in the wind, Carrickalinga - May 2015

Tristan Louth-Robins is a South Australian artist working principally in the medium of sound art and field recording. Ideas of sound and its signification are key elements in Louth-Robins' practice, traversing the space between the visual and aural his work is realised through the mediums of recordings, installation, visual art and performance. He is interested in sound and its associative implications - including its relationship to objects, technology, urban space, memory and the natural world. 


Since 2005, Louth-Robins has presented work in Australia and internationally as a solo artist, whilst also collaborating with artists, writers, researchers, musicians and performers. 

Working across a vast array of activities encompassing composition, sound design, installation art, field recording and workshops, his work has been featured in events such as the Adelaide Festival of Arts (2006), The National Regional Arts Festival (2012), Mildura-Wentworth Arts Festival (2013), Fairfax Festival (2013) and Adelaide Fringe Festival (2014); and selected works exhibited at galleries including The Australian Experimental Art Foundation (2009), SASA Gallery (2012, 2015), Light Square Gallery (2012) and FELT Space (2015). His audio works have been broadcast on radio including Radio National, Classic FM, The BBC (UK), Acoustic Frontiers (USA) and RBB (Germany).