STEREO SOUNDSCAPES: Excerpts from Ambient Field Recordings
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- last updated: 6-11-08
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Helicopter Air Rides
Despite my complaint below, aircraft can also make for some interesting soundscape recordings, such as this one, when Twin Cities-based helicopter service Hawk Eye Helicopter, LLC offered air rides at the 2008 Tower Days festival in my small suburban community of Spring Lake Park, MInnesota.
To my left are carnival games; to my right and slightly behind me is a small assembly of classic cars; pedestrians and vehicles are passing directly in front of me. The helicopter landing site is in a ball field at the center of the soundstage, about 100 yards distant. By pure coincidence, at about 2:40 into this clip, another helecopter flies overhead at a higher altitude. (Note: air ride customers got considerably more for their money than this heavily edited clip might seem to indicate.)
Recordus Interruptus
Sorry about that... but imagine my disappointment at this commercial aircraft intrusion into an otherwise nearly ideal recording. This is a common challenge, faced routinely by almost everyone who attempts to make sound recordings in quiet natural settings.
Loon Songs
Call me a complete sap, but as a lifelong Minnesotan with lake cabins a big part of my family history, I've had loons on my mind, and my field recording "hit list," for a long time. In late May 2008, I finally captured my first decent extended loon recordings. This is nowhere near the pristine quality I ultimately want to get, but I'll accept it as a reasonable start. This clip is a layered combination of recordings from two consecutive nights at Wagner Lake in northwest Itasca County, Minnesota.
Peeper Frogs, Crow and (yup) More Trumpeter Swans
Just before sunset the evening after making the swan recordings below, I stopped on a trail along the edge of a state waterfowl refuge. This short soundscape features Spring Peeper frogs, a Crow and at least two distant Trumpeter Swans, among other critters.
Two Trumpeter Swans Come in for Landing
At approximately the same time as the events below were happening, on a small pond about two miles away, a pair of Trumpeter Swans come in on a long approach to a landing.
Trumpeter Swan Takes Flight
It's mid-May 2008 in northwest Itasca County, Minnesota, USA. A Trumpeter Swan swims close to my recording equipment, calls a few times and then takes flight. Unfortunately, there's a small outboard fishing boat running on a nearby lake, to the right of the microphones. And -- wouldn't you know it -- a car drives into the soundscape just before the big bird launches. But I'm happy to post this clip anyway.
Note the sweet natural reverberation off the trunks of hundreds of thousands of budding aspen trees lining the shore of this tiny remote lake.
Sound Portrait for Public Radio: John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon
Here's a sound portrait commissioned by HearingVoices.com and aired nationally on the public radio broadcast Weekend America January 26, 2008.
The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon commemorates the son of a Chippewa chief who delivered mail by dog sled along Lake Superior's rugged North Shore in the late 19th century. The Beargrease race draws world-class sled dog teams from around the world.
Amtrak Running Late on Christmas Eve
Here is yet another recording that includes trains -- not by design, but by pure circumstance of where I've happened to be with my recording gear. In this clip, the Empire Builder, a daily passenger train between Seattle and Chicago, pulls into the Amtrak station in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, eastbound, mid-morning on December 24, 2007. The train was carrying a record number of passengers that day, and was running almost three hours late, which an Amtrak employee explains over the loudspeaker system.
Evening Campfire in Silent Woods
This clip borders on being slightly boring, but I enjoy hearing the fire's crackling sounds reverberate into dense young aspen growth that surrounds this remote Minnesota camp site. Mics are standing about 20 feet from the campfire.
Barred Owl Breaks Pre-Dawn Quiet
It's early on October 13, 2007 at a remote camp site in north-central Minnesota. The sky is clear with temperatures in the upper 30s; there is no wind. Calls from a Barred Owl reverberate through the woods while a flock of Blue-winged Teal flies overhead. Notice also the distant engine noise. In such a quiet setting, with recording equipment turned all the way up, every little disturbance and every bit of electronic "hiss" can be clearly heard.
Ten Sleep Creek, Washakie County, WY
Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains were absolutely bare of snow by summer's end 2007, and the Ten Sleep Creek, which flows from Medowlark Lake down the western slope of the Big Horns, was running lower and slower than usual. Here's a six-minute sound clip of this mountain creek, mixed together from three separate recordings made at the Circle J Christian Camp & Retreat Center on US Highway 16 in the beautiful Ten Sleep Canyon.
