Feeds:
Færslur
Athugasemdir

Posts Tagged ‘Friðland í Flóa’

Agabus beetles in the pond

Posted in Óflokkað, tagged , , , , , , , , on 14.1.2023| 2 Comments »

IMG_2200
It really doesn’t matter where you turn on the microphone or other sensors, there seems to be life everywhere.
There was no exception to this in the nature reserve in Flói, southwest Iceland 17th July 2022. All night I had been recording the bird life in the same place as I have done every year for over a decade. I had gathered all the equipment about noon and was ready to go, when I decided to prepare a coffee before heading to the next recording location.
So it was the perfect time to dip the Hydrophones in the next pond while waiting for the coffee.
The pond was full of life, although it could not be seen or heard on the surface. The soundscape was so interesting it turned out I was recording there for almost three hours.
After a short investigation I saw Agabus and Spined Stickleback. I am sure there were also moth larvae of different species, even some kinds of shrimp, where the sea is not far away. Some of these sounds may also be methane gas being released from the bottom of the pond.
The soundscape in the pond was similar to birdlife. The chorus from the biosphere in the pond came in waves. Sometimes the sounds were few and quiet, but then there came a time when the whole biosphere in the pond needed to be heard.
Below you can hear one such period.
The recording was recorded in 24bit/48Khz, but a lot of these sounds seem to be able to go well above 24Khz. It tells me that the next time I record in this pond, I should do it at a higher resolution, 96Khz or even higher.
It is always quite difficult to record with hydrophones. The sensitivity is such that, once they are in water, the cables must not touch anything that might move, not even the wind. Although the Hydrophones were well immersed in the pond, you can hear many things in the recording, e.g. in planes, car traffic, footsteps and a Black Headed Gull that probably made a sound as it flew over the pond.
This recording didn’t require a lot of editing. However, 20Hz was taken down by -20dB. I thought it was necessary since these Hydrophones have flat frequency range down to 0.4Hz and the MixPre6 down to 10Hz. Most of the rumble that was heard in the original recording was therefore vibrations from cars and air traffic and possibly also from the waves along the south coast. The recording got a very gentle noise reduction and normalized about +7dB, up to -8dB peak level.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid volume.
If the media player doesn’t start to play, please reload this individual blog in a new tab or frame.

  (mp3 256Kbps / 49,6Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Hydrophones:. Benthowave BII-7121
Pix: Canon EOS-R

Location: 63.900400, -21.192364
Weather: Gust 1-4m, partly cloudy

Read Full Post »

Flói Nature reserve, 3rd of July 2021

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 15.3.2022| Leave a Comment »

IMG_2200

It has been several years since I published a recording from Flói nature reserve. The reason is more or less because of foul weather in recent years when I have had the opportunity to record there.
It was no exception last summer from late April to mid July. It was cold, windy and wet most of the time which is actually the high season for birdsong recording.
I went there on the 3rd of July 2021 and recorded overnight. The weather was calm in the beginning but the wind increased over the night. I was also struggling with increased sea tide and therefore a surf noise from the coast line, actually at the same time when the birds were most active during the dawn.
My mics were Lewitt LCT540s in IRT cross setup. Most of the bird’s activity was in front of channel 1&2. Most „silence“ was in front of channel 2&3 and most of the surf and traffic noise was at channel 4&1.
It surprised me how much traffic was there the whole night. There was almost constant rumble in the air during the ten hours I was recording, except between four and five o’clock in the morning. This noise was much more audible than I remember in my earlier recordings. The reason could be found in different mic setup and mics. Ten years ago I used to use NT1a in NOS or AB, pointing towards the open field and keeping the nearest road and coastline behind. I have also used MKH20 in AB which is less sensitive for these details than large capsule mics.
It takes time to search in this 10 hour long recording for some nice sounding 30 minutes moments. Listening to the whole four channels it starts with heavy traffic noise in all channels, then surf noise. Then traffic noise again until the wind and the sun makes the air so unstable close to noon, both traffic noise and bird activity almost disappear in the wind noise.
But with an IRT cross rig I have many options. I can turn off the channel or channels which are disturbing for the soundscape I am looking for.
The recording below is a very good example of this. Instead of using all four channels and mixing them to stereo, I use only channel 2&3 (NOS 90°/30cm) to avoid the surf noise. The time when it starts is about 04:15 so there is almost no traffic noise, but anyway, the recording starts and ends with some engine noise in the distance.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at mid or low level.
If the media player doesn’t start to play, please reload this individual blog in a new tab or frame.

Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Lewitt LCT540s,  NOS 30cm/90°
Pix: Canon EOS R

Location: 63.900944, -21.191958
Weather: Calm to breeze, partly cloudy, ca 5-10°C

Read Full Post »

Lewitt on the Hummock

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 24.6.2020| 2 Comments »

IMG_2200

I recently noticed the best tripod I can get to avoid high levels of „mechanical wind noise“ in recordings. It is simply a hummock. I have many times recorded nature sound by leaving omni mics on the ground. But it has not been as simple for cardioid mics because it changes the EQ on the frequency range, especially when the mics are in the windshield.
Here below is a recording I did in Flói bird reserve in south Iceland. The average wind was probably around 4-5m/sec with some gust up to 5-7m/sec. The high pass filter was at 40Hz so mechanical wind noise should be with a typical tripod clearly audible at 3m/sec.
Keep in mind this is a recording of silence. It was barely nothing audible while this was recorded
It was recorded with 48dB gain and in post the gain was increased again about 27dB.
Most of the background noise is the surf on the south coast which is very noisy. The wind is almost constantly wiping the ground and airplanes make a rumble noise for many minutes. You will also hear wind noise but far less than it would have been with a typical tripod. 
One of the reasons I think it is so effective to put the rig on the ground, is mainly because the LCT540s is a heavy mic. So while the windshield lay so heavily on the ground, the ground works like a damper for all vibration on the windshield which therefore make less „mechanical wind noise“
Most bird species are in distance so this is not a very attractive recording. But many things are going on in this wide open space in south Iceland and it is always interesting to listen to soundscape which is too quiet for most human ear.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level.

(mp3 256kbps / 60Mb)
If the media player doesn’t start to play, please reload this individual blog in new tab or frame

Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Lewitt LCT540s IRTcross setup
Pix: Canon EOS R
Location: 63.901024, -21.192173
Weather: cloudy, calm up to 7m/sec, around 12°C

Read Full Post »

Curious sheep in Flói

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 10.4.2017| Leave a Comment »

IMG_2200

I have published many times recordings from the Nature Reserve Flói in southwest Iceland, so I will not introduce that area again.
During the years I remember couple of times when curious sheeps have disturbed the recording. This is one of them.
This peace is a 30 minutes of nine hour overnight recording. It was recorded between 7 and 8 o´clock in the morning 25th of July 2015.
The recording is not only disturbed by the sheeps, it is also highly disturbed by tourist traffic, especially in the air. Jets are arriving and leaving the country and smaller planes in sightseeing so this peaceful area is not especially quite this time.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at medium level.

(256kbps / 57,2Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics: RodeNT1 (NOS) & MKH20 (AB40) as close together as possible
Pix: Canon EOSM
Location: 63.901026, -21.192189
Weather: Calm, cloudy, around 11°C

Read Full Post »

Flói 2015. Part 1

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 7.3.2016| 1 Comment »

IMG_2200

I think I don‘t need to present the nature reserve in Flói in many words. It is a wetland / moors in south of Iceland. I have already published in this blog several hours of „Flói recordings“.
Last spring was cold, wet and windy so I did not spend much time there. But in June, I stayed there for two nights while I recorded several hours of recordings during the nights.
As usual I fell in to sleep in the field during that time, so I did not know what I was recording. Last week when I was searching trough the recordings, I noticed some interesting moments.
At 14th of June the overnight weather forecast was nice and I started to record at midnight. Between 2 and 5 in the morning the wind went down so the field got „quieter“ for far distance sound waves.
I put up Rode NT1 in NOS in the same place as usual and pointed them to north. The soundscape is always spectacular in this place.
This soundscape is probably not what everyone would hear by bear ears. The recording is highly amplified. In this circumstances and Rode NT1, I normally adjust the gain on the recorder between 54-58dB. In this particular recording the gain is increased again in post about +24 dB so the peak level in one moment (at 13:16) reach 0dBf.
Many bird species are audible in this recording like Red throat Diver, Common Snipe, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Gull, Arctic Tern, Northern Wheatear, Greylag Goose, Whooper Svan, Meadow Pipit and other bird species I have forgotten, or can’t name. Other audible animals like horses and sheep’s are there too.
Background noise is mostly from the Atlantic ocean’s waves along the south coast behind the mics. Then as usual, traffic noise and sometimes a party music somewhere in the county.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level.

Flói 2015. 1. Hluti

Hér er á ferðinni upptaka úr friðlandinu í Flóa frá því á laugardagskvöldi og sunnudagsmorgni 14. júní 2015. Eins og fyrri upptökur úr Flóa sem finna má hér á síðunni eru hljóðnemarnir ávallt staðsettir á sama stað við sömu tjörn norðan við fuglaskoðunarhúsið.
Í upptökunni má heyra í ýmsum fuglategundum. Má þar nefna lóm, hrossagauk, heiðlóu, lóuþræl, spóa, máfa, kríu, steindepli, grágæs, álft og þúfutitling. Þá heyrist lika í hestum og kindum.
Bakgrunnssuð er einkum brim meðfram Suðurströndinni og einkum við Ölfusárósa. Svo berst hávaði frá bílum og partítónlist einhvers staðar í sveitinni.
Mælt er með því að hlusta á upptökuna í góðum opnum heyrnartólum og á miðlungs- lágum hljóðstyrk.

