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Twelve-minute Soundscape Getaways
"The earth is the LORD's, and all it contains,
The world, and those who dwell in it." - Psalm 24:1 >>>
This massive reality, revealed in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, is my ultimate motivation for soundscape recording in general, and for this collection in particular. Through these sound portraits I aim to help ignite the profound human pleasure of slowing down, forgetting oneself and relishing the rich sonic tapestry of the created order in which we find ourselves -- sometimes dense and raucous, sometimes incredibly sparse.
And I'm hoping that some will hear in these sounds the voice of the One who spoke all things into being and to whom we all must give account, inviting all who would receive His mercy to "come, taste and see."
Curt Olson
Track Seventeen Productions, Inc.
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
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Midnight Loons - Wagner Lake
This track features the haunting calls of the Common Loon. The ambient "roar" you'll hear is the sound of gentle night breezes swishing through the treetops of large Red Pines nearby. (One critical listener calls this element "sublime.") Recorded late May 2008. Skies were mostly clear; winds were light and variable; temp. was in the low 50s (F).
Species heard: Red-Winged Blackbird; Spring Peeper Frog, Leopard Frog; Common Loon; unknown mammal scampering and gnawing near microphone...
3AM - Pine Ridge Trail
The quietest time of the night, and there's still plenty going on. The ambient "roar" in this track is the sound of gentle night breezes swishing through the treetops of large Red Pines nearby. (One critical listener calls this element "sublime.") Recorded mid May 2008. Skies were partly cloudy; winds were light and variable; temp. was in the upper 40s (F).
Species heard: American Woodcock ("peent" call); Ruffed Grouse (drumming); Mink Frog; Spring Peeper Frog; Great Horned Owl; Common Loon; American Bittern...
Sunrise - Fiske Lake Trail
The north woods comes alive with a new day. Recorded late May 2008. Skies were clear; winds calm; temp. was in the low 50s (F).
Species heard: Wilson's Snipe (winnowing); American Woodcock; Ruffed Grouse (drumming); Spring Peeper Frog; Great Horned Owl; Common Loon; Canada Goose; Thrush; Veery; Oven Bird; American Bittern; American Robin; American Crow; Warbling Veerio; Trumpeter Swan; Catbird; Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker; Winter Wren; Black and White Warbler; various other unspecified Warblers; Black-Capped Chickadee; Blue Jay; Kinglet; Rose-breasted Grosbeak...
Sunset/Twilight - Eel Lake
Recorded at the same time as the track "Sunset/Twilight - Frog Pond." Notice the entirely different sound textures at this canoe landing on a small lake approximately two miles away.
WARNING: This track has an unusually wide dynamic range -- that is, a very large difference between the quietest and loudest sounds. Please be careful not to set your playback volume too high.
Species heard: Baltimore Oriole (call note); Red-winged Black Bird; Spring Peeper Frog; American Bittern; Pine Squirrel; Trumpeter Swan; various Woodpeckers; Ruffed Grouse (drumming); Wood Frog; Wilson's Snipe (winnowing); Veery (?); Northern Goshawk (?); Swamp Sparrow; White-Throated Sparrow; Pied-billed Grebe; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker; American Robin; Belted Kingfisher; Mallard; Common Merganser female in flight; other unspecified Ducks (?)...
Sunset/Twilight - Frog Pond
A steady "wall of sound" from Spring Peeper Frogs is punctuated by the sounds of other critters settling in for the night. I love the sense of "near and far" in this track! The most prominent punctuation mark is a pair of Trumpeter Swans making a long, low approach for a landing. Recorded mid May 2008. Skies were clear; winds were calm; temp. was approximately 60 degrees (F).
Species heard: Spring Peeper Frog; Mink Frog; Leopard Frog; Trumpeter Swan; Canada Goose; Red-Winged Blackbird; American Robin; Ruffed Grouse (drumming); Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker; Downy or Hairy Woodpecker; Common Loon; Mallard and other unspecified Ducks (?)......
Sunset/Twilight - Beaver Pond
This is one my earliest successful nature soundscape recordings, and one of the most popular in this collection.
On a quiet evening in early May 2007, I bashed my way though thick brush and hordes of hungry wood ticks to the edge of a small beaver pond in Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest. There I positioned my recording gear, hit the "record" button and made a hasty retreat.
