Flying containers

 

In last week of August the first “real winter storm” arrived to Iceland, with strong cold wind and snow down to 300 m o.s. Luckily it was not as bad as weather forecast expected.
But for sure more and stronger storms will arrive in coming months. Sometimes it happens during high tide and with extremely low air pressure so the whole harbor is floating in deep seawater.
Last autumn 2012, we got at last two times a “real storm”, and both this storms arrived while I was at work. It was really dangerous to be outside so we spent most of the day inside. Regularly we heard loud “drumming sound” and got a taste of an earthquake when containers and reefers flew of the stacks to the ground.
Following recording was recorded in one of those bad weather situations 2nd of November 2012. It is mostly audible wind noises with flying garbage around when suddenly somewhere in the harbor one container take off from a stack and fells to the ground.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 29,7Mb)

Recorder: Sound Devices 788
Mics: Sennheier MKH30/40. MS setup in Recote windshield
Pics: Nokia N82

The sound in Raufarhólshellir Cave

Early May I went into the Raufarhólshellir cave with a group of peoples. The tour was done to listen to the sound in the cave when water drops fall on ice on the floor. This sound can be really amazing when hundreds of drops fall in to all kinds of sizes and depths of holes in the ice.
But, most of the ice was gone, so the sound was not as expected.
Anyway, the experience and the sound was nice.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 35Mb) Recorder: Sound Devises 744
See more and listen at: www.fieldrecording.net 

Mics: Sennheiser MKH8040 (ORTF)
Pix: Nokia N82

Krosslaug pool at Barðastönd.

In Iceland it is possible to find many hot springs all over the country. Many of them have optimal temperature for bath and to relax. For centurys people have piled stones and turf around some of this known natural hot springs.
In the beginning of last centuries many of this natural hot springs were used to teach people to swim. Soon, many communities all over the country built real swimming pools of concrete near these springs.
One of these places can be found at Krossholt at Barðastönd, Southwest Iceland. There is Krosslaug, a 12 meters long swiming pool, built in 1948. There is also newly built natural hot tub, build on a hot spring in traditional style. It was the Youth Association of Barðaströnd County who piled this tub with stones, gravel and turf.
From the bottom through the ground of the tub comes the warm water with bobbles that gives relaxing sound while laying there with the ear below the surface. You can hear the bobbles moving upwards trough the gravel deep from the ground under the tub.
This recording was made with hydrophones at 15th of June 2012.
Another interesting recording from Krossholt, nearby place is: Opus for power line, bass, wind and birds.

(Download mp3 file (192kbps / 28,8Mb)
See more and listen at: www.fieldrecording.net

Recorder: Sound Devices 744
Mics: Aquarian H2a-XLR
Pics. Sony CyberShot DSC-P120 & Olympus 4040 & EOS 30D (see more pictures)

Walk through the city hall

Last spring was cold and windy and 26th of May was no exception when I cycle downtown Reykjavik with my recording gear. It was a accordion day and members of the Accordion club of Reykjavik was playing in the city hall. When I arrive it was overcrowded and the sound quality was poor from the amplified monitors. So I decided to stay outside and listen instead to the birds on the pound, close to the hall.
This recording contain my walk beside the pond, from the southeast side (as seen on the picture) trough the city hall to the northwest side, into very different atmosphere.

Download mp3 file (16Mb / 192kbps)

Recorder: Sound devices 744t
Mics: Sennheiser MKH8040 (ORTF setup) in Rycote Windshield
Pics: Canon EOS M

Nature reserve in Flói 2012. Part 5

Last autumn and winter I published some of my recordings from 25th of June 2012 in the nature reserve at Flói in the south of Iceland.
Day after, during the night and early morning at 26th I continued to record, but now I moved the microphones about 3-5 meter closer to nearby pond.
Something happened. There was a strange echo or reverb in some directions. It sounded strange because this area is very flat. But afterwards I thought it came from a ridge about 50cm high along the pond. This echo was sometimes very nice so it is worth to continue to put this recordings from Flói on the web, maybe in 2 to 4 parts.
I skip the first two hours of this night recording, mostly because of a high noise from the surf along the coast site, 3-4 km behind the microphones and some truck traffic 7 -14 km front of the microphones.
As usual this recording are made in virtually quiet environment. It starts around 1 am and lasts for 25 minutes. It is mostly very quiet, but in the end a choir of Red throated Diver gets very loud.

Download mp3 file (35Mb / 192kbps)

Recorder: Sound devices 744T
Mics: Rode NT1a (NOS)
Pics: Canon 30D (see more pictures)
Older post from nature reserve in Flói 2012

Arctic tern in Önundarfjörður 2012

During Icelandic independence day, 17. of June 2012, I was in Önundarfjörður fjord in the Westfjords, the north west peninsula of Iceland. This fjord lies deep between steep mountains with high cliffs. After midnight I entered an Arctic tern colony to record their sounds. The recording conditions was as good as it gets. The weather was calm, dry but cloudy, and the temperature was about 7 °C. Almost no traffic was in the fjord so most of the background noise was only coming from falling water in the mountains and sea waves at the shore.
This Arctic tern colony is big and has been there for decades, even centuries. This bird is very territorial and aggressive protecting the colony and many other bird more passive species feel safe to nest among the Arctic tern. So this recording includes sounds from many other bird spaces such as Whimbrel, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Redshank, Oystercatcher, and Golden Plover… and many more
The recording contains also human and sheep voices from a nearby farm. Swans, Red-throat Diver, and common Eider at the shore side and a some sound from a Gull colony high in the cliffs all around the fjord.
During the recording the Arctic Terns attack many times the furry microphones. Sometimes you may hear their excrement fall to the ground around the microphones, but at this time they never hit or peck the Blimps.
The duration of the recording was almost 80 minutes. Following recording contains the last 36 minutes so my disturbing visit is not much audible. This is just a nice ordinary summer night in the north west of Iceland.

Download mp3 file (192kbps / 50,7Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744t
Mics: Rode NT1a
Pics: Canon D30