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Archive for the ‘Náttúra’ Category

Rumbling noise from Mordor

Posted in Mannlíf, Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 16.5.2013| 1 Comment »

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At 13th of May I cycled to the shore, west side of Reykjavik to make some microphones setup test in quiet environment. It was sunny and calm, but cold as it has been all this year’s spring.
This coastline is mostly unspoiled from humans works so there is miscellaneous birdlife. Along is a very popular walking and cycle path. Some places can be very quiet like the beach south of Skildinganes where I have recorded many times nature sounds…as far as it goes.
As usual where nature are close to humans automotive world there is a deep rumbling noise, a terrifying noise from burning fossil fuel. It does not only disturb my ears or recordings, it is a very clear warning about our stupid lifestyle that will sooner or later destroy our planet within a century.

Drunurnar frá Mordor

Upptaka af notalegri vorstemmningu í Grófinni sunnan við Skeljanes.
En í bakgrunni heyrast drunur frá vítisvélum borgarbúa sem fyrr en síðar munu breyta þessum ljúfu vorhljóðum í fjörunni.

Download mp3file (192kbps / 37,3Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics: Sennheiser MKH8040 (ORTF setup)
Pix: Canon EOS-M

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Flatey in Breiðafjörður 2012. Part II

Posted in Mannlíf, Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , on 15.4.2013| 5 Comments »

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This is another ambience recording from the island Flatey in Breiðafjörður, a straight continue of part one.
Women, children as well as the elderly all gather for a boat is docking. Two men, with the day’s catch, step ashore.
When the catch has been divided, the whole throng returns to the village in a cacophony of conversations and drift homewards.
Somewhat nearer, in front of the microphone are a few Red-necked Phalaropes as well as Mallard ducks with ducklings. Other distinguishing birds like the loud Arctic tern and Whimbrel, as well as many other species of bird, can be heard.

Flatey í Breiðafirði 2012. Annar hluti.

Þetta er beint framhald af fyrsta hluta.
Nú safnast allir saman, konur, börn jafnt sem gamalmenni því bátur kemur að landi. Tveir menn með afla dagsins ganga á land. Þegar honum hefur verið skipt,  kemur allur manskapurinn aftur inn í þorp með miklu skvaldri þar sem hver fer til síns heima.
Nokkuð nærri, framan við hljóðnemana voru fjörugir Óðinshanar og stokendur með unga. Aðrir háværar tegundir eru háværar s.s. kría og spói auk margra annarra fuglategunda.

 Download mp3 file (192kbps / 34,6Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744T
Mic: Audio Technica BP4025
Pics: Canon 30D (See more pictures)

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Arctic tern in Önundarfjörður 2012

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 1.4.2013| 1 Comment »

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During Icelandic independence day, 17. of June 2012, I was in Önundarfjörður fjord in the Westfjords, the north west peninsula of Iceland. This fjord lies deep between steep mountains with high cliffs. After midnight I entered an Arctic tern colony to record their sounds. The recording conditions was as good as it gets. The weather was calm, dry but cloudy, and the temperature was about 7 °C. Almost no traffic was in the fjord so most of the background noise was only coming from falling water in the mountains and sea waves at the shore.
This Arctic tern colony is big and has been there for decades, even centuries. This bird is very territorial and aggressive protecting the colony and many other bird more passive species feel safe to nest among the Arctic tern. So this recording includes sounds from many other bird spaces such as Whimbrel, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Redshank, Oystercatcher, and Golden Plover… and many more
The recording contains also human and sheep voices from a nearby farm. Swans, Red-throat Diver, and common Eider at the shore side and a some sound from a Gull colony high in the cliffs all around the fjord.
During the recording the Arctic Terns attack many times the furry microphones. Sometimes you may hear their excrement fall to the ground around the microphones, but at this time they never hit or peck the Blimps.
The duration of the recording was almost 80 minutes. Following recording contains the last 36 minutes so my disturbing visit is not much audible. This is just a nice ordinary summer night in the north west of Iceland.

Krían í Önundarfirði 17. júní 2012.

