Whippoorbill's gift to us

Teegate

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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All,

It is obvious that most of us explore the pines during the daytime; however, there are some who enjoy the experience at night. Our own Whippoorbill is one who does just that. Not only does he enjoy hearing the strange eerie sounds of twilight and beyond in the pines, he also records them, and I have acquired some of his recordings that Bill wants to share with all of you.

This recording was Bill’s first, at a little bog near Friendship. It is a wonderful stereo recording with various sounds that one might hear near a bog at night. Included is the honking of a Pine Barren tree frog, and many mysterious sounds that would make even the bravest of person’s have doubts that they were alone in the pines. A truly fine recording, and so far my favorite.

So if you are an armchair Pine Barren enthusiast who explores the pines by accessing this site, or a serious PBX hiker who look’s for the most remote spot in the pines you can find, this recording is for you. I will be adding more recording to this posts in the days ahead, and until then I am sure this one will keep you occupied.

The file is about 7MB, 8 minutes long, and will download as soon as you click on the below link. Dialup will take about 21 minutes to download. You can listen to it in iTunes, QuickTime, and various other sound software that is available. And you can also import it into your iPod. Remember, this is Bill’s recording so don’t post this anywhere else. Lets give him the credit that is due, which obviously he will not get if you post it elsewhere. If you have any technical problems with the download please contact me.


Thank you Bill.


Direct download

http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/whippoorbill/Whippoorbill_2.zip


Guy
 
bobpbx

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,677
4,851
Pines; Bamber area
I downloaded and played that. I have never heard something so true to life before. It sounds exactly like I am standing at the edge of a bog at about 10PM. I am not real good at sorting sounds out, but I think I heard:

Carpenter Frog
Peeper
Southern Leapord Frog
Fowlers Toad
Pine barren tree frog

I'll have to play it in January to bring the pines back early.

Great work Bill.
 
RednekF350

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,058
3,328
Pestletown, N.J.
Whoa!
That was awesome.
Something to play in the middle of the winter to shift your thoughts to a muggy summer night in the pines.
The only thing missing was the whine of the mosquitoes that had to be sucking the life out of him while he made the recording.
Thanks Whipporwill.
 
bobpbx

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,677
4,851
Pines; Bamber area
MarkBNJ said:
Wow, that recording is outstanding. Thanks for posting that, Guy. So who can tell me what the clicking noises that sound like staplers being repeatedly smacked are?
Click to expand...

That's the carpenter frog Mark. Think of a guy holding a hammer and hitting a board rapidly.
 
whippoorbill

whippoorbill

Explorer
Jul 29, 2003
675
121
66
Bridgeton
bobpbx said:
I downloaded and played that. I have never heard something so true to life before. It sounds exactly like I am standing at the edge of a bog at about 10PM. I am not real good at sorting sounds out, but I think I heard:

Carpenter Frog
Peeper
Southern Leapord Frog
Fowlers Toad
Pine barren tree frog

I'll have to play it in January to bring the pines back early.

Great work Bill.
Click to expand...

You've identified all the stars of the recording, Bob.

As Guy mentioned in this thread's initial post, the top recording was made in bogs associated with Friendship (a mile or so south of the actual town) and was really a stroke of beginner's luck. This particular frog chorus, which took place in early May of 2006, was indeed my first.

Recently, I sent a CD with samplings of the various recordings taken over the past couple of years to Guy -- first, asking for some feedback; second, asking if he thought members of the forum might be interesting in hearing samples of the recordings. I love listening to these sounds here at home, but felt I'd achieve an ultimate level of satisfaction by making the sounds available to those who share a passion with the pine barrens.

Thanks to Ben for providing the space and to Guy for getting the sounds online. And thanks, everybody, for the positive feedback.

Bill
 
MarkBNJ

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
bobpbx said:
That's the carpenter frog Mark. Think of a guy holding a hammer and hitting a board rapidly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! I'll Google them and see why whatever they are hitting something with doesn't turn to mash.

Edit: wow, I listened to the next two and continue to be impressed by the clarity of the recordings. I'm going to make them into one long loop to play when I'm sitting back and relaxing.

What did you use to capture the sounds, Whippoorwhill?
 
whippoorbill

whippoorbill

Explorer
Jul 29, 2003
675
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Bridgeton
Mark,

I use a small recorder put out by M-Audio called a Microtrack 24/96 and a couple of omnidirectional microphones (AT3034).

Bill
 
Teegate

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,966
8,710
Ben,

I will send you the rest of them to put up.

Guy
 
MarkBNJ

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Ok, I listened to the two latest of Whippoorbill's recordings (sorry for getting your user name wrong, Whippoorbill :) ). With respect to Guy's challenge, I didn't realize what was happening in file 7 until the music grew loud enough to comprehend. I'm assuming you weren't sitting right on the road, so even if you were close that recording setup must be very sensitive. It sounds like the vehicle drove right over the top of the mike.

On file 1, I could hear a low level hum throughout most of the recording, not at all unpleasant, and kind of lent an interesting air to the whole thing. It changes character quite a bit, rising and falling, sometimes fading out or coming back in a different pitch, sometimes oscillating for awhile. Were you close to a highway?
 
whippoorbill

whippoorbill

Explorer
Jul 29, 2003
675
121
66
Bridgeton
MarkBNJ said:
Ok, I listened to the two latest of Whippoorbill's recordings (sorry for getting your user name wrong, Whippoorbill :) ). With respect to Guy's challenge, I didn't realize what was happening in file 7 until the music grew loud enough to comprehend. I'm assuming you weren't sitting right on the road, so even if you were close that recording setup must be very sensitive. It sounds like the vehicle drove right over the top of the mike.

On file 1, I could hear a low level hum throughout most of the recording, not at all unpleasant, and kind of lent an interesting air to the whole thing. It changes character quite a bit, rising and falling, sometimes fading out or coming back in a different pitch, sometimes oscillating for awhile. Were you close to a highway?
Click to expand...

Mark,

Feel free to call me Bill. Whippoorbill or whippoorwill is a pain in the neck to spell. I should know. It takes me a couple of times to get the p's and o's right before I'm able to log in to the forum.

Interestingly, both file 1 and file 7 were recorded at the same location. (The former file I love merely for the catbird which sings intermittently throughout -- he popped up in the middle of a two hour dawn-transition recording; the seven minute period of the recording Guy has posted represents his entire pre-dawn song). Anyway, regarding the hum -- sensitive mics pick up a lot of low-level noises not necessarily wanted. A high pass filter usually takes care of these somewhat, but my gear is limited at present and I fix this the best I can using software. We're probably hearing some low-frequency air rumble here due to the quiet nature of the recording . Also, some of the rumbling on the recording is from road traffic on Rt. 563. These recordings were taken at the small bog beside the road (Sandy Ridge? I'm not great on knowing sand road names) about a mile south of Friendship, which is not all so far from the highway. Also, we might be hearing some industrial noise, which I occasionly get when recording at this bog. It was prominent the night of the file 7 recording.

The midnight rambler that drives by in file 7 was probably 30 feet from my set up. But, you're right -- my mics are very, very sensitive. As an example, if I'm set up at Quaker Bridge, my mics pick up truck traffic using Rt. 206. This is why I try to bury myself as deep into the pines as I can.

Truly, the neatest thing about this hobby and the entire recording process (besides simply being in the barrens) is listening through the Microtrack and microphones with headphones; I can hear what the mics are picking and it's like having bionic ears.
 
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