The time of the white nights is quickly passing. In this part of the year I try to make regular excursions out into the countryside to record during the late evening and early morning solitude. One of my favorite places to visit is an embankment on the western shore of Peipsi lake (bordering with Russia). If the air is still enough, the subtly changing colors of the sky reflect beautifully off the surface of the water. The photos above are just a humble tribute to this magical display of light. On this particular night, it was so quiet, there was almost nothing to record sound-wise except for the occasional fish leaping up to catch insects. Below are two excepts from longer recordings made in the past month.

This first recording was made by a small pond in the forest. There are frogs moving around directly in front of the mics, but you can hear many soft sounds in the distance from the forest and a remote farm.

This recording was made after the traditional mid-summer day (St. Johns day or Jaanipäev), when the evening soundscape shifts dramatically from bird life up in the trees to cricket and grasshopper life in the grassy open fields. Unfortunately there are mosquitoes present nearly all the time and they seem to like the furry wind covers on my microphones.

This is a great hydrophone recording I made last week in the local Mooste lake. The sun was shining brightly so the plants were giving off plenty of oxygen. There are also a number of sqeaks and buzzes I cannot yet identify. The hydrophone is made by the avid field recordist Jez riley French who spent a few weeks in the MoKS residency. I can reccomend these hydrophones for those who want to try out under water recordings and are on a budget (yes, this is a small but honest advertisement for Jez’s product which he sells to help fund concet events he organizes).

hydrophone recording of Mooste lake #2: download link