Wolves!!! ???

Definitely locking the church door later.

Not sure we have those in the UK, off to check...

yep! - and i forgot foxes (although they are mostly not noisy; can regularly be seen in the outskirts of the city though (as in london)...

may better do so, albeit for other reasons...

around here, some folks are making a big fuzz about the wolves although farmers get compensated by the federal government for wolf attacks on sheep.

I can confirm there are no Wolves in the UK, but many debates about reintroduction especially on large estates in Scotland.

Foxes have been a problem, yes. When they make their "special" noise its awful and goes on for ages.

I remember a recording a few years ago where it took us an hour to find and terminate with extreme prejudice, a house fly that was buzzing about in a church ruining everything delicate.

Sheep have been ok so far.

Coming from one of the most forest covered countries in EU (60%) and home to big beasts - bears, wolves, lynx, etc., I would still count myself lucky for having wolves howling as the background noise problem... 😀

I actually once went "sound hunting" them in remote forests where they were frequently seen... but no luck, it was fun howling in the wilderness to get the response... 😀

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE
--scott

i had only seen wolves twice: once up close (at helène grimaud's home) and later from a great distance (while hiking in the swiss alps) - definitely impressive animals...

...and sorry for going off-topic!

One of the most stunning binaural recordings I've ever heard is the track "Midnight Wolf Concert on the out-of-print CD "Wilderness Journey" from the Earth Sounds series recorded by Gordon Hempton.

https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Sounds-...s%2C150&sr=8-2

https://soundtracker.com/

oh for fox sake

Probably not the suites, they were recorded at The Maltings Snape, where Decca (can't recall where I read it) had an appointment with RAF, so they didn't get jet fighters on tape. The sonates maybe, they were indeed from Kingsway Hall.

Anyhow I get your point, if one listens deep into many classic recordings (especially with headphones), there's a lot of traffic rumbling around. In practice, it usually doesn't bother me.
::
Mads

Was waiting for someone to post this...

Ah, it's on the same disc I have - but the outside noises where in the suites, obviously some other noise of some machinery, or ventilation... I guess there was no traffic there? Beautiful acoustics - and that would be my benchmark for solo cello recording...

I noticed it only on nice headphones - it is much better to listen to such recordings on a nice, but not to clinical and detailed hi-fi system - completely enjoyable on my living-room's "lowly" Tannoy M3 floorstanders - no distracting background noises to be heard while listening on those...

I wanted to make some project with wolf sounds, sort of "installation"...

I contacted those guys: https://www.volkovi.si/?page_id=1070 and learned about "howling" they use for monitoring the wolf population and where to go - and they also said to report for them if we manage to hear them - try to estimate the distance, the number, if there are some cubs to be heard, etc.

We (my colleague recordist and me) were the only ones howling in that wilderness...

They sent me some beautiful (content wise, not sound) wolf recordings they managed to capture - but with wind noises, etc.... but sweet... and this video from our biggest wild forests is super sweet - also - makes we want to live such a live - real freedom, frolicking around, resting in beautiful nature:

There's a dimitri mitropulous recording where you can hear a huge door opening and then being rapidly shut just as the last note tails out.
--scott

Its a beautiful recording (even if it's a little on the close side) but that sense of the instruments vibrating body is so vivid and present without getting harsh anywhere. It's such a delight!

And yes there are quite some back-ground noises here and there and even a car as you mentioned (I'm listening now).
But who cares with a musical performance like this, recording quality, composition and warm acoutics of the Maltings concert Hall - what a space!
::
Mads

We have become too good at removing distractions these days, we are killing the inherent life of the recording venue
::
Mads

Yes, what a space!

Before the fire you could smell the Malt in there.

That area has great beer making (Adnams)

David…I hope that your home, family and friends remain safe in the coming days as you prevail against cyclone Alfred. Best Wishes….stay dry !

Yep, staying indoors and waiting for the mess. I went through a couple of cyclones in Vanuatu when working there.

Just installed Pyramix 15 and doing some productions. The worst is that we lose power. I have a few fully charged 98Wh batteries ready to keep phone and laptop going.

Probably a bit late now, but reverse-engineering an old pedestal room fan to become an outdoor wind turbine DC generator could be a good battery recharger…assuming a few windy days ahead ?

Yeah stay safe down under, it looks like a big one.

Here's a clip of it (small campfire in FG):

Sublime, lack of any wind sound (that is so rare), makes it even greater. Such clean ambient. Wow. A "benchmark" for nature field recording, for sure!

Wow that's a bit special!

I read into Gordon and his work after listening, pretty impressive and I like the philosophy behind it.

Definitely a high benchmark.

This made me think of the late 60’s AR3a advertisement in Boston Symphony Hall with the speakers on the stage.

I would like to throw in here a recording, while not really a reference for me as to overall quality (although pretty fab for it's age), is a reference that may be of interest in another way: it's one of the few Deccas I know of that's said to have been done with only the tree plus outriggers on the orchestra; no spots (please share if you know of others). The only spot was a single (!) spot on the choir.

Monteux's 1959 Daphnis, engineered by Alan Reeve at Kingsway, Produced by John Culshaw.

https://www.amazon.com/Ravel-Daphnis.../dp/B000E6EGZA

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/...chlo%C3%A9-etc

So, it's an interesting reference for how a 5-mic Decca Tree can do on it's own on a full orchestra.
(Where would you have added spots in an actual mix [not just 'in case'], if any?)

Awesome, one of my favorite pieces by unquestionably my favorite composer. I'll cue that up for later, I was just listening to the Montreal/Dutoit recordings of Tombeau, Valses Nobles, etc, a few minutes ago, and they're fantastic.

There’s lot of great Ravel from Dutoit. I’ll have a go at that Monteux Daphnis, but on the subject of adding spots to the 5-mic tree, it’s partially concerned with the background noise issue we’ve been exploring. On the one hand a properly aligned spot mike can bring that part of the band or the soloist into clearer focus against the rest of the band, and on the other, strengthen quieter contributions so that the problems of distant animals, traffic and canteen staff can be ignored as easily as we would in a live concert. One hopes that engineers will know when adding more and more spots just starts to be self-defeating.

The Ashkenazy/Previn recordings of the Rachmaninov concerti have some fairly noticeable bits of Central line noise in them, but never (to my ears) spoiling the magical recording and performances. Still my favourites!

Life would be empty without Ravel.

Yes, it would just unravel.