Upptaka þessi var gerð í kríuvarpi nærri Holtstanga innst í Önundarfirði.
Veður var stillt, þurrt en skýjað og hiti um 7°C. Það var því varla hægt að kjósa sér ákjósanlegra veður til upptöku á fuglalífi. Allt iðaði af lífi. Fyrir utan kríu mátti sjá og heyra í hettumáfum, spóa, lóu, stelk, tjaldi og fleiri fuglum, Efst í fjöllunum mátti sjá allt fullt af fuglum á sveimi björgunum. Í flæðamálinu voru álftir, lóm og æðarfugl.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 50,7Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744t
Mics: Rode NT1a
Pics: Canon D30

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Flatey í Breiðafirði 2012. part 1

Posted in Mannlíf, Náttúra, tagged , , , , , on 3.3.2013| 4 Comments »

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Flatey is the biggest island in Breiðafjörður bay in the west of Iceland, but nevertheless a small island. It is a wonderful place. Rich, widely spiced bird life and no car traffic. Most houses are old and most of them are nicely rebuilt. No one lives there all year around but in spring, summer and autumn lot of people stays there. Sometimes the place is overcrowded with tourists but there is both a campsite and a hotel.
I spent few hours in Flatey in June 2012 with my family. We just walked around in this relaxing surroundings. The east part of the island was closed because of bird’s hatch and eyas. But the life in the “village” was also interesting.
Strong gust from vest made recording difficult but I found a quiet place beside a wall not far away from the “main street”. In front of me was a small marsh and it was overcrowded with all kinds of birds; snipe, gull, golden plover, white wagtail, oystercatcher, arctic tern, ducks and so on, but closest to the microphone is a red necked phalarope. In distance Kittiwake and other birds are audible.
I was very lucky this time, there were few tourists on the island so the recording contains relaxing conversations between neighbors in this wonderful ambience. In the beginning a child is drumming a box, but it last only for 5 minutes. After that it is possible to listen what people and birds have to say.

Flatey í Breiðafirði 2012. Fyrri partur

Í lok júní fórum við fjölskyldan í dagsferð út í Flatey. Auðvitað lét ég upptökutækin ganga á nokkrum stöðum þótt vindur væri nokkur úr vestri. Ekki bar mikið á fólki eða vélum. Andrúmsloftið var því mjög afslappað.
Inni í miðju þorpi er mýri sem iðaði af fuglalífi. Ég kom því hljóðnemanum í skjól við húsvegg og hljóðritaði stemmninguna í u.þ.b. klukkustund.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 37,2Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744T
Mic: Audio Technica BP4025
Pics: Canon 30D (See more pictures)

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Blackbird, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin

Posted in Mannlíf, Music & release, Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 16.2.2013| Leave a Comment »

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In the beginning of February, Sonic Terrain blog introduce a funny and interesting BBC4 program. This program is inspired by the musician and Eco-philosopher David Rothenberg’s book “Why birds sing”. This documentary explores the intriguing, charming, complex and often conflicting theories on why birds sing like they do and why humans are so attracted to the sound.
After watching the program on Youtube in six pieces, I searched my recordings if some of them contained a birdsong I could be almost sure of that the bird was singing for pleasure, rather than making a territory call.
Lo and behold, I found one.
It was recorded in the evening 9th of June 2012 in my garden. This is a recording that I normally delete or do not publish because it is categorized as a “test file”.
I was testing Parabolic dish with Shure MX391/O capsules with strangely defective Sound Professionals PIP-Phantom power adapter.
But the recording does not only contains “hiss, snap and bad sound” it also contains a lovely birdsong.
Rock band was playing somewhere in the neighborhood. Suddenly a Common Blackbird with a nest in a nearby garden arrived and started to sing. First gently as he was shy but suddenly just before the band started to play Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin the bird began to sing very loud a fabulous song, something I have never heard it sing before, but this bird has been around my house for some years now.
This is far from being a quality recording, but it is worth to listen.
Now the question is, what was this bird thinking when it sang this fabulous song? I am, sure it was just doing it for fun.

