For months now I’ve been testing new gear in order to get the best results I can for a year of many plans with sound recording. Sound for me is so much more important than photographs. Anybody can browse the internet and see amazing images of wildlife and nature, but how often do we put good quality headphones on and just listen to the sounds of nature? It can be really helpful if you suffer from mental health issues and can’t find the time to get outdoors. I know it’s invaluable to me to be able to close my eyes and just listen to something that will actually enrich my life. Many people use Music in this way, as a distraction, but Music, especially modern music, can actually damage your ears if you listen loudly for extended periods of time.
Being a musician myself, I’ve been subjected to loud music most of my life, drumming at hundreds of gigs without ear protection. Thankfully, so far I’ve only noticed a slight decrease above 16khz, mostly in my right ear, but generally, I’ve been very lucky to still have very good hearing. The lesson here, please look after your ears. Losing your hearing isn’t what you would expect, especially if you form tinnitus where you’ll never truly be able to appreciate silence anymore without some permanent noise in your ears. Getting good quality headphones really helps as you don’t have to turn the volume up loud in order to experience a nice full-bodied sound. They are expensive, but I recommend the Bose Quiet comforts 35 Series 2 for extended periods of listening. As the name suggests, they are both comfortable to wear, but also comfortable to listen to as the high frequencies are soft and the low frequencies controlled, unlike most of the headphones on the market these days that have been tuned to punch out the bass for modern music. They might make it sound like you’re at the club, but that isn’t good for your ears.

Two new items of gear, one in the form of a Sound Devices Mixpre 6 ii, which is Sound Devices entry-level sound mixer that so far I’m really enjoying, despite having MANY learning curves regarding setup. I would not recommend this gear unless you have some pre-knowledge of sound recording. Along with the recorder, I also upgraded my Telinga Stereo Mk 2, to the Stereo Mk 3, and now I’ve figured out how to make the most out of my recorder, I’m finally starting to see some results I’m very pleased with. Below are a few recordings from this month. Despite being January, the mild weather has sprung many birds into spring mode: Even some winter visitors like Redwing have been singing, which is really nice as that is something we would not usually get.

The season is certainly mixed, with lots of winter fungi to explore. This is a Velvet Shank, so named because it has.. a velvet shank? lol. As I said though, I’ve not taken the camera out of the bag for a while as I’m finding sound can paint a much bigger picture.

Take this recording below. I just about pressed record in enough time to capture a daytime Tawny Owl, who wasn’t too happy with a pair of Ravens perching in the same tree, but if you listen carefully to the smaller birds in the background, and you can hear a Hawfinch calling throughout. I couldn’t actually see this bird at the time, but thanks to the sound recording I was able to share this bird with you.

Lastly I’ll leave you with this recording below of a double stream accompanied by two male Great Tit’s having a pre-spring song battle. You’ll also hear a pair of Buzzards that were pair bonding.