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Flowing water on the Marsh Trail (near a beaver dam)

Date: 10/5/2022 - Time: 5:25 P.M., 5:30 P.M.

Notes:

For these recordings, I went further along the Marsh Trail to see if I could find anyrunning water. As I was looking, I stumbled across a beaver dam (unknown whether there were any beavers inside) with a small stream of running water. For the first of these recordings, I put the hydrophone into this small stream so that the water could hit the microphone. The sound of the water sounded very nice and pleasant in the recording. For the second of these recordings, I chose a location a few feet away from the first location in this small stream. In the first two minutes of the recording, the sound is very similar to that of the first (like the sound of flowing water). However, two minutes into the recording, unintentionally, the hydrophone shifted in the water. Suddenly, the sound of the water became extremely loud in the recorder. I was forced to turn the input level down to around 30 as the sound was very loud now. It was a very interesting contrast to hear the first two minutes of the recording compared to the end where the rushing water sounds very loud. Overall, I had a very enjoyable experience recording with the hydrophone. Compared to the stereo, shotgun, and binaural microphones that I have previously tried, the hydrophone allows for the recording of sounds that none of the others would have been able to. The only difficulties that I had was that the wires were constantly getting tangled. I frequently had to try and untangle them only to find a few minutes later that it was tangled again.

Marsh Trail

• Date: 11/1/2022
• Time: 5:00, 5:05, 5:10, 5:19, 5:23, 6:15 P.M.
• Temperature: 61°F
• Humidity: ~76%
• General Weather Conditions: Mostly cloudy with some sprinkles of rain, some rainfall in the past 6 hours

Notes: For these recordings, I was following Plan A, which was to record 5 different sounds which could be useful as we begin editing our recordings and piecing sounds together. For the first three recordings at this location, I used the ELF recorder. I found this device very interesting to use. Before I even recorded, I played around with it and put it near the recorder, my phone, etc. to see what it would sound like. In the actual recordings, for the first one I held the ELF in my hands and moved around/pointed in different directions. Depending on the way I pointed the ELF, different electrical noises were picked up by the device. I am not completely sure if the recorder or my phone were interfering in this recording (as I was holding it in my hands relatively close to the other two). For the next two recordings, I placed the ELF on the ground away from myself, so that no interference would be caused from my electronic devices. For the first of these two, I pointed the ELF towards the direction of campus, and for the second recording, I pointed it in the opposite direction towards the inside of the nature preserve.

Surprisingly, they did not sound largely different. The main difference is that when pointed opposite to campus, I was able to hear a local radio station more clearly than the previous sound clip. For the next couple of recordings, I used the contact microphone to record some things in the area (Note: the contact microphone must have a loose internal wire as I had to press down on the back of the contact for it to pick up sound). For the first of the two contact recordings, I slid the contact microphone on a fallen log on the ground. The sound picked up by the recorder had a little static. For the second of the two, I recorded the contact being slid across a nearby fallen branch and some leaves on the ground. These recordings sounded interesting and should provide a nice textural quality while editing sounds together. For the last recording at this location (I actually did this one at the very end), I recorded a stereo recording of myself walking on the Marsh Trail. At this point, there were crickets chirping and some geese flying overhead, which were picked up by the recorder.

• Location 2: Vernal Pond Trail and Marsh Trail
• Date: 11/1/2022
• Time: 5:35, 5:39, 5:44, 5:50, 5:54, 6:00 P.M.

Notes: For these recordings, I went to the Vernal Pond Trail and followed a similar format to the Marsh Trail recordings (just in a slightly different order). I started off by doing some contact microphone recordings on a fallen log, then a standings Eastern White Pine tree. For the second of these two recordings, I experimented with rubbing the contact on the bark of the tree, and also the pine needles to hear what they would sound like in the recording. I actually really enjoyed these contact microphone recordings as they provided some interesting sounds that could not be picked up by the other microphones (I just think that the wires may need to be fixed to have less static/crackling). For the next three recordings, I used the ELF microphone. For the first of the three recordings, I held the ELF in my hands and moved it around throughout the recording. In this particular spot, the ELF was able to get a very clear sound of a nearby radio station/radio show (the radio show was quite political). For the second recording, I pointed the ELF in the direction where campus is. This recording had some interesting noises, as it wasn’t just a constant buzz throughout (there was some variation). For the last of these three, I placed the ELF in the opposite direction from the previous recording. This time, the ELF picked up a radio station again (I could not tell if it was the same one that I was previously listening to). The ELF is a very interesting tool that definitely picks up some interesting sounds. I look forward to seeing what I can do with it and figuring out how to make it fit in with other sounds that

I have previously recorded in the Nature Preserve. For the last of the recordings at this location, I recorded myself with the stereo microphone walking along the trail. I had done this previously with some of the other microphones, but I thought it would be useful to have more footstep sounds for the sake of editing later on. There were many geese flying by over the trail, and their calls could very clearly be heard in the recording. Overall, I enjoyed using the three different microphones as part of this week’s recordings.