Svartþröstur, Jimmy Hendrix og Janis Joplin

Í byrjun febrúar kynnti Sonic Terrain bloggið skemmtilagan og áhugaverðan sjónvarpsþátt frá BBC4. Fjallaði þátturinn aðallega um David Rothenberg og bókina hans “Whay bird sing” Tekist er á um kenningar milli fræðimanna um tilgang fuglasöngs og ólíka sýn manna í þeim efnum.
Eftir að hafa séð þáttinn á YouTube í 6 bútum leiddi ég hugann að mínum fuglaupptökum þar sem segja má að fugl hafi sungið sér til ánægju fremur en annað.
Jú og viti menn ég fann eina upptöku úr garðinum frá því 9. júní 2012 undir flokknum “test”. Var ég þar að prófa parabóluskerm með Shure MX391/O hljóðnemum og biluðum PIP-Phantom power breyti sem ég hafði fengið sendan frá Sound Professionals.
Þó upptakan hafi sína galla þá hefur hún að geyma skemmtilega uppákomu úti í garði þetta kvöld.
Í nágrenninu var nokkuð fjörugt garðpartí með útitónleikum þegar svartþrösturinn í næsta garði fór upp á loftnet og tók lagið með hljómsveitinni. Fyrst þegar hann kom var hann jafn hljóðlátur og venjulega þar sem hann muldraði í barm sér. En skyndilega tók hann við sér og söng allt hvað af tók, svo mjög að ég hafði ekki heyrt annað eins úr barka hans frá því hann kom í hverfið nokkrum árum áður.
Því miður voru ekki réttu græjurnar á staðnum. Hljómurinn er því ekki eins góður og á verður kosið, auk þess sem hávaði frá bílaumferð er allt of mikill að vanda. En upptakan er engu síður þess virði að á hana sé hlustað.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 38,3Mb)

Recorder: Sound Devices 744T
Mics: Shure MX391 fit into 54cm parabolic disk, connected to SP-XLRM-MINI-2-PHANTOM
Pics. Nokia N82

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Flags in the wind

Posted in Óflokkað, Náttúra, tagged , , , , on 1.2.2013| Leave a Comment »

Seltjarnarnes

Sometimes when I am going to record a specific sound I bring home something totally different.
That happened 4th of July 2012. It was a very nice weather, calm and dry, so I made a decision to cycle with my gear to the shore at Seltjarnarnes to record bird sounds and ambiance.
But shortly after I left home the wind started to blow and it got stronger with cold northern breeze . When I arrived to Seltjarnarnes the wind was too much for almost any wildlife recordings. So as usual with most cycle trips like this, I decided to go back.
But before the wind blow me back home again I found a shelter on wooden platform beside a golf clubhouse. And there was an interesting sound. Two golf course flags with poles were flapping and hammering two picnic tables. Their flaps were like an “audio indicator” for the wind waves.
Arctic Tern, Oystercatcher and other bird spices in combination with heavy sea waves at the shore made this all as a great concert.
I stayed there about one hour while I recorded and listened to the concert, watching a thick smoke coming from burning garage in Kopavogur district, seven kilometers away.
Following is twenty minutes of this session.

Fánar í vindi

Ætli það séu ekki í u.þ.b. 80% þeirra ferða sem ég fer til að hljóðrita, að ekkert kemur út úr því. Oftar en ekki er ætlunin að taka upp eitt, en ég kem heim með eitthvað annað. Þá gerist stundum það óvænta að slík hljóðrit koma skemmtilega á óvart.
Eitt af slíkum tilviljunum var hljóðritað 4. júlí 2012.
Logn og blíða var í Austurbænum svo ég ákvað að skjótast út á Seltjarnarnes til að fanga dásamlegt sumarkvöld nærri sjó með fjölskrúðugu fuglalífi. En því nær sem dró Nesið því snarpari gerðist vindurinn og þegar þangað var komið var ekkert veður til að fanga nein rólegheit.
Áður en ég lét goluna feykja mér til baka þá ákvað ég að leita skjóls undir skyggninu við Golfskálann. Þar vanaði ekki hljóðin sem umsvifalaust gripu áhuga minn. Tveir golffánar á nestisborðum hömuðust þar í takt við breytilegan vind. Þegar svo við bættust önnur hljóð frá kríu, tjaldi og öðrum fuglum sem og þungum nið haföldunnar, þá hljómaði þetta eins og skemmtilegt tónverk.
Ég kveikti á upptöku og naut tónverksins í klukkutíma á meðan ég horfði á breytilegan reyk leggja frá eldsvoða í Kópavogi.
Hér má heyra 20 mínútur af þessu hljóðriti.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 32,6Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744T
Mics: RodeNT1a (NOS 90°/30cm)
Pics: Nokia N82

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Birds at Seltjarnarnes shore 25th of May 2000

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , on 15.1.2013| Leave a Comment »

Common Eider

It is not possible every day to record nature sounds in as nice weather condition that was early morning at Seltjarnarnes in 25th of May 2000. Weather was calm and dry. Birds as Black backed Gull, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Common Snipe, Golden Plover and Arctic Tern were everywhere along the shore side, busy with their daily life. Close by, a group of female Common Eider was teaching very young ducklings how to search food.
Just after few minutes, I finished to set up the microphones, the Eiders came so close to the rig it was possible to listen their conversation in smallest details for almost two hours.
The quality of this recording still surprises me. It is one of the latest recording I made with Sony TC-D5M cassette deck with a pair of ME 20 microphones. The key of the quality was the microphone cables. Instead of ordinary mic cables I used CAT6 data cables. It makes extraordinary difference for the high frequency signal. All small details in the recording were cleaner and much brighter.
This recording is part of my second CD release, published in limited edition later the year 2000.

Fuglar í Seltjarnarnes fjöru 25. maí 2000

Það er ekki á hverjum degi sem hægt er að taka upp fuglasöng við veðurskilyrði eins og voru þessa nótt á Seltjarnarnesi 25. júní 2000. Veður var einstaklega stillt og allir fuglar voru komnir með unga. Einkenni þessarar upptöku er návígið við æðarkollur og unga þeirra sem leita fæðu í flæðarmálinu. Í mikilli nálægð er hægt að heyra buslið í ungunum og hvernig kollan kennir þeim og ver þá gegn varasömum gestum. Að auki má heyra í öðrum fuglum sem einkenna Seltjarnarnesið s.s. kríu, tjaldi, lóu og hrossagauk. Hljóðin eru síðan síbreytileg þar sem heyra má fuglahópa koma og fara í stöðugri leit sinni að fæðu.
Á sínum tíma þótti upptakan svo góð að hún endaði á CD útgáfu (sjá nánar á sölusíðu).

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 46Mb)

More Audio from this recording at Xeno-Canto and AudioBoo

Recorder: Sony TC-D5M (TDK MA-90mín).
Mic. Sennheiser K3U / ME20 (40cm/100° apart. Hi-Pass filter on level 1).
Pix: Canon 30D (pictures taken 2010).

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Black legged Kittiwake at Arnarstapi

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , on 15.12.2012| 6 Comments »

Arnarstapi

In middle of July my family went in a five days trip around Snæfellsnes peninsula. Of course my recorder follow me as a puppy and I recorded as much as I could days and nights. One of this recordings I made was above a cliff score near Arnarstapi.
The weather was very nice, sunny but a breeze from north-vest so it was calm in the cliffs south of Arnarstapi.
I expanded my boom over the cliff brink and located the microphone in a calm place.
And…. WOW! I got really beautiful ambiance. About 15-20 meters below, the sea wave smoothly stroke the cliffs. Whine black legged Kittiwake flew all around and the cliffs were full of the their tweedy baby’s.
During one hour recording I was totally raped on the cliff edge in this beautiful ambiance.
Close by in next score,  fishermens were working at the dock and some tourist walked by behind me.

Rita við Arnarstapa

Um miðjan júlí 2012 fór fjölskyldan í fimm daga ferðalag umhverfis Snæfellsnes. Eins og venja var fylgdi upptökutækið með við hvert fótmál.
Skemmtilegasta hljóðritið sem ég náði í þessari ferð var við Arnarstapa. Ekki að furða því þar er af nægu að taka. Hefði ég getað verið þar við hljóðritanir í marga daga.
Sunnan við löndunarbryggjuna er lítil klettaskora sem gefur skemmtilegan endurhljóm. Teygði ég þar hljóðnemann fram yfir klettabrúnina. Opnaðist þá afar skemmtilegur hljóðheimur sem varð til þess að ég steingleymdi mér í um klukkutíma án þess að hreyfa legg eða lið.
Allt um kring flaug rita vælandi í dagsins önn og á klettasillum mátti sjá og heyra að mikið var af ungum. Fyrir neðan hjalaði svo aldan blíðlega við klettana.
Í bakgrunni má hyra í erlendum ferðamönnum staldra við, spjalla og taka myndir. Þá heyrist einnig umgangur frá bryggjunni þar sem verið var að landa afla og eitthvað í þotuumferð.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 45Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744
Mic: Audio Technica  BP4025
Pix: Canon 30D

