Spatial Field Recording (Site Specific) of Urban Soundscapes of Germany.
Headphones recommended for immersion into the space.
Setting: Kurpark Bad Berka, Thuringia, Germany. 20.02.2021.
Time: Between 13 and 16 pm.

A Sign of Spring: Melodious Calls.

A Sign Of Spring Germany: Melodious Calls - Binaural

A recent Spring Dawn in the Queets Rainforest inside the Olympic National Park
The air is cool and the light is filtered through a canopy of Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir, Pacific Chorus Frogs crowded in an ephemeral wet-spot seemingly don't know if it's day or night as they sing around the clock here. The river sounds like a soft pillow in the distance, a dull roar that is more comforting than disturbing, fading away behind a biophonic meditation.

As twilight dawns with First light, local birds join the the chorus with the frog. Varied Thrushes with their nasally mysterious alarm-like cry. Pacific Wrens who seemingly believe that everyone needs to hear what they have to say. Song Sparrows with some of the happiest song ever to delight. A Chestnut-backed Chickadee that inspects the microphones, pulling little tufts of the wind protection to pad a nest. Northern Flickers and Chipmunks compete to see who has the best chatter.

All the while, the frogs continue on in cycles of chorused and cycles of silence, punctuated only by the occasional encounter trill or inquiring contact croak.

Northwest Soundscapes

Queets Rainforest, Vernal Dawn Chorus With Frogs

I recorded this early November in 2023. Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is on the New Zealand, North Island. It´s a warm spring day with sounds of the birds but also farm animals and the occasional vehicle.

Sanctuary Mountain - Day and Evening

I got to spend December 2023 recording in several jungle locations in Costa Rica. The experience was wonderful and inspiring. Most of the trip was spent on Osa Peninsula, in lodges that bordered Parque Nacional Corcovado (Corcovado National Park). With nearly 2.5% of the world's species represented, many of them endemic, it is  recognized as one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet.

On the same morning as the previous  Midnight Chorus recording https://soundcloud.com/soundeziner/cr-fincasueno-midnightchorus, a troop of Golden Mantled Howler Monkeys greeted the Dawn and their neighbors (and the rest of the jungle) the only way they know how. Male mantled howlers have an enlarged hyoid bone, a hollow amplifying bone near their vocal cords that gives the ability to generate great "howling"  calls that can heard for kilometers.  Howling allows the monkeys to exercise territory and remain in contact  without expending energy through movement or bearing the risks of physical confrontation. As someone who likes little more than sitting in a forest listening to nature speak, I approve of this lazing behavior.

While this howling is their most well-known vocal characteristic, I'm rather fond of the popping and grunting that warms up to the howl and pads the time in between. It's relatively quiet, and is most noticeable only when near the vocalizing howler. The best description of it that I can think of is like the "vocal fry" not uncommon in many of today's pop singers. Check it out near the start of the first round of howling around 2:40 (link in the comments)

After a first round of loud howls, the group takes a break. With what is known about Mantled Howler activity, they're likely sleeping, or maybe eating. After 20-is minutes, they pick up again for a brief session before settling back down. It's possible they've been moving during this time as they're quieter during this round. Finally, just before Sunrise at 05:38 in the morning, they pick up again, slowly building and then tapering off after nearly 30 minutes of vocal exercising.

After speaking with other recordists, I know I am far from alone as someone who loves their sound, but I I may be one of the few that enjoys waking up to their calls. Every morning I heard this in the distance or nearby was a morning I walked out to breakfast with a big silly grin on my face.

Another voice that has become a personal favorite is the Yellow-throated Toucan, with their rhythmic, bouncing song that seems to carry on forever. There is at least one singing for most of this recording, but you can get your first good listen behind the Howlers at 53:27 or skip ahead to 1:06:02 to hear two singing at each other.

Hummingbirds are abundant, and you'll hear their buzzing wings fly by and around the microphones numerous times. Also coming and going are raucous and noisy Scarlet Macaws and Red-lored Parrots, a lone Red-eyed Tree Frog, a visiting Little Tinamou, and more. 

I'll point out a few voices along the way in the comments, but I'm out of my depth when it comes to identifying neotropical birds, so I'll largely let the ecosystem speak for itself. Feel free to poke around with links in the comments to scoot around the recording, or just let it play out over your morning coffee like I do.

Feel like seeing some fancy colors? I've been playing at visualizing soundscapes lately. Check out the video for this recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/duxU2INkyXI?si=xhIrgiHiOSOk922l

AMNS Costa Rica 01

Golden Mantled Howlers at Dawn

It was nice to hear the Common Poorwill calling at dusk, and cactus wrens, black-throated sparrows.  There is a lot of wind through the vegetation in this, and there were lots of grasses in the area.  I used the double mid-side system to record this.

Mojave Dusk Birdsong and Wind

Two hours before dawn the beavers are very active gnawing away. Also the bittern and toads continue their calls throughout the night. At dawn the full morning choir replaces the somewhat muted sounds with woodcocks, cuckoos, willow warblers, chaffinches, wood pigeons etc. 
Lillån, Färnebofjärdens National Park, Sweden. May 14, 2024

Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272 as tree ears

Dawn with beavers

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2024-07-22
Mixpre3 + Earsight Stereo Pair
24bit/48kHz

ship arrival, Balaton, port of Siófok

Mixpre3 + Earsight Stereo Pair
24bit/48kHz

elevator sound from 0 to 6th floor

This is a hydrophone recording of the Isar river bed. It's recorded in a small backwater just off the main flow near Zulling, Bavaria, Germany. It´s a pebble river bed. I used an Ambient ASF-2 MKII connected to a Zoom F8nPro recorder. It´s part of my River Isar Sound Map.

Zulling - Hydrophone recording of the Isar River Bed

Linktree:  https://linktr.ee/samuelkudjodzi
Support @: http://theecomusicproject.bandcamp.com
CSEM Project: https://www.instagram.com/csem_official/

Acoustic Ecology Researcher/ Field Recordist / Didactic Media Educator.
Alumnus of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany under Professorships Electroacoustic Composition and Sound Design (Prof. Robin Minard https://robinminard.com, https://seam.hfm-weimar.de) and Instructional Design (Prof. Dr. Steffi Zander https://www.uni-weimar.de/de/kunst-und-gestaltung/professuren/instructional-design/)

Project focus areas:
. Digital interactive sound documentation/archiving and analysis of complex acoustic spaces (“THE NATURE OF  INDUSTRIAL SOUNDS project: A Case Study on Anthrophony"). http://memymilk.com/samuel
. Ecological and Acousmatic Listening.
. Ethnoacoustics.
. Electroacoustic music experimentations.
. Acoustic Education  and Urban Soundscape Studies: “Ear Cleaning” – © R Murray Schafer, Recording   Strategies, Analysis and Documentation.
. Curricular Development in Acoustic Education.
. Digital Interactive Media in Teaching and Learning. https://vimeo.com/user64179152

Open to collaborative projects and research worldwide in the context of Conservation Bioacoustics.

A Sign Of Spring Germany: Melodious Calls - Binaural

Samuel Kudjodzi

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