Best listening experience on headphones.

This project chronicles diverse spaces of human, mechanical and nature activities during spring of 2021 in Bad Berka town, Germany in an immersive listening experience. It starts with acoustic events at a traffic stop, continues through a river path, a wellness park and ends up at a Klinikum where a black bird was taped in its full acoustic element. One major feature of this recording is the Ilm river sounding through Bad Berka town. 

Bad Berka is a German spa town, situated in the south of Weimar region in the state of Thuringia with an iron-rich spring and Kneipp facilities. In 2002 the award of "State Recognised Spa with Mineral Spring Health Facility" was given to the city.
The river flowing through the town, which is embedded in new red sandstone, is called Ilm. 

Recording Technology: Soundman OKM II Classic A3 Binaural set, Zoom F4.

Cities and Memory

Springwalk Bad Berka

Binaural Springwalk Bad Berka

Echoing through a flooded cypress tree forest, first a Barred Owl hoots, and then joins a second to fuss back and forth. Deep voiced Pig Frogs and shrill crickets are a sonic backdrop. Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida, August 2022, recorded with Usi Pro omni pair and Zoom F3 recorder.

Owl Swamp

Reimagined sound contribution to Cities and Memory.

An ongoing pulsating nature buzz that dominates the recording portrays a rich sonic environment. This textural richness is gradually demonstrated in the work, which consists of spectrally analyzed parts. The work unravels through fragmented narrative references to suspicious activity near a marshland. The piece could work as a three-movement soundtrack to a short film that involves a script with no significant beginning or ending, in the sense that it symbolizes a capture in time.

Koforidua

Anthill

Monos Congos, or Mantled Howler Monkeys, waking the jungle in Costa Rica's Parque Nacional Corcovado.

Male Mantled Howlers can be heard from several kilometers away, estimated to be loudest vocalization of any terrestrial mammal. With their distinctive grunt and and calls, they are a defining aspect of the Osa Peninsula's Dawn and Dusk, but they can also be heard throughout the day, generally in response to disturbances.

If I'm being honest, my favorite aspect of the Howler's call isn't the call itself, but those wonderful vocal croaks and creaks between calls. The echoes of the beautiful Cost Rican hardwood primary forest and the deep river valley practically hug these voices, letting shine and sing as nothing else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantled_howler

Mantled Howler Monkeys in Corcovado morning twilight

Winter Forest  Trees sounds

The atmosphere at the untamed lake was mysterious and evocative. As the rain began, the raindrops created a distinct sound as they touched the surface of the lake. Not having a natural shelter made it impossible to record it using the microphones. I headed towards the lake, which had a high water level, with bushes and branches floating on the surface. I placed the recording equipment with the tripod partially submerged in the water. I threw a woolen blanket over the top branches of the bush, and so I was able to capture the raindrops around.

Soothing Raindrops Hitting the Lake's Surface

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

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari  Dawn Chorus

Frogs in the first weeks of activity of the year. It was the warmest night so far, unusually high and although I went to the lake's edge, they were so loud that they could be heard from a long distance. This is also a place to see and hear herons and sometime storks, but this night it was all for the frogs.
I was testing out a Zoom F3 for the second time.

Frogs in the Countryside

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

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Linktree:  https://linktr.ee/samuelkudjodzi
Instagram: 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://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 Sound Installation Projects and Research worldwide.

Binaural Springwalk Bad Berka

Samuel Kudjodzi

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