Posted by Huckleberry
(here)
When I first recorded my "Magic Meadow Music" album in 1976 I had the idea to blend in nature sounds with the music. However, at that time I knew of no other recording artist who did that and the pre-recorded nature sounds that were readily available were not very applicable to my music and they were on 33 1/3 records. One of the very few nature records I found was a recording of bull frogs and alligators at the Okefenokee Swamp, which was anything but soothing. So I decided to record the nature sounds for my album myself.
I ended up buying a high-quality Nakamichi portable cassette recorder to take into the field and binaural microphones. Binaural recording really interested me because it records sound like the human ears hear it. However, to get the full effect of binaural recording it is best to listen with headphones.
There are two ways that binaural recording is done. One, the small microphones fit into the ears so the the head and ears capture sound as we humans hear it. In order to do that I had to breathe slowly and quietly and stand perfectly still. However, that becomes more challenging when you're out in the woods in the spring and summer recording continuous and subtle nature sounds such as high mountain birds, etc. The problem is, to state it in one word--mosquitos!
After having made many blood donations while recording nature sounds with microphones in my ears, I found a solution to the problem. They made a plastic human head for binaural recording with the same capacitance as a human head. So I put it on a pedestal and hooked it up to two fifty foot microphone cables and sat in my van away from the mosquitos. For a natural rain recording I fastened a lamp shade frame covered with speaker foam to the plastic head. It looked rather strange but it also kept the wind from hitting the sensitive microphones.
Attachment 53256
Before I bought the plastic binaural recording head I tried recording elk in the Tillamook Mountains in Oregon. I slept on the open ground in a sleeping bag. In the middle of the night several elk ran around me and one of them actually jumped over me and coming within inches of my head. A rutting elk may try to kick you or chase you off if they feel threatened. Since that pretty much scared the crap out of me I knew I had to find a better way to record elk during rutting season.
So I bought the binaural recording head and headed to the
Jewell Elk Refuge in northwest Oregon. On one occasion there during the night, an elk began bugling so I pressed the record button. Soon afterwards a coyote began howling as if it were imitating this elk. Perhaps it was. Then another coyote joined in with more elk following. Soon the whole pack of coyotes were howling like elk along with several elk. Amazing!
Although the coyote/elk recording was very unique it didn't really fit into my album so I chose a single elk bugling. You can hear an elk bugling on the song "Natural Man" at about 7:17 in the song blended in with the "wee-oohs".
https://www.brighteon.com/d5f9c62b-4...c-bef8fa49a307
Attachment 53255
Music by Huckleberry
Reply With Quote
It takes me back to times when life seemed simpler and fresh and innocent (even if it may not have been on another level) Thanks so much for sharing
Bookmarks