Light rain falling in an overgrown meadow shortly after sunrise. 6:30am 26 May 2014 near Brooktondale, New York. © Lang Elliott. A binaural soundscape; please listen using headphones.
Light rain falls upon an overgrown meadow shortly after sunrise. Rivulets wind across the clearing, draining excess water from the receding storm. The sun, peeping through the clouds, throws a broad beam of light across the clearing as birds burst into song in excited anticipation of the coming day.
Set in upstate New York in late May, this is one of my favorite binaural soundscapes. It is unusually immersive (please use headphones!), with the pitter-patter of light rain and the gurgling of streamlets providing a soothing backdrop against which the bird music spreads out in all directions. I could listen to this for minutes on end, imagining that I am standing at the edge of the meadow, protected under the canopy of a large tree.
Many species can be heard, some from the surrounding forest. Listen in particular for the quickening down-slurred whistles of Field Sparrows, the staccato fitz-bew of a Willow Flycatcher, the lively witchety-witchey of a Common Yellowthroat, the cheery warbles of an Eastern Bluebird (at times), the mournful coos of a Mourning Dove, the thumping drums of at least two Ruffed Grouse, the musical song of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, the soft trilling of crickets, and finally the throaty caws of crows way off in the distance.
Ah … how sweet are the myriad voices of nature! I am so grateful to have witnessed and documented this amazing symphony of sound.
NOTE: I just discovered that I posted another recording from about the same location, but made earlier in the season. It is called Meadow After Rain. I posted it in early May of 2016. I don’t like it quite as well as the one featured above, but it’s nonetheless quite nice and features a somewhat different set of birds. Please check it out if you’re so inclined.
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Wow! Do I hear a Grouse? Most pro I ate are : A mourning Dove, field Sparrow? Crow, can’t name the others. A Robin maby? Thank you very much,Lang. Beautiful.
I meant” most prolific are:” not ,pro I ate, lol.:)
While the sounds of nature alone has much to offer, a simple visual can be the icing on the cake.
Yes … I rather like that photo. It was actually taken on a different morning, but at the same location (sorry if that bursts the bubble). I’ve photographed that spot dozens of times, but this photo is one of my favorites, taken as dark clouds gave way to sun, which perfectly portrays the situation when I made the recording.
Beautiful!!!
ahhh….May My favorite month. Beautiful recording!!
Love this!
so soothing and delicate
Glorious! I have listened three times and always it is new. Thank you.
You’re welcome Cynthia!
What a delight! Thank you!
I, too, am listening without headphones – on an IPad. The sounds are coming from all directions, and I hear them very clearly.
What are these birds singing about, I wonder!?
I would rather purchase a cd than download one more app!
Why, they’re singing their joy into the world! Right? If I do put my latest recordings in my store, they will only be available as digital downloads (high quality MP3s or FLAC files). Unfortunately, they won’t be available as CDs.
if you purchase an mp3 from the store , you can make it into a CD if your computer has a CD burner, and if it doesn’t you can get a cheap external one from amazon to connect to your computer–for like $25
Amazing to hear this other world from snowy cold NE PA!
Yep! It really cheers me up to listen to it.
A beautiful track! I’m a new follower of your work and absolutely love your many soundscapes. They provide welcome transportation away from city life! If there were an extended recording (i.e. an hour or so) of this scape I’d love to purchase it. Great work, Lang! Thanks!
Wish I could get hourlong recordings of places like this, but that is rarely if ever possible due to extraneous noise events (nearby cars, motorcycles, jets overhead, dogs barking, and the like). So I am eternally grateful when I get ten to fifteen minutes or so. This recording is nearly twenty minutes long, but right after the eight minute mark, several of the songbirds got too close and became annoying. I doubt that I can fix that, although it’s amazing what I can do in the studio if I put my mind to it (yes, I can “push birds back,”… Read more »
Wow, that does sound intense! It’s certainly hard to find truly quiet spaces in our world now. Thanks for posting this beautiful selection–I’m glad to have it around!
This one is so marvelously serene! I still don’t understand why I hear such spacious 360 degree sound without the use of headphones (just listening to my MAC Laptop on the table in front of me. I could swear that mourning dove is behind me! Simply glorious sound. Thank you so much.
When will this one and your “Aravaipa Waterscapes” soundscape be available for purchase? I’m having a hard time being patient
Barbara: Keep reminding me and I might actually do something about it! : >)
Very nice recording! Thank you for sharing.
I do miss the option to download these recordings as an MP3. I’d like to download this one, and also the Robin one from ten days ago. Is there any chance this could be made possible?
James: I’m trying to figure out how to deal with this issue. What I want to do is to add all my best soundscapes to my store, so that people pay for high bitrate MP3 or FLAC downloads. But things have changed in the marketplace, so I will need to make some design tweaks to my store, put together “collections”, and then only sell digital downloads (no CD versions, which as a major pain in the you-know-what). This should happen in the months to come, as I work up recordings to be featured in an iOS app that focuses on… Read more »
An app would be really cool but you’d have to come up with some a la carte menu for individual soundscapes. Why not do something with Patreon along these lines? Some podcasters give extras only to Patreons. You have to eat also! I use an iPhone and it does not allow for direct downloads but an app would bypass Apple’s restrictions. This is an issue I’m sure many have.
Becky: yes, you’re correct, I could offer soundscapes as a perk on my Patreon page, which is sadly way out of date (yet another thing I need to take care of). BTW, I’m sure you’ll love the app, which will include ten or more free soundscapes plus perhaps a dozen or ore “packs” of 6-10 recordings each, available via in-app purchases. Or at least that’s the plan right now.
So peaceful, I used this in my meditation today.
Kathy: I think it would make a great meditation, especially in the middle of the winter (13F and snow on the ground here in upstate NY).
I would glady but the CD!