Prairie Marsh – a brief, 3-minute podcast featuring a soundscape I recorded at dawn in the Missouri Couteau prairie pothole region in central North Dakota, 16 May 1993. © Lang Elliott.

Click Here for direct link to MP3.

The prairie pothole marshes have some of the most extraordinary soundscapes that I’ve encountered anywhere during my travels. I made this wonderful recording near Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota, way back in 1993, the year I began collecting binaural soundscapes. It is still among my most treasured recordings … so many interesting sounds, all in one place at one time. I’m truly amazed every time I listen to it.

This is yet another “podcast prototype”. Yes, I’m acutely aware that most of my blog audience would rather just listen to the nature sounds, so I’ve included a much longer sample below, purely for listening pleasure. But my purpose here is to test a possible “short-form” format for the podcast world, where I keep the entire podcast under 3-minutes in length. My narration is fairly condensed; I introduce the context and content and then release the listener into the soundscape itself.

I could always play the soundscape for longer at the end, but I wanted to test how it feels if I just play it for a couple of minutes. Will this work with a radio audience? Or will people want more of the soundscape itself? Or possibly less? These are questions I’m pondering these days. Any thoughts?

Here is the long-form version of the recording, without narration:

Prairie Marsh Soundscape, recorder 16 May 1993. © Lang Elliott.

Click Here for direct link to MP3.

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