This is our second and final long-play special. Our first Long Play focused on the Dawn Chorus, tracking how soundscapes evolve over time and give a deeper sense of place based on what they contain. In this special, we'll be tracking time on a global scale, starting with night and going through the day as we travel between the Africa, North America, and Australia. We'll also be taking a broader look at the types of vocalizations present in the world, including those from larger mammals like elephants and seals as well as geophonic sounds like those from bodies of water and the trees themselves. From time to time we'll be taking breaks to have some in-studio conversations between Jon Wohlfert, KBOO's Sound Artist Residency's Engineering Consultant and myself about whatever comes up on the mixing desk.
We'll be starting the evening with a selection from “Night at the Elephant Bai” recorded by Bill McQuay in the Central African Repbulic while on assignment for the NPR series Radio Expeditions in 2002. The bai is a large clearing surrounded by forest. This will be flowed by some particularly mournful trees that I recorded last summer in the Sierra Nevadas around 6:00 AM. We'll follow that up with another sonic dawn at Koreelah Creek Camp in Koreelah National Park Queensland, Australia by ornithologist Mike Fitzgerald. We'll then hear the harbor seal nursery at Low Island in the San Juan National Wildlife Refuge recorded by Phil Green this past July. Finally, we will circle back to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota recorded by Dr. Jacob Job at 2:30 PM in the afternoon.
Night at the Elephant Bai, Central African Republic
Recording Purpose: For the NPR series Radio Expeditions in 2002. The bai is a large clearing surrounded by forest. It had rained the day before so the clearing has a number of small pools of water scattered across its surface. Elephant, insect and frog vocalizations predominate.
Recording Date: 2002, around 8 PM
Recording Equipment: Originally recoreded in four-channel sourround sound mixed down to two-channel stereo
Recorded by: Bill McQuay
Wailing Trees, Lincoln Valley, Sierra Nevadas, California, USA
Recording Purpose: Cornell Lab of Ornithology Field Recording Workshop, Foley samples
Recording Date: June 2016
Recording Equipment: Sound Devices 702 Digital Audio Recorder and a Tilinga 24' parabola with a Sennheiser MKH 20 omnidirectional microphone
Recorded by: Nicole Martin
Koreelah Creek Camp, Koreelah Naitonal Park New South Wales-Queensland, Australia
Recording Purpose: To document the dawn chorus on the creek bank beside pool with platypus, in casuarina and eucalyptus woodland. about 150 metres upstream from a small waterfall (some some low volume water sounds) at Koreelah National park campground on the NSW -Queensland border. There are a couple of overflying aircraft (almost impossible to avoid) but otherwise no anthropogenic sounds.
Recording Date: Summer 2017, 6:15 AM, Sunrise was 6:39 AM
Recording Equipment: Stereo matched pair Primo 172 omni mics in Binaural array on styrofoam dummy head, fleece screen, into Sound Devices 702, 96kHz 24 bit WAV
Recorded by: Mike Fitzgerald
Harbor Seal Nursery, Low Island, San Juan National Wildlife Refuge, Washington, USA
Recording Purpose: Low Island is a seal nursery in July and August besides having nesting black oystercatchers. The audio has mainly pups being weaned calling for their moms but also oystercatchers and other birds in the back round. A few adult seals can also be heard snorting and it sounds like there are other anthropogenic noises from nearby on occasion.
Recording Date: July 25, 2017, late afternoon
Recording Equipment: Marantz PMD661MKIII, Sennheiser ME 67 microphone
Recorded by: Phil Green
Oyster Lake, Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Superior National Forest, Minnesota, USA
Recording Purpose: General Soundscape Recording Vacation
Recording Date: June 29, 2017, 2:30 PM
Recording Equipment: Sound Devices 722 Digital Audio Recorder and two Audio Technica 4022 omnidirectional microphones placed in homemade binaural housing
Recorded by: Jacob Job
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