Sounds of an Ugandan Idingiti player, a one stringed, fiddle-like instrument

Here's a blog post on the subject!
http://www.thesoundfarmer.com/ugandapart1/

Ugandan Idingiti

Night call of an insect in Masindi, Uganda

Recorded with AT825 stereo mic to Sound Devices 744T
1st July 2013

Here's a blog post on the subject!
http://www.thesoundfarmer.com/ugandapart1/

Ugandan insect night song, another Cicada?

Recording of a Cicada song in Masindi, Uganda

Recorded with AT825 Stereo mic to SD744T
1st July 2013

Cicada!

Recorded on Thursley Common, 
18th April 2021

Equipment:  
Sound Devices 744T
DPA4060
Telinga Universal Parabolic Reflector

The Willow Warbler

Recorded on Crayford Marshes in May 2020.

2x DPA4060 to Sound Devices 744T

An extract from a 10 hour recording.

Marsh Frog Extravaganza!

Microphones placed in a wood ant nest on Thursley Common

Recorded with Olympus LS10, Clippy EM272 omni pair
1st May 2021

Wood Ants on Thursley Common

Another recording from inside the nest, this time made in the evening.  The wasps line the entrance to their hole in the bank and are far more bad tempered than during the day.

Recorded with two ECM77b's to Sound Devices 744T.

The Wasps in the evening - They're not as welcoming

Vibrations from the only surviving cable from a broken winch.  
Sounds created by striking the wire.

Recorded with two Jez Riley French contact mics and a Sound Devices 633.

Isle of Skye, Neist Point

Isle Of Skye - A Broken Winch at Neist Point

Strong wind through railings at Kilt Rock, Isle of Skye

Recorded with DPA4060s and Sound Devices 633
20/10/2021

EQ'd to remove high-end wind noise.  Tiny bit of reverb added to smooth distorted mics.

Kilt Rock - Wind singing through safety bars

A 1950's Ford Poplar's engine starting, turning over and stopping.

Recorded with 2 Sennheiser 416's to SD744T

Ford Poplar Engine Start, Turn Over and Stop

Blog post:  http://www.thesoundfarmer.com/plumtree/

An extract from an hour and a half of a plum tree's trunk cracked by heavy winds, creaking in further winds.

Recorded with two DPA 4060s placed in the centre of the trunk to SD744T.

Creaking Plum Tree (Extract)

Unusual cuckoo call as a pair of cuckoos presumably court on a hot and breezy day.  The first call is that of the female.

The edited highlights of a twelve minute recording.

Recorded at Stodmarsh Nature Reserve, Kent on Saturday 7th June 2014.

Two Sennheiser 416s in XY Stereo configuration to SD744T.

Female and male Cuckoo Call

A Woodpigeon's song recorded at the nest.

Recorded with DPA4060 to MixPre-D to Olympus LS5

Blog Post:  http://www.thesoundfarmer.com/wood-pigeon/

(Re-uploaded with light hi-pass filter and 3db gain reduction)

Woodpigeon - Perspective Recording

Any ideas as to what species these pitch down sound are?  

The original sounds are out of human hearing range

Oxted, Surrey
MixPreii, DPA4060 
30.07.23

Wildlife Sound Recording - Unknown - Potentially Bats (Pitched down)

Another unidentified recording beyond the human frequency range.  Pitched down

Any ideas?

Oxted, Surrey
MixPreii, DPA4060
30.07.23

Wildlife Sound Recording - Unknown - Potentially Bats 2 (Pitched

M/S Stereo test recording of water lapping the shore at Cliffe Pools, North Kent.

Recorded with DPA 4060 (Mid) and AKG C414B set to Fig. 8 pattern (Side) to SD744T

Water Lapping Shore At Cliffe Pools - Mid/Side Test

Pipistrelle bats using the farmhouse as a nursery.  Positioned a microphone the other side of the wall to record their chattering and scrabbling.  

Recorded September 2014 with 2 x DPA4060s to SD744T.
Extract from several nights of recording.

Pipistrelle Bats in the loft

Not sure this will be enjoyable to many people but:

These are the sounds of aquatic organisms recorded with a hydrophone via a Hologram Microcosm Granular/Looper/Delay/Pitch shifting pedal.  The Microcosm manipulated the sounds of aquatic organisms to create some mad soundscapes.

Recorded with: 

Sound Devices MixPre3 mk2
Aquarian Audio H2D Hydrophone
Hologram Microcosm
at Cliffe Pools, Kent, 15/2/2024

Hydrophone to MixPre3, the output of the MixPre went to the Microcosm and the output of that back into the MixPre3.

Pond Songs 2

A drinker moth caterpillar munching on reeds

Location:  Thatcham Reedbeds 
Equipment:  Sound Devices MixPre3ii
                     LOM MikroUsi Pro

Date:  13/6/24

Munching Drinker Moth Caterpillar

Recorded Monday 11th July from 19:30 on a farm in Kent.
Wasps are attempting to build a nest within the external panels of a house.
This is their story.