This track is condensed from two hours of material commencing about half an hour before sunset. Evening songbird choruses subside as as frogs take over the soundstage. Skies were clear; winds light and variable; temp. was in the upper 50s (F).
Species heard: Leopard Frog (snore/chuckle); Spring Peeper Frog; Common Loon; Ruffed Grouse (drumming); Red-Winged Blackbird; Brown-Headed Cowbird; Oven Bird; Swamp Sparrow; Fly; Hummingbird (fly-by); Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker; Canada Goose; American Robin; Downy or Hairy Woodpecker (peek calls); Song Sparrow; White-throated Sparrow; Mallard...
Lazy Late-August Morning
On Sunday August 30, 2009, with the the weather just about as pleasant as it can be, I was feeling mighty lazy as we visited a family member in rural Springbrook, Wisconsin, about halfway between the towns of Spooner and Hayward.
Around 9:30 AM I yawned, shuffled out to a grassy meadow near the house and let my recording gear do all the work. And just like that, with almost no effort at all, I managed to capture a sweet slice of country life.
Lazy Late-August Afternoon
On Sunday afternoon August 30, 2009, before driving back to the Twin Cities from visiting a family member in rural Springbrook, Wisconsin, I positioned my recording equipment next to the neighbor's small herd of beef cattle. I you have fond memories of the farm, you might appreciate this one. Certain city folk will most definitely not.
Tranquil Autumn Afternoon
By mid-October each year, most migratory birds have left their summer ranges in northern Minnesota. This seems to leave the entire region sounding pretty quiet -- until you stop to listen more carefully.
This clip is condensed from a longer recoridng captured in the early afternoon of Tuesday October 13, 2009. Skies were mostly sunny, with a few fair-weather cumulus clouds passing by; temperatures were in the low fourties (F); winds were light and variable. The recording site was along the edge of a pine plantation, surrounded by new deciduous forest growth.
Notice the beating wings of an unidentified large bird in flight at about 1:00. A Pileated Woodpecker calls occasionally from a distance and comes closer for a short solo at about 5:40. A "V" formation of ducks flies overhead with a jet-like sound shortly before the end of the clip.
Other brief appearances include Chickadees and a White-Throated Sparrow. An unidentified small bird flits about the microphone rig occasionally throughout.
Romanian Mountain Valley
Recorded mid-day August 17, 2010 on a hillside above the small town of Comanesti in Northeastern Romania. My stereo microphone array was hanging from a pine tree, oriented away from town and down into a small valley where a herd of cattle was grazing -- each one sporting its own bell. The local farmer calls to some of his critters to bring them in.
Gooseberry Coast - Heavy Winter Surf
On December 9, 2009, a winter storm came roaring across Iowa, southern Minnesota and Wisconsin, delivering heavy snow and blizzard conditions along its path of highest impact. Hundreds of miles to the north, winds from this massive storm were stirring up the cold waters of Lake Superior.
Marine weather forecasts anticipated waves as high as 16 feet along MInnesota's North Shore. So I grabbed my field recording gear and headed for Gooseberry Falls State Park, about 40 miles northeast of Duluth. Unfortunately, the waves didn't reach anywhere close to 16 feet, but the big lake was impressive nonetheless.
Temperatures were in the low teens above zero (F). Winds were 20 mph, gusting to 35, which generated sub-zero wind chills that whole afternoon.
Note: Capturing good recordings of heavy surf (and mixing them) is difficult. Conditions are often adverse to microphones; the soundscapes themselves tend to be somewhat "flat" and, of course, seriously "noisy," with relatively little detail to interest the ear. Still, there's something awesome and strangely soothing about the sounds of these mighty waters.
Gooseberry Coast - Gentle Morning Wave
The morning of February 1, 2010 was cold and calm on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Traveling to a race checkpoint of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, I decided to stop at Gooseberry Falls State Park, site of the "Heavy Winter Surf" recording I captured a few weeks earlier.
The sun shone through a light haze; a fog bank covered the Wisconsin shoreline across the big lake; the temperature was a couple degrees above zero (F); winds were calm inland, but light with occasional gusts along the water's edge. I positioned a recording rig on the icy rocks, just a few inches from the water. Talk about contrasts! The morning was so quiet that I couldn't avoid capturing traffic sounds from State Highway 61, a half-mile away.