Download mp3 file (256kbps / 60,7Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics. Rode NT1 (NOS)
Pix. Canon EOS M
Weather: clear sky, mostly calm, between -1 to 4°C
Time: 14 June 2015, between 2 and 3 o’clock
Location: 63.900933, -21.191876

Read Full Post »

Flói 2013 part 1

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 18.2.2014| Leave a Comment »

IMG_3337

Last summer was mainly wet, windy and cold in Iceland. It was no exception while I was recording birds in the nature reserve Flói, south of Iceland.
I was three weeks later than usual, so it was probably too late to record a reach bird chorus.
I spend two nights in the area and tried to record surrounding ambient through soaking wet windscreens. I stayed most of the time in a bird watching shelter to keep me dry. It was different from last tree years. Surroundings looked more like a swamp than grassland.
I kept one recorder in the field in a plastic box. The second one was in the bird watching shelter.
Just before I fell a sleep on the floor I started to record. The following recording is a short part of that moment while shower passes over.
Most windows on the shelter were open so birds surround are audible. Background noise is not a traffic, it is the surf at nearby south coast, about 3 km away.

Flói 2013. 1. hluti

Síðast sumar var kalt og blautt miðað við það sem maður hefur vanist síðustu ár. Alla vega elti óheppnin mig með leiðinda veðri á röndum hvert sem ég fór með upptökutækin. Hin árlega ferð í Flóann var þar enginn undantekning. Ég mætti á svæðið þremur vikum seinna enn vanalega. Ég mátti því búast við að fjöldasöngur fugla væri farinn að dvína. Vindasamt veður gerði svo erfitt um vik, hvað þá að hljóð gæti borist langar leiðir.
Að vanda tók ég upp í tvær nætur í flóanum. Í þetta sinn flaut allt í vatni og því ekki hægt að liggja úti í grasinu eins og vanalega, heldur var leitað skjóls inni í fuglaskoðunarskýlinu.
Fyrir utan var eitt upptökutæki að taka upp á hefðbundnum stað. Annað var aðgerðarlaust inni í skýlinu. Rétt áður en ég fékk mér lúr á gólfinu ræsti ég upptökutækið. Hér kemur partur af þeirri upptöku þegar skúr gekk yfir svæðið. Gluggar voru opnir svo það heyrist í fuglum í grennd. Suðið í bakgrunni kemur frá briminu suður við Ölfusárósa.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 34,5Mb)

Recorder Sound devices 744T
Mic: Rode NT1a
Pics: Canon EOSM (more pictures soon)

Read Full Post »

Nature reserve in Flói 2012. Part 6

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , on 17.11.2013| Leave a Comment »

IMG_6153

I have still lots of unpublished recordings from this midsummer nights in Flói 2012.
With a quick audition all this recordings sounds similar. But with closer attention it sounds all as a beautiful symphony. There is so much happening that it can blow your attention, at the same time it can easily be your lullaby. I think these recordings are too nice to be lost in some of my hard drives.
This recording was made 26th of June, around 2am and is a straight forward of part 5.
It contains many bird species. Red throat Loon and two snivel Loon eyes. Red- necked Phalarope, Common Snipe, Golden Plover, Whimbrel, Common Redshank, White Wagtail, Winter Wren, Northern Wheatear, Common Redpoll, Snow Bunting and maybe other birds I can not mention.
In distance there are some traffic noises, horses, sheeps and Whooper Swan.
Background noise is mostly surf along the south coast and „white noise“ is mic´s internal noise .
As usual for nature recordings as this one, don’t play it loud. Play it as you will hear nature sound trough open window.

