Earth Notes: Diarycast - Ambient Sound of a Graveyard (2020-05-13)
Updated 2024-04-08 20:14 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.
[00:20]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!
[01:00][... 8 clips ...]
There's more on my "Earth Notes" Web site at
Earth.Org.UK
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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: