Four Fields
Tim Dee argues argues that we must attend to what we have made of the wild, to look at and think about the way we have messed things up but also to notice how we have kept going alongside nature.

Tim Dee 13 September 2013

If you’re a regular listener, you know that I’m interested in the sounds of the natural world and have interviewed quite a few sound recordists on this program. In this episode, you’re going to meet a guy who is more than just a sound hobbyist. He works all over the world for big movie studios—in fact, when we recorded this, he had just returned from a shoot in the Sahara Desert in Algeria for a big Hollywood production He also produces sounds for the video game industry, which is far more complicated than you may think.

My guest is George Vlad. I learned about George’s work a few years ago when I ran across a photograph of him standing on the lip of a volcano with a boom pole extended over the rim. He has recorded soundscapes all over the world: the Amazon Basin, Borneo, the Arabian Desert, the rainforests of west Africa, Madagascar, and all over Europe, including in his native Romania. You can learn more about George and his work, and listen to some great tutorials, at mindful-audio.com, or at his YouTube site. But first, meet George. I caught up with him for this interview at his home in London.

Episode 220 - George Vlad Captures The World

Recorded in Sierra Valley, California, on June28, 2014, during the Nature Sounds Society annual meeting.
Recorded with a Sony PCM-M10 and AT2022 mic with Felmicamps preamp.

Sierra Valley Dawn

Domestic argument, or something along those lines, amongst various baboons, recorded at roughly 2am in Stanley and Livingstone Private Game Reserve, Zimbabwe.

I am not entirely sure what is going on here, but something upset the baboons at first, possibly a nearby predator, but it's anyone's guess. It then appears to just drag on for a while with baboons in various different trees giving off alarm calls, and some making a call that appears to be intended to calm down the others (but I will have to verify this later on). 

All in all something must have upset them because normally these kind of eruptions of vocalisations only last for a short duration, whereas this event continued for near 10 minutes. Whether it was just a whole lot of noise over nothing and all the neighbours getting involved out of irritation, or something else, I will probably never know for sure.

More here
http://daanhendriks.co.uk/wildlife-nature-sound-recording/baboons-the-gangsters-of-the-bush/

--
Sennheiser MKH8040 pair ORTF, Sound Devices USBPre2, Sony D100, 96khz 24bit but playing here at Soundcloud's crappy MP3 conversion.

Baboons going apeshit

Recorded on four channels nearby laggon under  Svínafellsjökull glacier south of Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland.
Two microphones are recording the soundscape above the  glacier lagoon and two hydrophones are placed in the lagoon.
More information will be found at http://fieldrecording.net


Above and under the glacier lagoon surface

A lovely variety of birds (plus red squirrels) greet the morning with song and drumming.  Singers include American Robin, White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco, Common Raven, Hermit Thrush, Audubon's Warbler and others.  Drummer was a Three-toed Woodpecker.  Recorded with a Sony PCM-M10 with EM-172 capsules.

Woodland Dawn 150619

I had come to Kyambura Gorge in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Along the way I stopped to record the wonderful soundscape of this rich ecosystem, made all the more interesting by the incredible acoustics of the gorge.

Photo courtesy of Anne Zak (http://www.annezakrzewski.de/)


Jungle Soundscape 1 (Birds, Insects, Distant Hippo) - Kyambura Gorge, Uganda

A SYMPHONY OF LOONS - track sample from LOON LAKE, available here: http://store.musicofnature.com/products/pure-nature/loon-lake

Recorded in early May at dusk, in Algonquin National Park, Ontario (2011).
Microphone: quasi-binaual SASS (Stereo Ambient Sampling System) modified for use with Sennheiser MKH20 microphones.

LISTEN AS LOONS call from near and far, their wails, yodels, and tremolos echoing across still waters against a backdrop of distant spring peepers. 

Shortly after dusk, numerous pairs of loons begin sounding off, communicating to each other their territo-rial boundaries. Their wails, yodels, and tremolos echo from near and far across the still waters, against a continuous backdrop of distant Spring Peepers. The wildly undulating yodel is the male loon’s territorial call. Wails that sound like the lonesome howls of wolves are used as contact calls. The tremolo calls, which signify arousal, sound like hysterical laughter and give rise to the term “crazy as a loon.” 

The evening performance of loons in early May is unforgettable – a truly symbolic soundscape of the northern lake country wilderness. In this unique “long-form” recording, we share our best loon recordings from Algonquin National Park, Ontario, gathered during the evenings of May 3 and 4 in 2011 (at times, you may also notice the cackles of Wood Frogs, the distant hoots of a Barred Owl, the quacks of a lone Black Duck, and the squeals of Ring-billed Gulls).

Additional Notes: My expedition with Bob McGuire to Algonquin National Park started out badly. We paddled to the north end of a large lake and set up camp on an island. The wind was strong and cold, with whitecaps visible not far offshore – impossible recording conditions, or so it seemed. But when the sun finally set, as if by magic, the wind lightened and then disappeared altogether, just as the loons began their evening rhapsody. The sudden calm took us completely by surprise and we literally jumped into our canoes, frantically (and rather unsuccessfully) trying to maneuver into good positions for recording. Although the wind grew brisk during each following day, we were fortunate to have two more calm evenings before we had to part. I really love the northern lake country wilderness and our journey to Algonquin Park to record loons is one I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.

Loon Lake

A Symphony of Loons

Travelling, not through time, but inside time.

A Small Passage In Time

Point Lobos Waves

MY DAY SPENT WITH JOEY WEINERT, VOLUNTEER MANAGER AT THE MIDNIGHT MISSION ON SKID ROW IN DOWNTOWN LA.

Midnightmission.org

EP 007 "Keeping the Path Clear," - Joey Weinert

I photograph, record, and write about the natural world. I see, I listen, I write. I fundamentally believe that curiosity can save the world—so I publish stories to make people curious. Ultimately, curiosity leads to discovery, discovery leads to knowledge, knowledge leads to insight, and insight leads to understanding. Please enjoy!

Episode 220 - George Vlad Captures The World

The Natural Curiosity Project

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