Night Listening means sitting, through the night, in a chosen location, as still and quiet as possible, often for many hours, absorbed in purely listening, while recording. This is an excerpt from a recent Night Listening. It involves three Brushtail Possums, and one Red Fox. The responses of the Possums to the barking of the Fox are very interesting. (Don't start with the volume raised to more than 50 to 60 per cent: some of the fox barks are quite close and loud.)

Recorded on the land of the Kaurna people.

2023.12.28 Night Listening. Night Forest. Red Fox and Brushtail Possums. Early Summer.

The first eleven minutes of the recording document the gradual approach of the storm from the northwest; the remainder of the recording, its arrival and passing overhead, travelling towards the southeast.

2023.11.28 Thunderstorm (from a Balcony)

Summer has passed, winter is approaching. Until the rains return, the creek is dry, but pools of water remain, here and there, where a few Bibron's Toadlets linger, croaking with a sound somewhat like glass marbles grating and rattling against one another. Small birds flutter down to drink water. Particular birds sighted were Grey Fantails and Red-capped Robins. If you listen carefully, you will hear the sounds of the water as they drink, while hovering in mid-air. Birds heard in the distance include Crimson Rosellas and Grey Currawongs.

A small token towards Earth Day 2024. Macrocosms are woven only out of microcosms. If the microcosms are well, the macrocosm will be well. An unattended recording made with a pair of FEL Clippies (Primo EM172s), draped, hanging, from a branch near the pool, into an F3. Occasional contact sounds are small birds landing on adjoining branches, and sometimes perhaps the branch from which the microphones dangle.

This is an excerpt from a longer recording, also posted here, at https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20240406-small-birds-drinking-water-from-a-small-pool-autumn-long-version.

Recorded with respect upon the land of the Kaurna people.

2024.04.06 Small Birds Drinking Water from a Small Pool. Autumn. (Excerpt)

This is the original file, recorded with a preamp gain of 60 dB, then with a gain reduction of -0.90 dB in post.* Converted from 96/24 wav to 48/24 flac. No EQ or other processing. (FEL Clippies in AB 63 cm into MixPre-6. Rycote mini foam windshields plus Rycote mini windjammers. LOM/Rycote Uši lyre mounts.)

True peak level L -5.76 dB, R -6.33 dB
Sample peak level L -6.09 dB, R -6.49 dB
Total RMS level L -33.85 dB, R -33.02 dB
Integrated loudness -26.7 LUFS
Loudness range 17.2 LU

*The Uši Pros were recorded with a preamp gain of 50 dB, while the Clippies were recorded at 60 dB (on the basis of benchmark comparative tests that were made earlier): the correspondence was extremely close, but this particular recording was subsequently adjusted with a simple minor global gain reduction of -0.90 dB in post to bring it into exact alignment with the integrated loudness of the parallel Uši Pro recording. This correlation in perceived loudness is important for pinpointing and recognising the different frequency response profiles or spectral sensitivities and 'textures' of the two different builds of microphone; and thus, how best to make use of them in specific field recording situations, especially of natural quietude.

Please see the Playlist notes for more details: https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/sets/2024-04-14-autumn-evening-eucalyptus-forest-parallel-recordings-usi-pro-fel-clippy.

2024.04.14 Evening Eucalyptus Forest. Autumn. FEL Clippies (Original file at -0.90 dB).

Preamp gain: 50 dB

Sample peak level L -6.73 dB, R -8.45 dB
Total RMS level L -31.35 dB, R -32.12 dB
Integrated loudness -25.8 LUFS
Loudness range 14.5 LU

2024.04.14 Evening Eucalyptus Forest. LOM Uši Pro. Excerpt 1 (Original).

On the day that I made comparative frequency response recordings with the FEL Clippies and the LOM Uši Pros in parallel for the purpose of working out a benchmark gain adjustment level for bringing the Clippies and the Uši Pros into a relative perceived loudness alignment (the first step before making the comparative parallel field recordings in the forest), it so happened that our local council commenced the work of removing a tall Lemon-scented Gum tree (Corymbia citriodora) on our street, not far from where we live. After making my frequency test parallel recordings, I opened the window and let the recorder and two pairs of microphones continue recording the ambience from outside. As it turned out, this segment of the ambient recording, made while the machinery outside was idling, provided a very useful key illustration of what I was trying to pinpoint through these tests, in terms of the subtly but audibly different spectral response profiles of the two makes of microphone, despite the fact that they both use what is essentially the same microphone capsule (with exactly the same microphone capsule specifications). [This track is downloadable.]

