A 24-min binaural soundscape featuring a winter windstorm and a small meltwater brook in a Norway Spruce stand. Recorded around 2pm on 28 February 2018 in Shindagin Hollow near Brooktondale, New York. © Lang Elliott. PLEASE LISTEN USING HEADPHONES!
During the winter, I busy myself with creative work in my studio but try to keep in touch with what is happening out in wild nature. For a long time, I’ve wanted to get a powerful “elemental” soundscape featuring winter wind blowing through pines or spruces, and on February 28 the opportunity to do just that came blowing my way.
A powerful winter snowstorm passed through our area with wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour. Excited about the prospects, I dressed warmly and headed to nearby Shindagin Hollow where I explored a high road that skirts across the upper slope of the mountain above the hollow. The wind was blowing incessantly, with periodic huge gusts. Soon I homed-in on a dense stand of Norway Spruce. A small meltwater brook meandered through the trees and I set my soundscape microphone so that the brook’s gentle gurgle could be clearly heard during intervals when the wind dropped somewhat in intensity.
I was thrilled when I listened later in my studio. The soundscape is wonderfully spacious, with wind gusts coming and going with regularity. There is also a lot of low frequency rumble generated by the wind. Originating higher up the slope in the bare hardwoods, the wind literally rumbled down the slope of the mountain without pause.
This rather long soundscape (24-minutes) should definitely be listened-to using headphones or earbuds with good bass response. If you adjust the volume carefully so that the wind gusts are not too loud, you will soon relax into the sound experience and become mesmerized as you surrender to its magic spell.
As always, please let me know what you think!
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We’ve had some terrific windstorms this winter in Mid-Missouri. Even though I don’t like strong wind, I am impressed by the sound and fury. Thanks for the audio. (I hope you get another without the brook accompaniment.)
The girl in front of you in Mrs Spangler’s English class.
Took me a while to get ready to listen to this one as the same storm knocked out the power at my home for more than a day. This recording really works well. Waves of wind, ebbs and flow of texture and volume. The sound of the stream does give a sense of place and I love the way the rising roar of the wind covers up the sound of the stream from time to time. How often do we take the time to sit and listen to the wind? Thanks for sharing this one. Even though it is a… Read more »
I found it soothing while on location, in part because the thick stand of spruce kept the wind from rushing through the understory. So I was able to stand there listening, from a place of calm … at least until my feet got cold.
Brrrrr!
You Always Impress with your unique perspective. Thank you for continuing to share.
: >)
Enjoyed listening to the wind. The inclusion of the brook made it perfect for me. By the way – your night recording of the insects and the gentle lapping Lake Ontario is one of your best ever in my opinion. Thank you for what you do.
Ima: I agree that my recording of gentle Lake Ontario waves set against pulsating snowy tree crickets is one of my best. I return to that spot every year to record the wave-scape. It’s never the same, yet always compelling.
Thank you for this beautiful recording. It left me both calm and energized, breathing deeply. I love the play of the two elements, water and wind, moving at the same time. I think it helps create the sense of spaciousness, that the listener is down on the ground with the water trickling and that the powerful wind is overhead in the spruces — and as you say, rushing down the mountain from the hardwoods higher up. A feeling of safety in storm, as if I am a grouse dug into a snow cave. It left me wondering how it would… Read more »
If I had found a tree hollow that was large enough, I would have placed my mic inside, just to hear what it sounded like. My friend and fellow soundscape recordist Gordon Hempton made a great recording in the large hollow of a huge tree trunk that washed up on a beach in Olympic National Park. At times it would literally sing … producing a resonant and musical hum, set against the constant rumbling surf.
Yes! I think I know which of Gordon Hempton’s recordings you refer to, having heard it on Soundcloud. It is very beautiful! From inside a fallen Sitka Spruce. One of my very favorites.
When I mentioned the famous resonance of Norway Spruce it was because I recently read that Stradivarius used the wood for the belly of his violins.
Oh, trees and wind, the music they make. So nice to dwell on such things. Thanks again.
I think the tree trunk in question washed up on Rialto Beach, if my memory serves me. Maybe it’s even still there.
You have captured it perfectly. Wind through the trees is my favorite sound. Thanks, Lang.
Y’elcome!
Thank you Lang for touching my life today with the beautiful reminder of all the gifts that God has given us. I feel truly blessed to have ears so that I can hear each & every note of the great outdoors 🙂
You’re welcome Rose Ann!
Sitting at the car repair shop. What a wonderful way to drowned out the background music and TV.
Thanks, Nancy Love
Just curious … were you listening with headphones?
mmm…if I close my eyes, I can imagine I am snowshoeing in the woods down below the road. I haven’t been able to do that this winter… thanks…
Lovely!
The gurgle or babble of the brook creates a sense of location; what you need in your recording is the dramatic crack and ground shaking thud of a few enormous tree falls. Thrilling! I suppose you would have to be very lucky to hear AND record such an event. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, it surely makes a sound–I’ve been fortunate to hear several, though of course the vast majority topple unheard and unrecorded.
I was very much hoping for a tree fall. I came across several as I drove the backroads and I was actually surprised that no limbs fell during the hour or so that I recorded. Oh well … maybe next time!
Wonderful! We had quite the winds here on Cape Cod on Friday and Saturday. I haven’t heard that sound in many years.
Terry: Glad to hear that you like it!
Very clever, had not thought to do that with a recording. However it reminded me of my sailing days on Puget Sound in Washington, that is no Motor and just the wind and the bow breaking the water. Try it at night when your racing across the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and then you have only sound and occasional lights from another sailboat shining their lights on their colorful spinnacres checking to see they have their sails trimmed correctly. Hah, the sounds of the wind. Very Nice indeed.
Mark: Glad you like the soundscape. It’s difficult to record in the wind due to distortion caused by wind hitting the mics. I have a special home-made “wind box” that minimizes the problem. In this instance, the thick spruce canopy protected the understory from the gusts, so I didn’t get any distortion.
But do you find the gurgle of the water pleasing? Or do you think I should have recorded only the wind? I was pulled in both directions and think perhaps I should have recorded a second session farther from the stream.
It is wonderful, thank you.
That ‘magic spell’ quite lets me feel that I am flying, buffeting right along with those majestic sweeping branches. These goosebumps will be deliciously refreshing next August!
P.S. Heh heh … “Shiver me timbers!”
i like it, too. Kinda wish it was without the water…since my experience is rarely near a babbling brook.
lwc: I considered moving away from the water, or making another recording without the water, but when my recording session ended, I was tired and cold and decided to head home. Next time we have high winds, I’ll go record in the same place, but away from the stream … so that I have two versions to choose from.
What a nice and so relax sound of the wind in the spruces!! Thank you so much for this 24 minutes of pure pleasure!
Have a great evening,
Constance DAmour
And thank you for listening Constance!