During my travels in the spring and early summer of 2017, I made three visits to the remote and picturesque Aravaipa Canyon in southeastern Arizona, truly an “oasis” in the desert. I concentrated my activities at the eastern end of the canyon on the Arizona Nature Conservancy’s wonderful Aravaipa Canyon Reserve (see location on map below).
In spite of numerous jet overflights (going to and from Phoenix), I was able to collect many supremely immersive and relaxing soundscapes, most including the gurgling of the year-round Aravaipa Creek that passes through the canyon (the canyon is so narrow that it can be difficult to obtain a recording without water sounds). Featured below in a Soundcloud playlist are seven of my favorite “waterscapes” from the canyon. While they all share the tinkles and gurgles of the creek, they also differ in significant ways, at least to my ear.
Let me know what you think … and please use headphones for a realistic and immersive binaural listening experience. Note that the playlist automatically advances from one recording to the next, so you can sit back and listen to the waterscapes for hours on end if you so desire.
Enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed the waterscapes. In the months to come, I plan to share a number of additional recordings made in Aravaipa Canyon and associated side canyons (which lack the stream noise). So please stay tuned!
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Hi! I have a childhood friend who’s name is Phoebe, so I was looking up that little bird and found your blog . Very nice sounds on your recordings. I live in Tucson and can only identify a few local birds such as the phainopepla, cardinal, dove, owl, hummingbird chirp, raptor, and woodpecker. But the are so many others. We have some orioles but I don’t know how their song is. Would like to know more. Thanks for your blog, will read it Often!
[…] Aravaipa Waterscapes […]
Lovely as always, Lang. Best wishes for 2018!
Our new australian puppy went beserk over these sounds. So wonderful.
It’s not easy to get an Australian excited about something of this nature!
I am an audio engineer and musician. I know sound. I also dabble in location recordings of nature. These recordings are top notch! Crystal clarity and depth. Some of the best I have ever heard!
Brett: That is good to hear from a sound engineer. I work very hard to get such recordings, but often wonder if listeners realize how special many of them are … especially in this noisy world so full of of jet overflights, highway rumble and the like.
Wonderful!
Thanks! I love them all!
: >) Glad you like them Gena!
I thought I was outside — so convincing is the depth and directionality of your sound scapes. What a brilliant way to de-stress while I work through emails! Thank you so much for sharing your immense talent so freely.
That’s good to hear Barbara. So I presume you’re using headphones?
Absolutely NOT! I am simply listening to the speakers on my new MACBook Pro as I tap away at its keys. The sound is simply amazing – I kept turning around to see where it was coming from – eek! in spite of the fact that I knew it was from the speakers.
I hiked there in the 1950s as a boy scout and fascinated by the canyon and sounds of course. Thanks for bringing back the music
Mark: Aravaipa Canyon was definitely my favorite spot in Arizona. Beautiful, serene, shaded and refreshing. A welcome respite from the heat of the surrounding desert. My next trip to AZ might just be a “retreat” to Aravaipa. I didn’t actually hike the full length of the canyon, so that might be my goal next time around.