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Starling traffic

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , on 1.12.2012| 2 Comments »

Starling Starri

It has been my work passing weekends recording birds and other sounds in my garden. Sometimes I am just testing microphones, microphones’ setups, wind protections or batteries. Sometimes I am just hoping to get something unusual, car crash in the neighborhood, earthquake or just something nice and interesting.
This recordings could be many hours long. Then usually this recordings go through different audio software and spectrum analyzer. If nothing interesting is found then most of the files are deleted. Most of them are just traffic noises.
I am used to feed birds in my garden so they are an ideal sound source and the following recording is one of this feeding day in November.
After almost four hours recordings a very big group of Starlings visited my garden. They fly and walk around the microphones. A raven was not far away and frightened most of the starlings when he flew close by.
For many reasons this is a nice recording, but for one reason I was not satisfied with the result.
I will let the listeners to find out what it is and discuss it and response. I will give my answer before Xmas.

Umferð starra

Ég hef gert mikið af því undanfarnar helgar að taka upp umhverfishljóð úti í garði. Oft er ég að prófa hljóðnema, hljóðnemauppsetningar, vindhlífar eða rafhlöður. Oftar en ekki eru spörfuglar sem ég fóðra úti í garði viðfangsefnið þó ég láti mig alltaf dreyma um hið óvænta. Þessar upptökur geta verið margra klukkustunda langar og fátt annað á þeim en hávaðasöm bílaumferð. En áður en upptökunum er hent er þeim rennt í gegnum forrit sem sýna í fljótheitum hvort eitthvað áhugavert sé á þeim að finna. Ef svo er þá er það geymt.
Hér er á ferðinni eins slík upptaka. Eftir nærri fjögurra klukkustunda upptöku kom stór starrahópur í fóðrið sem lagt hafði verið fyrir þá.
Þarna spígspora og flögra fuglarnir umhverfis hljóðnemana, en stór hópur þeirra er uppi í trjánum. Hrafn er í hverfinu og fær hund til að gelta og hræðir síðan fuglana þegar hann flýgur of nærri.
Þetta er að mörgu leyti lífleg og skemmtileg upptaka. En það var eitt atriði sem varð til þess að ég var nærri búinn að henda þessari upptöku.
Ég ætla ekki að segja hvað það er, en ætla að lát hlustendum eftir að dæma upptökuna og segja frá því hvað hafi hugsanlega misfarist og fá þá til að rita ummæli hér fyrir neðan. Ég mun svo segja hvað mér finnst fyrir jól.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 23,3Mb)

Recorder: Sound Devices 744
Mics: Sennheiser MKH30/40 (MS setup)
Pix: Canon 30D (see more pictures)

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Nature reserve in Flói 2012. Part 4

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , on 1.11.2012| 2 Comments »

Óðinshani

This recording was captured around 4:00 to 5:00 am, 25th of June.
It is almost straight continue of part 3 with very quiet relaxing midsummer sound scape but now disturbed with two airplanes passing by from east to west. It was just the beginning of a heavy airplane traffic later this morning. During calm moments thick clouds of gnats filled the air with heavy buzzing noise, but they got suddenly quiet every time when the light gusts stroke the field.
Quality headphone recommended.

Friðland í Flóa 2012 – 4. hluti

Hér er framhald af fyrri upptökum úr friðlandi í Flóa 2012. Þessar upptökur er frá u.þ.b. kl 4:00 til 5:00, að morgni 25 júní. Hér má heyra í fuglum s.s. óðinshana, hrossagauk, stelk, lómi, spóa, kríu, hettumáfi, músarindli og maríuerlu sem og mörgum öðrum fuglum.
Nú fer flugumferð að hefjast af alvöru. Tvær millilandaþotur rjúfa þögnina í þessu hljóðriti. Er það aðeins smjörþefur af því sem síðar kom og sett verður á vefinn síðar.
Hlustist með góðum heyrnartólum.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 53Mb)

Recorder: Sound Devices 744
Mics: Rode NT1a (NOS setup)
Pix: Canon 30D (see more pictures)

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