Freight Train and Evening Thunder in Hinckley, MN
This clip was recorded in August 2007 from my mother-in-law's driveway a hundred yards or so from an active rail line that runs through Hinckley, MN, a small town on Interstate 35, about halfway between the Twin Cities and Duluth. The evening sky was dark with thunderstorms developing, which became severe shortly after this recording was made.
Ruffed Grouse and White-Throated Sparrow Greet the Dawn
Pre-dawn on the morning of May 8, 2007. My mic rig is on a tripod about 50 feet from my vehicle, facing into a stand of young aspen where I had heard a ruffed grouse drumming (vigorous fluffing of the wings intended to declare the bird's territory and attract females) the previous evening. I missed a direct hit on the grouse, but it's close enough to be interesting, at least to me. This site is about 100 yards from my beaver pond (see clips below), thus the frogs prominent in the background, along with a brief call from a distant Loon and other interesting stuff in there too.
American Woodcock in Spring
While my low-noise recording outfit was busy at the beaver pond (see clips below), I took a walk with some backup gear and encountered a strange sound I had never noticed before. It turns out to be an American Woodcock.
Evening Twilight Over Beaver Pond
In early May 2007, I managed to get a low-noise stereo recording rig through thick brush and hordes of hungry wood ticks to the the edge of a small beaver pond in the Chippewa National Forest of north central Minnesota. I hit the "record" button just before sunset and came back a couple hours later. Leopard Frogs and Spring Peeper Frogs dominated the evening soundscape, along with several species of birds...
- About a half hour past sunset: A grouse takes flight approximately 20 seconds into the clip. A Green Winged Teal flies overhead near the end. :: Listen (2:30) >>>
- About 20 minutes later: It's actually two events that took place about 8 minutes apart. Hopefully you won't be able to hear the transition. :: Listen (2:53) >>>
Zamboni and Ice Hockey Rink
Below is a series of recordings of something most rare: a privately-owned Zamboni ice resurfacing machine. It's not actually a name-brand "Zamboni," but the word usually conjures up a whole category of similar contraptions. This unit is owned by a cousin of mine who lives on a quiet family farmstead in central Minnesota. He and his brother, who also lives on the same farmstead, maintain a full-sized hockey rink during the winter months for the four growing boys they have between them.
These recordings were made on a clear, cold, windy afternoon in February 2007. Temperatures the night before had dropped into double-digits below zero fahrenheit. By the time of the recording, temps had recovered to about five degrees above, with wind chills sometimes approaching 15-20 below zero...
- Zamboni - Cold Start :: Listen (1:30) >>>
- Zamboni - Warms Up, Re-starts, Drives Off :: Listen (2:28) >>>
- Zamboni - Works On Ice :: Listen (3:50) >>>
- Zamboni - Dumps Ice Shavings :: Listen (1:19) >>>
- Ice Hockey - Cut 1 :: Listen (1:00) >>>
- Ice Hockey - Cut 2 :: Listen (1:00) >>>
Reality Check: Ice Carving Competition
Talk about naive! For the longest time I had imagined the St. Paul Winter Carnival's Ice Carving Competition to be a quiet, artsy affair punctuated by light tapping of hammers and chisels on crystal clear ice blocks, and tinkling sounds of ice chips falling to the ground. I couldn't have been more wrong, as this short multi-layered composition shows.
October Dawn
Early-morning quiet is broken by distant gunfire from duck hunters. The location is a remote camp site in the Chippewa National Forest in north central Minnesota. Dry aspen leaves shake in a light morning breeze. Chickadees go about their business undisturbed -- mostly.
Train Song
The Empire Builder, a daily passenger train between Chicago and Seattle, approaches the Amtrak station in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, westbound, late on the evening of September 18, 2006. I especially like the interesting mechanical sound about 20 seconds into this clip.
Grandstand Show, Minnesota State Fair
In the street near a cream puff stand on Dan Patch Avenue during a Friday night Grandstand Show at the 2006 Minnesota State Fair. The country group Rascal Flatts performs for 15,000 screaming fans while crowds mill about outside.
Skyride Station, Minnesota State Fair
Cable cars coming and going at the Skyride station situated between the Horticulture Building and the Food Building at the Minnesota State Fair.
Sheep & Poultry Barn, Minnesota State Fair
Three indoor ambiences recorded in the Sheep & Poultry Barn at the Minnesota State Fair, where 4H contestants display their prize sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and geese...
- Ducks & Geese :: Listen (1:00) >>>
- Sheep & Goats - Cut 1 :: Listen (1:00) >>>
- Sheep & Goats - Cut 2 :: Listen (1:00) >>>