What does it feel like to be immersed in a rainforest, far away from people and surrounded by nature? As daylight starts to fade, this experience is not necessarily a blissful or relaxing one, especially if this is your first time in the Congo basin. Long version at https://youtu.be/X-61RmPgBzA

Nightfall In The Congo Jungle

Backyard Sounds - 3rd Sept 2021

The sounds of Orange-Eyed Tree frogs in my backyard during the rain.
(some background noises from inside the house, but you have to listen pretty hard to hear them).

Frogs in the Rain

Red-eyed Tree frogs calling in the backyard

Red-eyed Treefrogs

Likely owl, at least it seemed owl shaped in the torch-light, but too far away to identify.

Juvenile Southern Boobook Owl (Ninox boobook)

Various birds calling this morning, as heard from my veranda.

Grey Shrike-Thrush, Eastern Whipbird, King Parrots, Little Fryerbird

Cockatoos at Dusk

I was camping at Myall Park Botanic Gardens, Glenmorgan, Queensland, when a very heavy rain shower drenched my solar blanket. I leaned part of it against a small termite mound to elevate it. A few days later I moved it off the termite mound and discovered that termites had built up their mound and used the solar blanket as a roof. My removal had exposed the new tunnels. This was immediately exploited by the local black ants, and a battle ensued. I captured the sound of the angry termites with a tent peg with an AKGC411 contact mic attached. (Zoom F6, low cut filter applied)

Angry Termites

Recording technique: ORTF inverted close to the *Ilm riverbank in Bad Berka, Thuringia, Germany. More about Bad Berka city: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Berka
Recording and monitoring gear: Zoom F4 Field Recorder, RODE M5 MP, Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO/ DT 1990 PRO.

Sound character: Palpable tones, forms, gestures and textures. Scattered vocalization of birds and occasional vehicular traffic. All characters are within distinctive stereofields. 

This piece stems from the project "URBAN SOUNDSCAPES: Between Man and Nature".
"Urban Soundscapes" is a participatory field craft which fosters:
. Learning and understanding of our environment through Sound.
. Listening to our sonic environment for ear training, meditation and recreation.
. Empirical study on quiet and loud spaces.
. Study on noise in product and material development.
. Knowledge in advanced Sound Engineering.

*The Ilm is a 128.7 kilometers (80.0 mi) long river in Thuringia, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Saale, into which it flows in Großheringen near Bad Kösen.
Towns along the Ilm are Ilmenau, Stadtilm, Kranichfeld, Bad Berka, Weimar, Apolda and Bad Sulza.
In the valley of Ilm river runs the federal motorway 87 from Ilmenau to Leipzig and two railways: the Thuringian Railway between Großheringen and Weimar and the Weimar–Kranichfeld railway. Part of the Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway also runs through the upper part of the valley near Ilmenau.

Beneath the Ilm Bridge #2

The recording begins just before 05:00 (about ten minutes after nautical twilight). The sky was clear, wind conditions were mainly calm, and the overnight minimum temperature was probably a little lower than 8° C.

A pair of Willie Wagtails, calling and answering one another, are the first to announce the coming light.

As usual, best listened to with good headphones.

Related track: https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20201220-willie-wagtail-couple-summer. (This is very likely the same pair of birds.)

2020.12.20 A Rural Dawn. Summer.

Nature lover with a field recorder (and a camera)

Angry Termites

strictfunctor

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