SFX - Wildlife - Agitated wasps

Episode 5 looks at close-up recording, parabolic reflectors and Greenfinches.

Featuring:  Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blackbird, Robin and a soundscape comprised of dawn chorus recordings from the farm in South East Kent.

Wildlife sounds recorded with MKH20 in Telinga reflector, open DPA4060s to SD744T.

Main website:  www.thesoundfarmer.com

Blog post about close-up recording attempts: www.thesoundfarmer.com/fieldcraft

Fieldcast:  Episode Five - Springtime Recording

A juvenile blackbird who's lost his way, calling for parents

Location: Farm in Kent
Recorded with Sennheiser 816 and Fostex FR2-LE
In Mono

Thursday 25th August 2011

Juvenile blackbird calling for parents

Recorded Monday 31st August 2015 
2xDPA4060s to SD744T 

Stormy weather

A stridulating Bog Bush Cricket, not the grasshopper in the photograph...

Recorded 5th August 2015 at Thursley Nature Reserve, Surrey.

DPA4060 on a stick to SD744T


Close up recording of a Bog Bush Cricket stridulating

A Nightingale singing at Minsmere
Recorded during Springwatch!

MKH20 in Telinga dish to SD744T

Nightingale At Minsmere

The sounds of hundreds of webbed feet as the ducks and geese are fed on the ice over Keston Ponds.

At about 4 minutes in they're all startled by Labradors.  One goose is stranded.  Sounds a bit like a TR808 kick drum.  

Location:  Keston Ponds, Keston
Date:  05.01.2017
Recorder:  Sound Devices 744T
Microphones:  2x JrF Hydrophones

Ducks on Ice

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming.

Location:  RSPB The Lodge, Bedford
Date: 9.3.2017
Recorder:  Sound Devices 744T
Microphone:  MKH20 in Telling parabolic reflector

Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming

A mix of hydrophone and open omni-microphone recordings of Common Frogs croaks (Rana temporaria) and Common Toad calls (Bufo bufo)

Location:  Holwood, Keston
Date: 17.03.2017
Recorder:  Sound Devices 744T
Microphones:  2x DPA4060s, 2x JrF hydrophones

Croaks and calls of Common Frogs and Toads

A Dor Beetle crawling through dry leaves on a spring afternoon.

Recorded with one capsule of MM HLSO-MICRO binaural pair to Olympus LS5 recorder.

SFX - Dor Beetle crawling through leaves

A reed warbler about three feet away from me.

Recorded at Greenwich Ecology Park April 27th 2012
With newly customised parabolic dish, MM-HSLO Micro Binaural Microphones to Olympus LS5

SFX - Birds - Reed Warbler

Following the course of the Afon Mellte in the Brecon Beacons and through Porth yr Ogof, the largest cave entrance in Wales.

This sonic journey follows the river coursing over rocks, cascades and through the cave system where water trickles through cracks in the cave roof.

Best listened to with headphones.

Recorded with MM-HSLO Sennheiser Driven omni pair to Fostex FR2 LE in February 2012

Porth yr Ogof - Gateway to the Cave

Tawny owls disturbing the dawn chorus and annoying blackbirds.  

Recorded at 5:30am approx.
26th April 2020
Joyden's Wood, Bexley

Recorder:  Sound Devices SD633
Microphones:  2x DPA4060s, 2x Sony ECM678 shotgun microphones

Tawny Owls Upsetting Blackbirds

Contact mics attached to the branches of a small oak tree, recording the breeze through its branches and leaves.

Recorded with JrF contact mics to Fostex FR2 LE.

Wood Wind - An oak tree in the breeze - Contact Microphone Recording

I left a pair of microphones on Crayford Marshes over night a month or so ago pointing at a dead tree I'd seen cuckoos frequent.  This was the result! 

Recorded with Sound Devices 744T, 2x Sony ECM678 in Stereo

A Cuckoo At Crayford Marshes

The sounds of life in a pond.  Unknown sources, but could be nymphs, larvae and even tadpoles nibbling on the microphones.

Recorded with JrF C Series hydrophones to Fostex FR2 LE.  

Minimal processing (light low pass filter for hiss removal) in Pro Tools LE8.  Planes removed with Izotope RX2.

Recorded at the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust Barnes site at a Wildlife Sound Recording Society day promoting natural sound recording.

This recording won the Habitat category in the Wildlife Sound Recording Society's 2013 Annual Competition.

Pond Songs

Returned home from work today to find a mole hill under construction.  I buried a hydrophone in a mole hill adjacent to the new one that had been demolished by a lawnmower and this was the result! 

Best heard through headphones at 3/4 volume I reckon!

Recorded with JrF hydrophone to Fostex FR2 LE

A Mole, Underground

Wildlife sound recordist/farmer.

Website at www.thesoundfarmer.com

The Sound Farmer

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks