My daughter and I did a little cold-weather camping this weekend. I think it's the last time she'll go with me until I promise to bring a heater.

We went to the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park. I've always wanted to see it during the winter. The rainforest transforms form a mystic, lush wonderland to a frozen, but still jaw-droppingly beautiful, frosted museum during the winter.

We camped by the Hoh River which is nearing full capacity at this time of the year. It is cold, deep, and turbulent.

recording miscellany:

Sound Devices 702

mid/ pressure: MKH8020

side/ gradient: MKH30

The Pacific Tree Frog or Pacific Chorus Frog (Pseudacris regalia)is a keystone species on the much of the West Coast of North America. It is also the state amphibian of the State of Washington. It is tiny but loud, and lives in large raucous communities. One local community here in Seattle is located in the Frog Ponds of Magnusson Park. Go there any spring or summer day near dusk or pre-dawn and you'll hear them singing their little hearts out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_tree_frog

Recording miscellany:

Sound Devices 702

ORTF: Røde nt5 pair

From August 2015, this recording is a small stream crossing the path of a trial heading out to Lake Serene. My daughter and I had gone out early to hike and record. Something about the deep cut, yet very small (barely 6 inches wide) stream determined to make its way through the forest struck us both as lovely.

recording miscellany:

Sound Devices 702

mid: MKH8020

side: MKH30

Recording pre-dawn forest silence can be deceiving. We think nothing's out there, that nothing's awake. After all, our ears confirm it for us don't they?

Little do we know, and little can we tell, but there's a whole world of life up where we can't hear it. In fact, it's a life that' so loud, that our recordings can distort without us even hearing it.

The bat vocalizations in this recording, and YES THERE ARE BAT VOCALIZATIONS IN THIS RECORDING, spike nearly 30db above the ambient background. Check out this little re-mix experiment I did over here to illustrate: https://soundcloud.com/soundeziner/sets/bat-mix

Recording Errata:

Sound Devices 702

mid: MKH8020

side: MKH30

Biophony: BATS!

Geophony: Beckler Creek, a silent forest in the Mt Baker-Snoqualmie Wilderness

On a road trip with my daughter, we spent a lovely afternoon on Mt St Helens. We each have our quiet-time meditative styles, but it starts the same. We walk out into the middle of a place. She pulls out her pad and pen and starts a landscape of the spot (see some of her work, mostly NON-landscape here: http://sofiaverbena.deviantart.com). I walk ahead a bit and pull out microphones and a recorder.

Normally I try to show sounds as clean as possible, with little to no editing or filtering, kind of like a photograph of a location. What touching-up there is done for length or levels. I try to master for -30 LKFS. If necessary, I might roll off the low-end a touch around 85 Hz.

This piece is a little different. Why? Because I'm a moron. The recording was filled with wind noise. I accidentally left my furry windscreen back in the car. It would have been a 1 hour walk back (2 hours round trip) on a sweltering afternoon. By the time I'd returned it would have been gone. Plus, the daughter was already inking away, and I didn't want to distract her.

So, there's a good deal of clean-up that went into it to get rid of extraneous wind growl. I plan on going back this summer with the specific intent of recording. And this time I'll remember the windscreen.

recording miscellany:

Sound Devices 702

mid/ pressure: MKH8020

side/ gradient: MKH30

Biophony:

Insect (is that a grasshopper? a katydid?). A bird (I need to brush up on my ID'ing skills)

Anthrophony:

Some voices from a family of hikers.

single prop, piston-driven, STOL bush plane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-2_Beaver

single prop, piston-driven, STOL bush plane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-2_Beaver

single prop, piston-driven, STOL bush plane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-2_Beaver

single prop, piston-driven, STOL bush plane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-2_Beaver

single prop, STOL bush plane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-3_Otter