One thing is now evident: my central focus this year will be on collecting immersive audio recordings for the soundscape series I intend to launch next winter. I am most enthusiastic about spending over a month in the western mountains, starting later in May and extending into July. I will be visiting many new areas and encountering new assortments of nature sounds everywhere I go. Now what could be more exciting than that?

But before heading West I would like to do a quick review of what has happened so far. During our early season trip to the Smoky Mountains and several other more southerly locations, Ted Mack and I were dogged by bad weather. Wind and rain made it very difficult to get much, though we managed to snag a few nice recordings before returning home on April 22. In early May, Bob McGuire and I traveled northward to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario in quest of choruses of Common Loons. Once again we encountered bad weather (very high winds), but nonetheless we captured some absolutely beautiful loon recordings, along with a really delightful marsh dawn chorus. Here are highlights from both trips, starting with recent recordings and working back:

Dawn in a marsh recorded on May 5 in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario:

Loon Magic recorded on May 4 after dark in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario:

Dawn chorus recorded on May 1 at Texas Hollow State Forest near Ithaca, New York:

Birds singing at dusk along Elliott Island Road on the eastern shore of Maryland. Recorded April 19:

Busy Dawn Chorus recorded on April 18 in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern North Carolina:

Coyotes and a Gurgling Brook recorded on April 14 at Cade’s Cove in the Smoky Mountain National Park:

Whip-poor-wills and Mountain Chorus Frogs recorded on April 12 in Big South Fork National Recreation Area, northeastern Tennessee:

Bonus Track – Lang playing his japanese shakuhachi flute with spring peepers singing nearby (forgive me, I’m a beginner!):

This post is for Jerry, Nicholas, Shannon and anybody else who is visually impaired. The question is whether or not you can easily play audio files that I am posting using your screen-reader software. I’m aware that my usual flash player works fine in this respect, but there have been problems each time I’ve posted using an audio player designed by a company called SoundCloud.

Both Jerry and Nicholas recently informed me that the “play button” for the SoundCloud player was not labeled in the web page code, making it very difficult to find. I contacted SoundCloud about this matter and finally received a response from Matas Petrika, one of their programmers. He informed me that he has added labels to the control buttons. This is very good news, but only if it works for you guys.

So here is an embedded SoundCloud player. Let me know if you can easily find the play button and listen to my recording:

When I listened to Woodpecker Interlude this morning, I felt that my narrated introduction sounded too contrived, as if it were being read. So I re-did it and uploaded the new version into the post, hoping to achieve a more laid back, personal style. Please check out the new version (included below) and let me know if you like the way I’m doing the narrative:

Dawn chorus and trickling brook. 5:19 am, 14 June 2010, Shindagin State Forest near Caroline, New York. Recorded by Lang Elliott.

Here is the old version of the narrative. It’s slower and sounds to my ear like it’s being read:

Dawn chorus and trickling brook. 5:19 am, 14 June 2010, Shindagin State Forest near Caroline, New York. Recorded by Lang Elliott.

I’m looking for feedback here! I want to home-in on the right style for the narrative. It should have a relaxed and personal feel to it, yet be brief and to the point (my yapping should last no more than thirty seconds).

here is the player:

Thrush FluteSongs is a collection of twelve beautiful soundscapes featuring six different species of North American Thrushes: Wood Thrush, Veery, Hermit Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and Varied Thrush. All are talented singers whose songs are described as magical, flutelike, and ethereal. Total Time: 63:43[cart-button item="001" showprice="no" img="http://www.musicofnature.com/wp-content/graphics/mp3_download_button.png" ][cart-button item="001" showprice="no" img="http://www.musicofnature.com/wp-content/graphics/flac_download_button.png" ]Buy from iTunes
Buy from AmazonMP3
Buy CD from CD Baby

[jwplayer config="custom_1" file="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/test3.xml" skin="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/five_twolines.zip" width="640" height="528" playlistsize="508" autostart="true" repeat="list"]

Notes by Lang: Ted and I have been collecting thrush recordings for over twenty years. The thrush family includes many of our favorite North American singers (my personal favorite is the Swainson’s Thrush, formerly called Olive-backed Thrush). At once musical and haunting, thrush songs add depth to any soundscape. These field recordings are among our very best. We’ve carefully chosen examples where individuals can be heard cleanly and clearly, but where they are not overly-obtrusive. If you set your volume to a moderate level, we think you will be impressed by the rich musicality and ethereal quality of the remarkable songs of these treasured species.

Download PDF Track List and Descriptions

Product Details
Type: audio soundscape
Formats: digital download, compact disc
Length: 63:43
Date Published: January 2011
Authors: Lang Elliott & Ted Mack

Here are some audio players embedded using the jwplayer plugin:

[jwplayer config="custom_1" file="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/test3.xml" skin="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/five_twolines_blue.zip" width="640" height="528" playlistsize="508" autostart="true" repeat="list"]

A color variant of the two-line version above.

[jwplayer config="custom_1" file="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/test3.xml" skin="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/five_twolines_new.zip" width="640" height="528" playlistsize="508" autostart="false" repeat="list"]

Modieus Skin (modified by Lang).

[jwplayer config="custom_1" file="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/test2.xml" skin="http://musicofnature.com/wp-content/misc/modieus.zip" height="341" playlistsize="325" autostart="false" repeat="list"]