When one thinks about brooks and streams in the springtime, one has a vision of a verdant and sunlit woodland scenery, where the birch trees are budding and the willow trees bent over the bubbling brooks echo with the buzz of bumble bees. The migratory birds have returned and now the woods, marshes, meadows and banks of the streams resound with bird song. The three natural soundscapes recorded here capture early spring mornings in the vicinity of brooks and streams bursting their banks with the freshly melted snow. I hope that this recording will be the first of many soundscapes, because the untapped treasure-trove of Mother Nature’s sounds has been only occasionally recorded and even more rarely published.
This CD-R recording is not a traditional CD; instead it is a data CD on which there are MP3 files (320 kbs, 24 bit, 48 khz) as well as in FLAC format (24 bit, 48 khz). The original field recordings were made as WAVE files (24 bit, 48 khz) which have a better sound quality than the traditional audio CD format. The MP3 album is 75 minutes 41 seconds long; the FLAC version is shorter – 37 minutes 52 seconds. WaveLab Pro 9.5 software was used in both editing and mastering of the recording. Most modern MP3 and FLAC codecs will reproduce faithfully the sound quality of the original recordings. This album is available in the original WAVE version: https://laurihallikainen.bandcamp. com/ Kuopio,
Kuopio, 23rd February 2019
Lauri Hallikainen
Producer, recording engineer
Track descriptions and background species
01 The songs of the European Robin and The Common Blackbird in the early hours of an April morning recorded next to springtime stream. MP3 (23'55"), FLAC (12'07"). 04.50 am on 23rd April 2018. Kuopio, Kaislastenlahti.
On this early spring morning as dawn breaks, we listen to the sounds emerging from the banks of a small
hidden brook in a woodland landscape of hills and dales. The brook in this wilderness is hard to see in the
gloom of the shadows cast by the dark green fir trees standing like statues in the snowy landscape. Winter
wren.
02 Early morning just before dawn by a stream in the meadow. MP3 (27'54"), FLAC (14'06"). 02.55 am on 27th April 2017. Kuopio, Riistakoski.
A forested hill rises behind a willow thicket growing at the edge of a snow-covered, expanse of marshland. In the depth of the forest, among spruces and pines, Siberian Tits have started their morning chores. A Siberian Jay nesting in the thicket of a forest, at the mire’s edge, is arriving and lets everyone know by his song that this is his home forest.
03 A springtime stream at daybreak, the melodies of The Song Thrush and the sounds of The Eurasian Woodcock in their courting rituals. MP3 (23'11"), FLAC
(11'39"). 4.10 am on 15th May 2014. Kuopio, Kaislastenlahti
A spring morning on the banks of a woodland stream. The sunbeams of the dawn have awoken the
honeybees which buzz around the budding pussy willows. Redwing.
Translated by Airi MacDonald and Ewen MacDonald 2007