“Meltwater Melodies” – a podcast describing my recording adventures in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon during mid-June of 2017. © Lang Elliott.
Hi Friends! I’ve just published Meltwater Melodies, an 11-minute binaural podcast recounting my visit to Oregon’s Cascade Mountains high country in mid-June of last year. Please use headphones for an immersive listening experience!
My adventure only lasted a day, but I managed to snag a number of wonderful spacious recordings featuring various birds and frogs, along with the soothing sounds of meltwater brooks. You’ll hear songs and calls of the following: Hermit Thrush, Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Crow, woodpecker drums, Varied Thrush, American Robin, Sierra Chorus Frog, Common Nighthawk, Dark-eyed Junco, and more.
Below is a 13-minute non-narrated version of the final recording in the podcast, for those who just want to relax to the sounds of nature:
Dawn Chorus at a grassy clearing in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. 6:30am, 20 June 2017. Recorded in the high country along the McKenzie Highway. © Lang Elliott.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast, plus the complementary “pure nature” recording. Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. And if you care to make a contribution to help me continue with my rather time-consuming podcast productions, it will be very much appreciated!
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Thank you!! It was like going on a hike while sitting in my living room…
: >)
I love the podcast! An adventure to a magical, musical place I’ve never been and couldn’t know without the help of a friend. Thank you. There is merriment in the narration. I laughed at the search for the perfect chorus frog situation, then the back and forth of the duet. And as before, I am glad to hear insects buzzing by. They too are an important part of the ecosystem. Altogether gorgeous sounds. Meltwater melodies remind me of springs past and spring to come.
Thank you Cynthia … and I’m glad to hear you like the sounds of insects buzzing by, because that happens a lot. However, they do become an annoyance when they “buzz the mike” by flying around it, close-in (when that happens, I do my best to remove it).
Ah, the best of both worlds—great narration and nature writing with soundscape, and a standalone sound scape. At an airport, but not at an airport. Thanks Lang!
Thanks Steven. Newsflash: Looks like I’m moving forward on the app, thanks in great measure to my visit with you!
Is there a way to listen to the second version without the lower bitrate of Soundcloud?
Susanne: Not if I post via SoundCloud. If I embed recordings directly on my website, I can go with higher bitrates. Do you think you’ll hear a big difference?
Thanks Lang! I listened to both recordings this morning. A great way to start my day! They are full of the diverse and pure sounds of nature 🙂
Thanks John. I’m going to upload a higher-quality version later today. I hear some voice distortion that’s not in the master … probably due to SoundCloud’s conversion to a lower bitrate. I’ve never heard that before, so I’m a bit surprised at the problem (which you will easily hear if you use headphones).
Perfect. Found myself listening with eyes closed. Frogs are a nice way to drift off.
: >)
Hermit Thrush sounds quite a bit different than the ones I’m used to hearing here in NE PA…beautiful.
Trudy: They do sound different! I think Hermit Thrushes in the northeast are prettier. I’v e also recorded the species in Alaska and didn’t think they sounded nearly as nice as the ones back home.
Wonderful! You’ve really hit it here. A great combination of natural sounds and narration. A compelling story.
Bob: Concerned about the lack of comments (so far), I wonder if others feel the same … or possibly the podcast format is just not of much interest to those who have signed up for my blog? But that’s why I included the non-narrated recording, so there’s something here for everyone. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see …