Hello recordists,
I'm currently in Brasil again, where I met some amazing people from a
rubber-tapper's settlement in Acre state (far NW of the country). The
location is extremely remote, requiring three day's voyage by canoe to
reach. During the 80's, their community fought off various groups intent
on large scale deforestation, so I believe that the forest there is
relatively intact. Together we thought of a project to document the
human and natural sounds of the area some time next year, and I'm hoping
to get some advice from Bernie and the others on this topic. The length
of time I would spend there would be approximately three weeks.
I'd be interested in people's advice on the following areas:
1) Equipment. I intent to get a Sounddevices 722 and hopefully some
reasonable mikes (Sennheiser, Schopps, Telinga etc etc) if at all
possible, but I'm still concerned about durability, especially in very
humid situations, and also battery life. The specs I was given about the
SD 722 led me to believe that I would need a LOT of backup batteries on
a trip like this, even if irregular access to a generator was possible.
What other factors do folks consider important in considering
equipment for such a long trip?
2) Methodology. I have many ideas about documenting the human activity
in the settlement, and also the natural life around. But do people have
schemes they would like to share about timed-interval recording, or
setting "acoustic traps" to record animals in an undisturbed state, etc
etc? How do people here find the balance between "scientific" and
"artistic" recording strategies?
An interesting anecdote--I played one of the people I met this sound
after we had a discussion about the different sounds at different times
of day:
http://soundtransit.nl/mp3/0326.Derek_Holzer.Monte_Alegre_Para.frogs_on_the=
_lago.mp3
I told him nothing about the sound except the location (state of Para),
and asked only that he tell me whether it was recorded in the morning,
midday, evening or night. He listened for some time, smiled and said
"nine o'clock in the evening". He was absolutely correct! He then went
on to tell me the local names for almost every animal present in the
recording, and gave me a very elaborate description of the water that he
imagined from the recording. I was truly amazed!
thanks and best from Sao Paulo!
derek
--
derek holzer
http://soundtransit.nl
http://umatic.nl
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