Is that a treecreeper or dunnock in the background?

The great tit, sounds like a bicycle pump.

At the time (Pandemic) - this must have been reassuring... I love the beauty of this!!!

Nice how it builds up Geoff. Good to hear the Tree Sparrows.

Representing Birdsong is a collaborative project inspired by birdsong, between sound and visual artist Lucy Stevens and tabla player Rishii Chowdhury.

The Swithland Wood Recordings has been created as a digital print, onto a 12 inch record sleeve and pressed vinyl, featuring illustrations of native birds, their songs and trees from Swithland Woods in Leicestershire. The soundtracks were captured using field recording techniques (with support from Geoff Sample) and feature birdsong and musical compositions inspired by birdsong.

Stevens and Chowdhury have come together to explore the magnificent sounds of bird vocalisations, including the variations in pitch, repetition and duration. The sounds of native birds have influenced the artists involved, by fusing field recordings, musical improvisation and drawing techniques.

The soundtracks feature classically trained musicians Rishii Chowdhury (tabla) and Roopa Panesar (sitar), responding to birdsong, with an additional track featuring a live recording of Rishii performing the tabla in the woods, responding to birdsong. The main inspiration for one of the rifts was the 'Coo Coo Cooo' of the Wood Pigeon and the loud call of the Green Woodpecker. 

A short film has been created to document the process of the project and reveal the various stages of creating the work (see the foyer area show reel).

I would like to thank the following individuals and organisations for their generous support towards this project: Rishii Chowdhury, Bill Newsinger, Geoff Sample, Roopa Panesar, Terry Forryan and Lyndall Phelps, Leicester Print Workshop, LCB Depot, Embrace Arts, Leicester City Council and Dub Studio and Senol printing.
For more information please visit: www.representingbirdsong.wordpress.com or stay in touch via Twitter @lucyjstevens #birdsongtabla. This project was supported by Arts Council England's National Lottery-funded Grants for the arts programme.

Birdsong and music composition by Rishii Chowdhury (tabla) and Roopa Panesar (sitar), 2014

These recordings were made by members of the Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group during a weekend workshop in regional Victoria.

Each recording documents the same 2 minute sequence during the dawn chorus, with recorders/microphones in proximity to each other. Recording rigs range from simple and inexpensive to hi-end equipment, and this edit allows them to be compared, with a brief silence between each recorder. 

1. Sound Devices MixPre6-2, with DPA4060 omnis (Vicki Hallett)
2. Zoom H6, internal mics @ 120º (James Harris)
3. Sound Devices 702, with pair of Sennheiser MKH20s in SASS array (Andrew Skeoch)
4. Sound Devices 702, with pair of Sennheiser MKH60s in pistol grips, hand held (Andrew Skeoch)
5. Zoom H4N, internal cardoids (Melinda Barry)

awsrg.org.au

Info

5 field recording rigs compared

21st Century Swing

Please listen through headphones to experience the binaural effect.
This is an example of the sonic context of the Sfera (2018) ambisonics installation where sound beams emit from the IKO 3D Audio speaker. It is a processed fog signal sound provided by Geoff Sample, recordist of the Foghorn Requiem(2013) performance.

Binaural Fog Signal Harmonics

Self-titled debut full-length by Grey Tapes.
Written and performed by Grey Tapes (Rob Blazey, Niall Calderon, Ryan Collins, Calum Howard, Dan Potter).
Produced by John Martindale at Blank Studios, Newcastle upon Tyne.

06. Something New

A small flock of about 10 adults and young diving for fish and calling offshore at Hauxley Northumberland in late July.

Roseate tern

UK lock-down day #4: 
5am dawn chorus in Northumberland coastal hamlet.
Baseline for the spring.
§
In late January we moved from inland under the Cheviot Hills where we’d lived for over 20 years to a small village (about 12 households) by the Northumberland coast. It’s taken a while to settle and February was a turbulent month anyway. But the birdsong has been building all the while. Now with pandemic lock-down on the human community, it’s opportune to work on what’s on the doorstep. So I’ve been looking to get a baseline recording of the community as a good start.

With calm forecast for the 26th March I recorded the dawn chorus from 5am, centred on a small patch of woodland on the north side of our terrace (which happens to be a favoured gathering point for most of the social species in the area). There’s still a residual swell on the North Sea two fields away, hanging over from the easterly winds of the last few days. 

Robin nearby, and several distant blackbirds, are the openers: indigenous residents of the wood and gardens. This is pretty much the heart of the robin’s territory and he provides continuity throughout the session. The loud crow of a pheasant marks our colonial history (said to have arrived with the Romans), while the carrion crow has a cannier claim - Craa’s ter is just up the road. Grey partridge off in the fields, wren and dunnock in the nearby shrubbery; all reflects a wooded farmstead of the last few thousand years. Welcome the wheezy cycle of the local great tits.

Later the social birds take over. This scattered group of old houses and their gardens are very much to the liking of several other groups of birds associated with wooded farmland. The jackdaw gang and their twosome quarrels, a cohort of starlings that likes to gather in the top of the ash, a scatter of plump woodpigeons. And my neighbour Stewart almost single-handedly supports a hefty flock of tree sparrows. Their banter and chatter reflects a kind of urbanity in the rural setting. 

Homestead or farmstead. It’s really rather lovely here as spring swells with the birdsong. In stark contrast.

26 march 2020 northern homestead dawn chorus

Wildlife sounds from the North Pennines AONB, England.
Winner of the WSRS Documentary Contest 2018

26 march 2020 northern homestead dawn chorus

Wildsong

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