Soundscape Chad Crouch (Field Sound)

Two days ago I was in Austin, TX sitting on a lounge chair looking up into the cloudy sky with my family, moments from totality. We made the trip south for my nephew’s wedding, and stayed in town for the big celestial show. So there we were, observing the moon inching its way—from our perspective—across the face of the sun. The cloud breaks actually enhanced the elongated experience of the partial eclipse phases. The wisps of vapor that floated in the atmosphere between the sun, moon, and us added yet another layer. Here is the scene leading up to totality in a time-lapse:
I had placed two audio recording devices within a couple hundred feet of our viewing spot. One captured a small crowd of 20-or-so people on nearby patio, and the ambient sound all around. Another was trained on the nearby lake and wooded area that played host to an active wildlife population.
The soundscape you are hearing is the blend of the two. I made an effort to keep them discernible: the wildlife signal is dominant in the left stereo channel and the crowd signal is dominant in the right channel. This plays out over 20 minutes with totality occurring at the midpoint (10:00).
Our view of totality was almost entirely obscured by passing low clouds. We got just a brief glimpse of the corona filtering through a small cloud break. Here is a clip of the moments just after totality:
Reflections
* The crowd audio gives a good play-by-play of the climatic surprises and upsets. The wildlife soundscape tracks the stages of the eclipse loosely.
* It is true that birds go quiet in a total eclipse, as do frogs, it seems. Here, an Eastern Phoebe is the last to catch on, and a Canada Goose is the first to break the silence. The goose is followed by tentative Northern Cardinals, White-winged Doves, Carolina Chickadees, crows, and cricket frogs.
* Unbeknownst to me, country music was introduced into to the wildlife soundscape by what I have to guess was the fisherman I observed in a kayak. This was an unwelcome surprise to me, but I find myself warming to it!
* My guess is if you asked anyone in the crowd if they noticed the train or airplane or motorcycle pass by, they wouldn’t be able to recall. As a recordist, hoping to get some special “tape”, I was all-too-aware of these incursions.
* It was impossible for me to conceal my disappointment in not getting a better view of totality, even though the other aspects of the experience (the swift transition to twilight, the dip in temperature, the change in the soundscape, the crescent shaped patterns in the shadows) remained enchanting. Listening back, I hear that I was not alone. Brief squeals of delight are interspersed by chagrined peals of nervous laughter.
* My wife gracefully maintains that the experience was perfect, and she was not the least bit disappointed. What does this say about me, that I was hoping for something more akin to what we witnessed in 2017? I still wonder.




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I like to pair my Soundscape programming with my Soundwalk episodes when I can, but a bum XLR cable and an unlucky site choice made my fixed Timothy Lake shore recording last fall a failure. This is common. Most field recordings that I make are unspectacular. That’s why I keep at it. Almost daily.
Another thing I like to do is share something recent. So here’s a recording I made last week in Pacific Beach, WA from the porch of a cottage my family had the pleasure of staying at. It’s a 87 minute dawn chorus audio bouquet of downspout drips, rain showers, frog choruses, Pacific Wrens, Song Sparrows, American Robins, Stellar’s Jays, and the distant Pacific Surf. It evolves pretty nicely, I think. Enjoy!
Recorded with a stereo pair of Rode NT1s in an ORTF array to a Tascam DR-100 mkIII.

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And we’re back on the Salmon River. I’m pleased to share this 100 min. (5 min. for free subscribers) soundscape field recording of a tranquil pool on September 16th, 2023. The recording is very serene and subtle. Birdsong is infrequent and offered at a murmur. A breeze rustling nearby foliage comes and goes. The distinctive feature is the sound of spawning salmon. Their splashes are unpredictable, coming in fits and spurts. The effect on the listener is somehow more relaxing for it. Also you’ll hear the tapping of a woodpecker, or possibly a chipmunk—the sound wasn’t as airborne as one would expect from a resonant snag.
This recording was made with a Tascam DR100 mark III recorder, using the onboard directional mics. I left it on the rocky river bank to record this scene while I embarked on my Old Salmon River Trail Soundwalk. While setting up the recorder, I did not see salmon in the pool, so it was a delightful surprise. I hope you enjoy it!

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As promised, here is the stationary field recording that I made on the same day I captured sound for the recent Frenchman’s Bar Soundwalk. It was March 5, 2023, a year ago to the date. The actual setup is subtly audible in the soundwalk recording.
This recording utilized my heaviest microphones: a pair of Rode NT-1s. These are the lowest self-noise mics on the market, so they yield a particularly transparent stereo image. They also have tradeoffs. As mentioned they are heavy and bulky, and they don’t tolerate humid, windy, or rainy conditions. To avoid the wind I had to place them close to the ground. Consequently, you hear more grass noises. Bet you didn’t know grass was so noisy!
A note about the name “Shillapoo”. Shillapoo Wildlife area, Vancouver Lowlands, Frenchman’s Bar, and Columbia Lowlands are all applicable geographic names for the auditory horizon of this recording. I chose Shillapoo, because it’s one that I haven’t used yet in a title, and I just like the name. The factoid-rich The Columbia River, A Photographic Journey had this to say about it:
Historians say that early pioneers adopted the Indian name for the lake. Early names for the lake were "Chalifoux Lake", "Shallapoo Lake", "Shillapoo Lake", and "Shallowpool Lake"
The shallow 1000 acre lake was drained in the 1950s for farming.
The variety of sound sources and reverberant acoustics makes for an intriguing listen, I think! Enjoy!

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I like the idea of sharing my recordings with a quick turnaround. This soundscape was recorded yesterday, capturing the Salmon River in the foothills of Mt. Hood near Brightwood, OR, at a place called Wildwood Recreation Site. The Salmon River has the distinction of being a wild and scenic river in Oregon, un-dammed from its mountain headwaters to the Pacific Ocean via the Sandy and Lower Columbia River.
Why did they name this 550 acre area Wildwood Recreation Site? I don’t know. A lot of places and businesses and even a friend’s book have been named Wildwood over the years. All I turned up was one laconic citation on Wikipedia: “Wildwood is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States.” Also, a 1990 guidebook lists a nearby tavern of the same name. As far as a community goes, it seems to have a tenuous claim to the name, outside of the BLM applying it to this “site”. Such a cold word, site.
Anyway, let’s discuss charismatic wildlife here. This recording features the American Dipper, a beautiful, uniformly grey bird with white eyelids and an unsurpassed skill in navigating river currents. Not long ago we called it a Water Ouzel.
It’s a bellwether of water quality, favoring only the coldest and clearest waters. Consequently, it is not a bird you are likely to see on developed waterways in valleys. Its song is complex and burbling. I was thrilled to capture it, and am happy to share it with you. Chances are fair we will return to Wildwood on a soundwalk!

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Happy Valentines Day! Soundscape is back with a special valentine dedication. This one goes out to my sweetheart. There is perhaps no better representative of devotion in the animal kingdom than that of the swan. They mate for life and look good doing it! (I happen to think they sound good too.) In our soundscape at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, recorded January 30, 2024, we hear two species. In the foreground is the call of the Trumpeter Swan. In the background is the Tundra Swan. The Trumpeter sounds like a brassy, oh-OH, while the Tundra sounds more like woo or oo-ou-oo. You’ll hear Canada Geese, Mallards, and even a Marsh Wren too.
Going forward, free subscribers will be able to listen to 5 min audio episodes. Paying subscribers will get the complete recordings, clocking in anywhere from 10-90 minutes! This one is about 15 minutes long. Enjoy!