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Posts Tagged ‘Lava’

The lava in Meradalir 17th of July 2021

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , on 21.8.2021| 1 Comment »

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The eruption was in full action on the 17th of July 2021 and the weather forecast was fine, calm and dry when I decided to go and record at the eruption sites.
I decided to stay not near popular sightseeing places, so therefore I went by bike to get further away to another place at the lava field.
But when I arrived, there was a strong wind because both the eruption and the lava itself has its own weather system due to the heat in the area. Pollution was also high, so it was not easy to operate in the area.
Eventually I found a „good place“ where I had to block the microphones between rocks on the ground right by the glowing lava.
As soon as I pressed „Record“ the volcano stopped erupting and it did not erupt in the next few days, which is very typical for me.
It is quite descriptive of this eruption, although it is a small and beautiful „tourist eruption“, I have not been able to record the eruption itself these four times I have dragged equipment to the eruption sites. There have always been strong gusts and sometimes „small“ hurricanes around the volcano which have made sound recording very difficult. Plus, when it erupts it does not make much sound, especially when no water is involved in the eruption or the lava which would have made an explosion. But when the volcano is active the boiling lava sounds like boiling water in a huge pot.
Even though I could not record the eruption that day as was planned, I managed to record the lava itself without too much wind-, tourists chatting-, drones- and helicopter noise.
The lava did not seem to be moving while I was recording, but I could see embers in the cracks.
I have no clue what makes this „pop“ sound in the lava while I could not see it move. The sounds could be coming from the lava that was possibly rising when the liquid lava flowed under a thin shell crust. Or it just sounds like that when the lava cools down.
The gust rumbling sound in this recording sounds pretty similar as the eruption from the volcano so let’s play with with the imagination while listening.

  (mp3 256kbps / 56,3Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics. Sennheiser MKH8020/8040 (Parallel AB40)
Pix:  Canon EOS R

Location:  63.886300, -22.230307
Weather:  Gusty, 15°C and 35°C at the microphone place, cloudy and high gas pollution.

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Silence in Kjalhraun lava at World Listening Day 2016

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 8.8.2016| 1 Comment »

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It sounds a bit stupid to record silence. But if the equipment can capture something in the silence you can not hear with your bare ears, then it can be very interesting. For instance, you never know what you will see when you look into the deep space with telescope. You never know what you will hear in the silence with a low noise microphone.
I will not define all my views of different silence, but for sure, silence is never completely quiet and it is my favourite recording material.
Best time to get „silence“ is normally during the night in calm weather after sunny day (like this one). In such moments temperature waves are also calm or in layers, so sound can travel long distances without being disturbed. Noise from one car can travel up to 30 km in open field and if you hear it with your bare ears it will be clearly audible through most quality recording gear today. Amplifying sound with low noise microphone, works like a telescope. It drags weak sound far away closer to your ears. In places where you need to hold your breath to hear probably only your heart beat, it can be a very busy place in your headphones.
But there is also other kind of silence. It is on hot sunny days when wind blows and the air is very unstable. Sound normally does not travel long distances in such circumstances.
One of these days was 18th of July 2016 on the World Listening Day. I was traveling on Kjölur, west highland route in Iceland. The sun was shining all day and the wind was blowing from the south. I took of the main rode and followed a track into Kjalhraun lava field. My plan was to find the mysterious Beinahóll (Bone hill) and the field where Reynistaðabræður (Reynisstada brothers) and almost 200 sheeps lost their lives in a insane weather in September 1780. It is still possible to find bones on this field so for a long time I have bin interested in this tragic story.
But the track through the lava was too ruff for my car so I kept on by food.
Many times for almost three decades it has been my plan to find this place while travelling by bike over Kjölur. I never did it because I was always wearing a green jacket and for superstitions reasons it has been told dangerous.
This time I did not find Beinahól. Instead I started recording the silence in the lava.
The weather was a typical sunny „midday silence“, where the thermal heat from the sun makes the air unstable so sound waves did not travel long distances.
This was one of these days I did not hear any plains or car traffic, even though Kjölur main route was not far away. When I held my breath, I only did hear weak bird song in the distance and some flies around. Because the mics are located close to the ground, you will also hear the wind wipe the ruff lava surface.
This recording is captured with MKH20 microphones and SD744 recorder. Gain was set at 56dB and HPF 80Hz. In post the gain was again raised about 25dB. Below 20Hz and above 10Khz the freq. was pulled down by 25dB.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level. Hold your breath while listening 🙂

(256Kbps / 46Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744
Mics Sennheiser MKH20 (AB40 setup)
Pics. EOS-M
Weather. Sunny, about 18°C, calm up to 3 m/s in gusts
Recording location: 64.77883, -19.42805

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