May 31, 2008 8:15pm Week #9

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

This is a night recording I did a few weeks ago , but am only getting to post until now.  There is a close squirrel (Eastern Gray?) and some other favorite friends, I picked up a touch of poison ivy fumbling around in the declining light, it has now pretty much healed but still, use caution recording at night.

Danny was also recording this night, we did hear some relatively close gunshots, but they didn’t continue long.

This weeks recording:

Blackwater NWR Maryland, US

Saturday, May 17th, 2008
Image of Blackwater NWR recording area

This night recording was done with the Maryland Nature Recordists in May 2008.  I was at the Tubman Road Trail near marker #3.  There were open water sloughs on both sides of me.   The primary caller seems to be the Northern Cricket Frog, with Cope’s Gray Treefrog, Bald Eagle, Northern Bobwhite, Chuck Will’s widow,  possibly the Snowy Tree Cricket, and the occasional Wood Frog filling out the soundscape.
ORTF, Sennheiser 8040, SD 744t Creative Commons License

May 10, 2008 5:24 am Week #7

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

Foggy, rainy morning caused a rain out, I recorded about 20 minutes or so before the rain started growing more heavy.  The undergrowth is filling out, as is the canopy.  Again the whip-poor-will was calling when I arrived, in fact two or three of them were calling near the road before my hike in.  I must try a night recording here soon.  This recording was so nice I did cut out a short mid-section when I checked how wet the mics were, enjoy.
ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t Creative Commons License

April 26, 2008 5:45 am Week #6

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

I am trying to get up earlier to capture first light every week, but due to a number of factors I can only get so close.

This week we have a technical comparison between two sets of microphones. The first set is my standard Schoeps ORTF configuration, a set of MK21 capsules directly into the Sound Devices 744t mic preamplifier. The second set, a demo set of the Sennheiser MKH 8040 configured in ORTF. Keep in mind that the pattern of the two sets is slightly different: the Schoeps is a wide cardioid, the Sennheiser is a classic cardioid. I have done my best to match levels on these two samples.

The same part of the sound file was used for each sample. in about the middle of the recording you will hear me swatting a spider, I was recovering from a few spider bites from the previous week at the time.

ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t

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ORTF, Sennheiser MKH 8040, Grace V3, 744t
Creative Commons License

April 20, 2008 6:15 am Week #5

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

This seems to be the quietest recording (in terms of wildlife) I’ve done here yet. The forecast was calling for a morning thunderstorms but it didn’t start to rain until we were leaving. The wind however was pretty constant. The trees haven’t started to fill in yet, they are only now starting to bud.
Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t Creative Commons License

April 12, 2008 5:49 am Week #4

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

A foggy, warm morning, after a thunderstorm, the first I’ve seen this spring, temp was about 60 degrees fahrenheit. It was dark when I arrived, but the Northern Cardinal just started to call. I was hoping to get there early enough to catch the owls, but all I got was a few eastern grey squirrels waking up (at about 15:50). I left most of the slate on this track. The transient pops you hear is water rolling off the trees close to the microphones. USE CAUTION, SOME OF THESE POPS MAY BE LOUD!

Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t Creative Commons License

March 30, 2008 6:30 am Week #3

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

As this recording begins you will hear my wife and I heading out for a hike, it was about 34 degrees Fahrenheit so we wanted to keep moving. We returned about 45 minutes later as the morning chorus was drawing to an end. During the slate, which I chose not to include on the recording a great horned owl called once to another in the distance. You’ll hear the usual calls that I have outlined before.

Prettyboy Project Audio

ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t Creative Commons License

March 23, 2008 6:15am Week #2

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied woodpecker, American Crow

ORTF, Schoeps MK21, 744t Creative Commons License

March 15, 2008 7:45 am Week #1

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

This was done as part of a Maryland Nature Recordists outing, Danny Meltzer attended. Northern Cardinal, Sapsuckers, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, American Crow.

Jecklin, DPA 4006, 744t Creative Commons License

Prettyboy Project Recordings

Saturday, March 1st, 2008


recording location photo forest image

In 2008 I created a recording series called the Prettyboy Project.  Over a series of several months I recorded near the Prettyboy Reservoir in Baltimore County, US.  I posted recordings “as is”, with little or no editing to explore the progress of  the spring soundscape in one location.  Planes, cars, and other “noise” will all be in there along with the seasonally evolving natural soundscape of the location.  The Prettyboy Project has been completed as I no longer live near the recording site but please visit and enjoy the progression of the spring.

Blackwater NWR Maryland, US, Field adjacent to the wildlife drive

Thursday, February 28th, 2008
photo of snow geese @ Blackwater Wildlife Refuge

February 2008,  late morning at the end of the wildlife drive I found a small field of mostly snow geese and a few Canada geese.  I pulled to the side of the road and setup the mics using a car door as a wind break, it was very windy.   Several high altitude jets and the usual traffic din can be heard throughout, but it’s not bad for a side of the road recording.
ORTF MK21, SD 744t Creative Commons License

Cape Henlopen State Park–Gordon Pond Delaware, US

Sunday, September 9th, 2007
Gordon Pond Dawn Photo

This recording was made in September of 2007 with Danny Meltzer.  It is a mixed soundscape, combining the early morning chirps of Gordon Pond with two perspectives of the Atlantic ocean recorded in sync, one close and one far. 
Jecklin, DPA 4006, MKH30/40, SD 744t
Creative Commons License

Cape Henlopen State Park--Gordon Pond Delaware, US, Jecklin, DPA 4006, MKH30/40, SD 744t

Blackwater NWR Maryland, US Tubman Road Trail

Saturday, May 12th, 2007

Blackwater photo

The Tubman Road Trail is a remote trail that doesn’t  pull many visitors away from the main part of the refuge (not at 7pm Saturday evening anyway).  The day I was there there was a lot of wildlife, snakes frogs, etc.   Northern Bobwhite,  Northern Cricket Frogs, and Laughing Gulls can be heard.  The front was recorded with my standard ORTF Schoeps array, the rear is a set of omni mics about 1 meter apart on either side of the ORTF.  This is a four channel recording.

ORTF MK21, DPA 4006, SD 744t

This work by Greg Weddig is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 CC iconby iconsa icon

Blackwater NWR Maryland, US Tubman Road Trail, ORTF MK21, DPA 4006, SD 744t

Prettyboy Reservoir Baltimore County Maryland, US

Saturday, May 5th, 2007

May 5th, 2007 6:40am
The Maryland Nature Recordists captured this dawn chorus on Saturday morning.  The spring woodland features, warblers, vireos,  blue jays, red-bellied woodpecker and a brown-headed cowbird.  Originally part of a surround recording, these are spaced DPA 4006 omni mics apx. 1m apart.

Prettyboy Reservoir Satellite image
This work by Greg Weddig is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Roland (Park) Baltimore, Maryland USA

Sunday, April 1st, 2007

Maryland Nature Recordists outing with Danny Meltzer, his recording can be found here.  This is based on a double MS recording, featuring Schoeps MK21 sub -cardioid  capsules. Download the wma file to listen.

Robert E. Lee Park Baltimore, Maryland USA

This work by Greg Weddig is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0