Archive for February, 2007
Marriott eBreaks(R) - Exclusive rates for this weekend (3/1 - 3/4)
Vacation for February 19, 2007
For today's vacation we thank location sound mixer Hayden
Jackson, who writes, 'This is a recording I made in the summer of 2005, when
I worked on a music video in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The last day of the shoot
was on top of La Tigra National Park, which looks over the entire city. Two park
employees armed with machetes were detailed to watch over us for our protection.
I set up my gear (a Sony ECM-MS957 mic going directly into my Sony PCM-M1 DAT
recorder) to record this track unattended (hey, I was busy working!)/. As we were
quite a distance from the city, I'm amazed at how well my mic picked up some of
the voices below, particularly the children. That was a memorable night: as night
began to fall, the park employees took off and we were left alone. While we were
packing up our equipment in the dark, two police officers approached us and demanded
that we drive them back down the mountain. As we got into the van, our interpreter
informed us that some of the police were corrupt and we had best watch our backs,
so I was a bit uneasy when the head officer rode up front with me, his gun out
in his lap mere inches from me. The drive down the mountain seemed to take forever!
But thankfully, the officers didn't try anything funny...'
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Narration for February 19, 2007
Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening.
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Vacation for February 12, 2007
The excitement around our house since we got back from Mexico has been the
pair of Great Horned Owls that have taken up residence on the top of our hill
here in San Francisco. Every morning my wife and I walk up to 'check on them.'
Inevitably we're entertained by circling flocks of crows; it's the time of year
when they engage in preposterous acrobatics as they mate. So it was with much
excitement that I read the account of today's vacation, which comes to us courtesy
ecology and evolution PhD candidate David
La Puma: 'I went out early this morning in hopes of testing out our new Sennheiser
ME66 microphone and Marantz PMD670 recorder for our Ornithology class. Here in
Somerset, NJ, the usual birds were singing: Tufted Titmouse, Black-capped Chickadee,
the occasional White-throated Sparrow. I picked up a Northern Cardinal singing
down the trail a bit, so I walked along in an attempt to get closer. When I rounded
the corner I found the cardinal perched about thirty feet in the scrubby edge
of a cedar stand. As I positioned my microphone I almost immediately saw (and
heard) a Great Horned Owl come bounding out of the top of a red cedar. It had
been perfectly camouflaged, and as it left the tree its weight caused the top
to spring back in the direction of its flight like a catapult, which startled
me and filled me with excitement. I know owls nest on our property because I hear
them throughout the year, but it's rare that I actually get to see one. What followed
was an audio extravaganza, as American Crows who were probably just as startled
as me "mobbed" the owl some distance away... Enjoy!'
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Narration for February 12, 2007
Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening.
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Vacation for February 5, 2007
A trip to the Yucatan need not sap everyone's work ethic, as amply demonstrated
by this week's contributor, Martyn
Stewart, moderator of the Nature
Recordists mailing list. He writes, 'I recorded these insects and frogs at
dusk at El Cuyo near Rio Lagartos, in the Mexican Yucatan. With its subtropical
forest and mangroves it's a great habitat for flamingos, for which it's famous.
I was more interested in documenting the state of the biophony there after the
hurricane (Wilma); some areas of the Yucatan were totally devastated. Many birds
were killed and a lot of farmland and pasture was under water for months afterwards.
My recordings will be used to form a baseline for future catastrophes. Recorded
onto a Sound Devices 744 recorder using Sennheiser MKH-30/40 mics in an MS pattern.'
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Narration for February 5, 2007
Note: podcast published as two items, so sounds can be kept and narrations discarded after initial listening.
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