In early July of 2016, I recorded Hermit Thrushes and White-throated Sparrows singing at first light at Spring Pond Bog, a Nature Conservancy Preserve located in the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York. I was disappointed with the recording for reasons I will explain later, and I almost threw it away. But upon further examination several days ago (almost exactly seven years later), I was shocked to discover that I had actually captured a soundscape worthy of considerable admiration and praise.

So … without further ado … please listen to the following, which is my well-meaning attempt at affecting an alchemical transformation of my original field recording from base metal to gold, with the aim of distilling the “Celestial Music” perhaps contained therein. Note that this rendition has been pitch-lowered about an octave to appeal more to our human musical sensibilities, but otherwise it is an entirely natural earth-expression, with no layering of multiple recordings to densify the soundscape.

Note: The recordings featured below are “3D binaural soundscapes”. Please wear headphones or earbuds for a spacious and immersive listening experience. And if you’re using Apple AirPods, be sure to disable spatial audio processing.

Dawn chorus at Spring Pond Bog – This rendition has been pitch-lowered by nearly an octave, to bring the bird songs into a frequency range more palatable to the human ear. Please listen using headphones!

The Backstory:

You may wonder why I almost threw away this recording. Well, I was upset because a fairly stiff wind blew-in just before dawn and created a high level of constant “whoosh,” caused by the wind blowing through tall pines and spruces on a ridge at the edge of the bog. I found this upsetting because I had desired and expected pristine light-wind conditions. So, when I listened to the recording later in the day, I was immediately disappointed and decided it was more-or-less of little use, especially given that I have much “cleaner” dawn chorus recordings from earlier visits to the same bog. Here is an excerpt from my original whooshy recording:

Here is a sample of my raw, unaltered dawn chorus recording made at Spring Pond Bog on 3 July 2016. The strong “whoosh” is due to wind blowing through tall pines and spruces on a nearby ridge. Please listen using headphones.

The more I listened, the more impressed I became. My previous dawn choruses from the same location are more diverse in composition, and not so pleasing from a purely musical standpoint. So, in an attempt to clarify the bird songs, I excitedly applied some “broadband noise reduction” using state-of-the-art sound editing software, with the goal of reducing the sound of the wind without compromising the bird songs. To my delight, the result sounds pretty darned good. The wind whoosh has been reduced but not eliminated, and the bird songs are undistorted, at least to my ears.

A whoosh-reduced version of the above recording, made in hopes of clarifying the bird songs for greater human appreciation of the inherent “musicality” of the mix. Please listen using headphones!

The whoosh-reduced version of the recording has now been pitch-lowered by nearly an octave, to bring the bird songs into a frequency range more palatable to the human ear. Please listen using headphones!

ethereal melodies, celestial music,
springing forth from the damp, musty bog,
funneled through the throats of birds …
music from the heavens, elixir to one’s ears?

Coda:

Sometimes I discover beauty hiding right under my nose, sound recordings I’ve made that don’t impress me upon first listening, that I inadvertently label as “defective,” when in reality they are brightly-shining jewels. Obscured by some perceived flaw, I may not perceive their brilliance until years later, when I stumble upon them again and listen with a more experienced ear, with a more mature and all-encompassing sense of what is beautiful. My recording from Spring Pond Bog is a prime example.

Now, as I listen to the examples featured above and ponder this matter further, I can’t help but conclude that the whooshy original is actually better in most respects than my various precipitations. By denying the wind as a supportive actor in the soundscape, I rejected the concert as Mother Earth produced it, on that special morning in that special place. How imperceptive of me, and how demeaning to natural world! The original recording embodies the most accurate living representation of the flow of sound during that particular passage of time. So who am I to think it is somehow defective, in need of reshaping by my own hand?

While my distillations are certainly instructive, it seems most important for me to hone my senses as well as my entire outlook and disposition to more fully receive, accept and “feel” the full import of what nature offers, of “what is” rather than “what I would like to be”. I am humbled and I regret that my desire for a calm morning on the third of July in 2016 clouded my senses and my mind, and distracted me from sinking into the magic of the moment while I was actually there at Spring Pond Bog, walking, wading, swimming in the breezy miracle of creation.

So, once again … enjoy my original field recording, wind and bird songs uncensored, a creative interplay between the Earth and the Heavens … Celestial Music enlivening the boggy wilds, untouched by the human hand:

Once again, here is my raw, unaltered dawn chorus (with wind), captured at Spring Pond Bog … this is the “real thing,” just as it occurred in nature. Please listen using headphones.

Naturally Yours,