50 dB of preamp gain was provided for both the Clippies and the Uši Pros in a MixPre-6. After carefully checking out the signal levels of the two parallel recordings in response to a range of frequencies from a tone generator, I arrived at what I feel is a fairly accurate and reliable benchmark: the Clippies require approximately +12 dB (±2 dB, with some minor variability, depending on context) more gain than the Uši Pros to attain the same integrated loudness level. However, given the same integrated loudness (and closely similar total RMS levels), the resulting recordings made by each type of microphone (despite what are essentially identical capsules, with identical sensitivities) have quite different spectral profiles and textures. This is particularly clear when recording very quiet (natural) environments, with very quiet or distant sound sources (which was the main point of the present test/experiment).

I strongly recommend careful listening to this recording, preferably with headphones (or headphones through calibrating software) that will allow as closely as possible a 'flat' frequency response to the content of the two samples; and careful study of the related spectrograms (made with iZotope RX). This track leads very effectively into the next track in this playlist, and provides the key for listening to that, and all the other comparative parallel samples presented, here.

2024.04.11 FEL Clippy and LOM Uši Pro. Random Ambience Sample Comparison.

I selected these parallel samples because the environment was relatively quiet during this interval, and the occasional bird calls and other sounds are at all at varying distances, but none very close to the microphones. The samples are extracted from the two full-length original files, given at the head of this playlist. The Uši Pro recording and this sample from it are unmodified (as originally recorded at 50 dB). The Clippy recording and this sample taken from it were originally recorded at 60 dB, but were subsequently reduced by -0.90 dB in post to bring the global integrated loudness of the two recordings into exact alignment. I discuss the implications of this adjustment and the audible differences between the two recordings in the Playlist notes. [This track is downloadable.]

2024.04.14 Evening Eucalyptus Forest. LOM Uši Pros and FEL Clippies Parallel Sample.

The microphones were placed in a 7 -feet-long paper tube (diameter is about 5 inch).
The tube placed on the ground.
This recording is lightly processed: some EQ and Mutiband Dynamics applied.
Recorder: Olympus - LS 100 (ext.input)
Mic: BMS9 Binaural Stereo Microphone

Dawn chorus in a paper tube close to the railway line 10/Apr/2015 2am to 5.45am(extract)

Sappy

Drone (beta)

I am a enthusiastic sound recording artist. My area of special interest is wildlife and exploratory/experimental recording.
Now days my attention turned to - mainly wild life - film making again,which I had to give it up few years ago when I've moved to the UK.
I'd like to improve my skills and get more experience from professionals. I try to take every opportunity to learn about this profession.
I make/record my own music and original sound-scapes. I also make, perform and record several different genres of music. My music is a mixture of ambient, electro-acoustic, experimental, soundscaping and different electronic styles. The tracks are created on a variety of different softwares and hardware synthesizers and I also utilize field recorded material which has been converted into electronic sounds with samplers and multi-effects.
I started my music career with a consumer AKAI double cassette recorder that i received from my father when I was 14. This tape deck surprisingly could have been able to record up to 4 tracks and when I realized that, I started my own sound experiment journey: I recorded weird noises and all kind of sounds. This is what I'm doing up to present day: making, recording, collecting ANY type of musical or non-musical sounds and then putting them together and making something new and positive.

Dawn chorus in a paper tube close to the railway line 10/Apr/2015 2am to 5.45am(extract)

dnsdobai

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