Earth Notes: Diarycast - Ambient Sound of a Graveyard (2020-05-13)
Updated 2022-10-17 20:51 GMT.By Damon Hart-Davis.
Diarycast
Hi, I'm Damon Hart-Davis, and welcome to Earth Notes' podcast on all things eco and green and efficient @Home!
13th May 2020.
This is the first day of (slightly) relaxed coronavirus lockdown, and we're allowed to spend time, alone and stationary, in public places. Obviously, recording the ambient sound of a graveyard is the right thing to do...So this is a somewhat unusual episode almost without words.
I've picked from birdsong, wind noise, and noises-off from delivery vans, rubbish lorries, at least one airplane, emergency-services sirens, etc. I missed recording the pair of black helicopters that passed overhead!
Enjoy!
[... 8 clips ...]
There's more on my "Earth Notes" Web site at
Earth.Org.UK.
Show Notes
The recording mic was the Blue Yeti on omnidirectional, 48ksps.
The original README is available.
Here are the raw sound files without any processing:
Before inclusion in the episode, clips were "Amplify"ed to peak at -18dB. Fade -in and -out was done for each. ("Normalize" with a peak of -18dB would probably have the same effect.)
The day was chilly and windy (thus lots of wind-in-leaves noise), albeit with some sunshine. I think that the mix of sounds, including the birdsong, would have been different on a more still, warmer day.
I have ordered a Foam Microphone Windscreen with Furry Windscreen Muff - Mic Wind Cover Pop Filter for Blue Yeti (£10 including VAT) in the hope that the fake fur pop filter in particular will let me repeat the ambient sound gathering with less wind noise on the mic itself. Hat-tip to Deniz E for the suggestion...
A couple of bonus end-July "grasshoppers at high noon" captures: