I can just imagine camping out there and thinking 'what the *&^% is that??"  I think the last time I heard something like that it was Red Deer calling in the night - I think it's known as 'the roar'

On the shore of the Lac du Der at night, a talkative Red fox meets a pack of responsive Common cranes.

Recorded with Mélia Roger on November 5th 2022 around 9:30pm.

Lom Usi Pro AB in PCM M10
Drop rig excerpt.

Illustration : Grues trompettant, Robert Hainard

Cranes and Fox dialogue - Mélia Roger & Grégoire Chauvot

A long soundscape across Dawn in the Queets River Valley rainforest of the Olympic National Park. Starting in Astronomical Twilight, a small herd of Roosevelt Elk walks in from a distance, though a small forest glade, an away towards the Queets River bed.

Early Autumn rainfall and dropping Maple Leaves are the dominant sounds to begin, their pak-pak-spaks are a reminder that time passes, even in the still quiet of a moss-covered forest.

Highway 101 in less than 12 miles away, and distant traffic is funneled up the Valley, showing the difficulty of escaping human-generated sound. This has been mitigated somewhat with light processing, but close listening and inspection will make remnants evident. There are no other edits or processes committed.

I love the crisp cold air of the rainforests in the fall. Sounds, natural and human generated, carry into the distant. Tucked into my sleeping bag, I lay back in my small tent, listening to the forest awaken. Where once there was just the soft distant wash of the river, the elk are joined by the local birds. Steller's Jays shriek their song with grating-yet-amusing "CHA-CHA-CHA-CHAs". A Northern Saw-whet toots in the forest canopy. Young Varied Thrush practice their songs, not quite reaching the beautiful and haunting signature fluting of their predecessors, instead emitting a silly buzzer-bell-like noise. Pacific Wren singing at the end of their season and the occasional Kingfisher make an appearance as well. Noe of these complete with the sheer vibrance of the elk.

Roosevelt Elk or Roosevelt's Wapiti or Rainforest Elk are the largest remaining elk species in North America and thrive in shadowy silences of the Pacific Northwest's temperate rainforests. Bull's bugles and roars echo through the trees, becoming one of the signature sounds of the Olympic Mountains. The cows mew and squeal in return, listening for one another to not wander far astray.

The small herd is a tight-nit family group, a with one, maybe two, dominant bulls, five or six cows in their harem, and a handful of young. The dominant bull leads the group on a daily hike, down from the upper valley to the river and back again. Their bugles urge the group, both signaling the direction to go and scolding those that dawdle. As they pass through the glade, their heavy footfall on the vegetative floor thump-thump-thumps their presence as much as the vocalizations and the continued crushing of vegetation as they push by.

I can't get enough of their energy. They pull back frequently. No matter how many times I encounter them, Elk never cease to awe me.

Click through the comments below for some highlights!

Northwest Soundscapes

Queets River Valley Rainforest Dawn with Elk

Dmitry and Mattia talk about their adventures recording many different animals, both big (like Lions and Wolves!) and small (Guinea pigs!). They talk about the gear they use, how to approach the creature's keepers to gain permission to record and how to best interact with animals to get the best vocalizations out of them. Plus some great stories on how they captured specific sounds.  Stay tuned to the end for some great examples of their recordings.

Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/217---recording-animals-with-mattia-cellotto--dmitry-chernov/

Podcast Homepage:  https://tonebenderspodcast.com

Tonebenders Hosts This Episode: Timothy Muirhead & René Coronado

See Our Site

217 - Recording Animals With Mattia Cellotto & Dmitry Chernov

A dawn chorus next to a little pond where life follows its own rhythm. Ducks, frogs, birds and small mammals come and go. 
Luckily no airplanes during this time.
The microphones were very close to the water so there is a difference in volume between ducks, frogs, and on the other side the bird songs, although at times birds come very close to the microphones.
Enjoy listening.

Dawn Chorus Champetre, Cardet

Fragment met communicerende klopkevers in een dode boomstam. Opgenomen met 2x diy piezo contact microfoons via Olympus LS-5 naar Zoom F6 en Aquarian H2A hydrofoon in contact modus.

Fragment with communicating deathwatch beetles in a dead tree trunk. Recorded with 2x diy piezo contact microphones via Olympus LS-5 to Zoom F6 and Aquarian H2A hydrophone in contact mode.

Klopkevers in stam / Deathwatch beetles in trunk

Roosevelt Elk, or Rainforest Elk or Olympic Elk, selected from a brief trip in late September 2023.

Recorded in the Queets and Quinalt Rainforest River Valleys, there's often an unavoidable distant wash of river in the background, so each example is very lightly processed with the unprocessed source immediately following.

I record elk by leaving recorders out in the field where herds are known to migrate. Occasionally I'm able to follow a herd and record more direct, but I do not want to alarm the herd or stress them unnecessarily, so I often avoid this method.

Bugles are multi-toned calls that start low and transition into a scream. During the rut season, Bulls use this to express dominance over other males, warding off potential rivals, and attract potential mates. Outside of the rut they will often bugle when leading a herd.

Chuckles, or laughs, sound just like that, a series of short loud grunts. Like bugles, chuckles are used as a form of dominance and attraction call. I've often heard them used when a bull is specifically calling his harem to gather. They'll produce chuckles on their own, or sometimes tag them onto the end of a bugle.

image credit: "Roosevelt Elk Bugling-Unknown" by Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/?

Roosevelt Elk Bugle into Chuckle

Roosevelt Elk Bugle with follow-up Chuckle

Roosevelt Elk Bugle with low chesty roar

Bittern and frogs recorded from a canoe on the Black River in Sweden.

Sennheiser MKH8020 in DIY SASS // Sound Devices USBPre2 -> Sony D100

Bittern & Frog Chorus - Sweden, Black River, April 2018

In this episode we talk about the unique working relationship between SEAL Team's picture and sound departments during the show's post production.  Editors David C. Cook and John Vitale sit down with the series' Supervising Sound Editor Greg Hedgepath and Sound Designer Charles Maynes.  They discuss how they collaborate and influence each others choices during the fast-paced schedule of the military-themed action series.

107 - Sound & Picture Crews for SEAL Team

"LARX002 67 Lake near wooded shore Summer Night 00 05 Very quiet Fog Arctic Loons two grunting and howling sequence Longhorn beetle larvae ticking cracking Splashes around small ST Demo". This is an ambience from my sound effects library Karelia, Northern Europe Vol. 2: Lakes and Streams. Summer". All rights reserved. You can learn more and buy this Library at my site 
https://larxaudio.com

Lake Summer Night Arctic Loons Grunting And Howling, Longhorn Beetles, Splashes ST

My sound libraries and just field recordings. Witnessing how beautifully the world is created.

Lake Summer Night Arctic Loons Grunting And Howling, Longhorn Beetles, Splashes ST

LARX Audio

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