Friðland í Flóa 2012. 6. hluti

Hér er á ferðinni beint framhald af 5. hluta, upptöku frá 26. júní. Klukkan er um tvö eftir miðnætti og fuglalífið á fullu á þessari björtu sumarnótt. Þeir fuglar sem heyrist mest í eru lómur og tveir ungar hans. Óðinshanar, stelkur og spói. Ýmsar aðrar tegundir eru svo í bakgrunni. Í bakgrunni má heyra í briminu meðfram suðurströndinni, einhverri umferð, hestum og kindum.
Það er vert að minna á að best er að hlusta á þessar náttúruupptökur á lágum styrk, svipað því að hlusta á fuglasöng um opin glugga.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 39,6Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744
Mics: Rode NT1a (NOS)
Pics: EOS 30D (see more pictures) (Where is nature reserve Flói)

Read Full Post »

Nature reserve in Flói 2012. Part 5

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 9.6.2013| Leave a Comment »

IMG_5783

Last autumn and winter I published some of my recordings from 25th of June 2012 in the nature reserve at Flói in the south of Iceland.
Day after, during the night and early morning at 26th I continued to record, but now I moved the microphones about 3-5 meter closer to nearby pond.
Something happened. There was a strange echo or reverb in some directions. It sounded strange because this area is very flat. But afterwards I thought it came from a ridge about 50cm high along the pond. This echo was sometimes very nice so it is worth to continue to put this recordings from Flói on the web, maybe in 2 to 4 parts.
I skip the first two hours of this night recording, mostly because of a high noise from the surf along the coast site, 3-4 km behind the microphones and some truck traffic 7 -14 km front of the microphones.
As usual this recording are made in virtually quiet environment. It starts around 1 am and lasts for 25 minutes. It is mostly very quiet, but in the end a choir of Red throated Diver gets very loud.

Friðlandið i Flóa 2012, 5. hluti

Síðastliðið haust og í vetur setti ég nokkrar upptökur úr friðlandinu í Flóa á vefinn. Voru það upptökur sem ég tók upp nóttina 25. júni 2012 .
Daginn eftir tók ég líka upp svo til á sama stað en færði hljóðnemana örlítið úr stað. Við það gerðist það undraverða að fuglar úr vissum áttum hljómuðu í einhverju bergmáli. Það er frekar óskiljanlegt nema að bakkar umhverfis nærliggjandi tjörn eru frekar brattir og u.þ.b. 50cm háir.
Það er því vel þess virði að halda áfram að setja á netið hljóðmyndir úr Flóanum.
Hér má heyra í fuglum s.s. óðinshana, hrossagauk, stelk, lómi, spóa, kríu, hettumáfi, músarindli og maríuerlu sem og mörgum öðrum fuglum. Bakgrunnssuð er helst frá briminu með suðuröndinni u.þ.b. 3-5 km fjarlægð fyrir aftan hljóðnemana og svo trukkaumferð eftir þjóðvegi nr.1 í 7-14 km fjarlægð. Upptakan er líklega frá því milli kl. 1 og 2 eftir miðnætti.

Download mp3 file (35Mb / 192kbps)

Recorder: Sound devices 744T
Mics: Rode NT1a (NOS)
Pics: Canon 30D (see more pictures)
Older post from nature reserve in Flói 2012

Read Full Post »

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)

Read Full Post »

Nature reserve in Flói 2012. Part 3

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , on 1.10.2012| 8 Comments »

Flói

Recordings from Flói nature reserve continues. This two recordings were captured around 3:30 and 4:00 am, 25th of June.
The first recording contains mostly far distance sounds, a quiet relaxing midsummer sound scape. Birds are living their life, flying around and searching for food. Gusts sometimes disturb the recording with rumble sound .
The second recording was recorded around 4 am. It contains the first of many jet flights this morning from Europe to America. Morning sunbeams are now really going to heat the field so clouds of gnats are even thicker than before. A duck with youngsters are pushing their body through rushy field searching for food around the microphone.
Both this recordings are worth to played as a background sound at home or work.

Friðland í Flóa 2012 – 3. hluti

Hér er framhald af fyrri upptökum úr friðlandi í Fóa 2012. Þessar upptökur er frá u.þ.b. kl 3:30 til 4:00, að morgni 25 júní.
Fyrri upptakan inniheldur fremur þögula hljóðmynd af fuglalífi svæðisins. Heyra má þó í óðinshana busla í nálægri tjörn og stöku sinnum stingur kría sér í tjörnina í fæðuleit. Vindkviður eiga það svo til að trufla upptökuna.
Í seinni upptökunni má heyra í fyrstu þotunni þennan morguninn fljúga milli Evrópu og Ameríku. Sólargeislar brjótast nú í gegnum skýin yfir Ingólfsfjalli og verma svæðið. Þegar vind svo lægir þá lyftir flugan sér í þéttum skýsveipum og með miklu suði. Önd með unga kjagar með unga sína í þéttu mýrargrasinu umhverfis hljóðnemana í fæðuleit.
Báðar upptökurnar njóta sín best sem bakgrunnshljóð heima við eða á vinnustað.

3:30am
Download mp3 file (192kbps / 32Mb)

4:00am
Download mp3 file (192kbps / 31,2Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744
Mics: Rode NT1a (NOS setup)
Pix: Canon 30D (See more pictures)
Listen to other parts of  „nature reserve in Flói 2012„

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »