Hereby, an August nature video update. This time from a green spot with wild flowers and high grass around Brøndbyskoven, Copenhagen, August 3, 2019, 1 pm.
Weather: Classic summer, 25C, sunny calm.
(Watch with headphones for best experience)
I think, we have had a good diverse summer this year with alternating warm/dry and more rainy periods. This is just perfect, and I believe the plants and insects have had a good season.
This is what you can find at a simple green spot, next to the motorway:
Hereby a July nature update, with an audio-video trip through the high summer grass and bush vegetation around Brøndbyskoven, Copenhagen, July 18, 2019, 5:20 pm.
Weather: Typical summer, 23C, sunny sky and a bit of wind from west.
In terms of video technique, I find that these moving scenes in grass lands and bush lands, with lots of fine details are quite challenging to capture on digital video. All the moving details stresses the video compression, and especially after uploading to Youtube, the footage is showing lots of odd looking digital smearing and artifacts.
Hereby, an audio-video update from Brøndbyskoven, June 22, 2019. I have been following this area since early spring through several posts March 24th , April 7th, April 28th . Still, this time around Midsummer, the forest stands more shady and dimmed than ever. It’s a remarkable transformation.
The video is recorded 9.15pm, about 40 minutes before sunset. Watch with headphones for a realistic ambient sound experience.
Temperature 18C, clear sky, calm.
Audio and video is recorded using my usual setup. In the darker conditions, the video quality has turned quite a bit more soft, probably both due to the longer shutter speed and a high ISO noise reduction.
All night audio-field recording in Vestskoven, May 31-June 1 2019. It’s prime time of spring. During May we have had good precipitation and warmth. Everything is now growing, and insects are plentiful and active. The birdsong is also close to its maximum these days.
It turned out to be a night without much happening nearby the recorder. A single (semi distant) nightingale sang without a break throughout the night, only accompanied with an occasional Woodcock. Around 3:30am the birdsong slowly faded in, in a homogeneous manner, making it difficult to identify the individual bird species. But the choir seemed to be mainly composed of thrushes and tree warblers.
Nice and calm weather, 14C, moist, in the morning light breezes from SW.
Listen in headphones.
Recording starts 2:30 am and ends at 5:00. Transcription of the clip:
0:00 Nightingale, woodcock.
0:11 More woodcock
0:23 Fox barking faint
0:34 Reed warbler
0:42 Loud motorbike
0:52 Tawny owl
0:57 Fox and woodcock
0:58 Bird song fades in, woodcock
1:08 More nearby thrusts joins the choir
1:35 Peaking birdsong
1:59 Fox barking and a bit of wind
2:11 Cuckoo
2:16 Some animal approaching from the right!
2:30 More windy, black cap, cuckoo, nightingale
This time, I have tried to capture a video from the trip, to better document the place and surroundings of the audio recording (and also to give insight into the life of a nature recordist). Hereby, hopefully help the inner imagination when listening to the sounds of the night.
Early morning Audio-Video report from the forest, Brøndbyskoven, Copenhagen, 11th May 2019.
May is upon us and spring is in full flourish. A chill morning 4C. The bird song is pretty decent, but I think I need to be up much earlier to catch the real morning chorus. Unfortunately the nearby motorway is quite loud, even here at 5 am in the morning.
Listen in headphones for full experience.
Equipment used: Customized setup with Sony fdr-x3000 action cam, Zhiyun Smooth Q gimbal and external audio recording using my Tree-ears microphones. Video settings: WB 7000K, EV -0.7 to -1.3, AVC 25fps, 50mpbs. Wide angle, active stabilization. Vivid colors. No post processing of video footage, except trimming, combining and audio dubbing (in Avidemux).
Audio video report from Brøndbyskoven 28th April 2019.
The forest is now rapidly turning green. It is impressive how fast the new leafs are growing and unfolding. The photosynthesis and cell multiplications must really be going. The bright green color and distinctive smell of the fresh leafs give the forest a delicate and unique feeling which only lasts quite short.
The video starts at 10:30 am. Use headphones for best experience.
The video is again recorded with my new combined video and audio field recording rig. As an experiment i have tried to use a higher frame rate, 50 fps instead of typical 25 fps, to see if it improves the video reproduction of the walk through the forest. I think it looks good, but the high amount of moving details really puts pressure on the video compression.
Equipment used: Customized setup with Sony fdr-x3000 action cam, Zhiyun Smooth Q gimbal and external audio recording using my Tree-ears microphones. Video settings: WB 6800K, EV -0.3 to -0.7, mp4 50fps, 25mpbs. Wide angle, active stabilization. Vivid colors. No post processing of video footage, except trimming, combining and audio dubbing (in Avidemux).
This is an audio-video nature report (Slow-TV) from early spring in Dyrehaven north of Copenhagen 15th April 2019.
Use headphones for best experience.
Since the first half of March, which was record breaking wet, we have entered a dry and sunny period, and not a single drop of rain has fallen since then. It is getting really dry now. This weather appears similar to last years record breaking sunny drought in May and June, caused by some stable high pressure and blockage of the jet stream over Scandinavia. It sure feels like nice weather, but I really prefer the normal unsettled weather type with a mix of passing rain, clouds and sunshine. I hope not this is going to be the usual weather type in spring.
In this audio-video recording I am exploring the sounds and atmosphere of the forest in the fading light, Brøndbyskoven (Copenhagen), 7th April 2019.
The video starts 20:10 around sunset and I ramble around until it gets quite dark. It is early spring, and the forest is still open and overall leafless. 13C.
Slow-TV without much action. Listen in headphones for full experience.
Equipment used:
Customized setup with Sony frd-x3000 action cam on the Zhiyun Smooth Q gimbal and external audio recording using my Tree-ears microphones.
Video settings: WB 7100K, EV -1.0 to -1.3, mp4 17mpbs. Vivid colors (after 25 minutes switched to Neutral). No post processing of video footage, except trimming, combining and audio dubbing (in Avidemux).
In this no-talk video walk I am exploring early signs of spring by Vestvolden/ Brøndbyskoven, Copenhagen, 3rd April 2019. Things are now quickly starting to grow and colors are beginning to pop out.
Vestvolden is the old fortification complex west of Copenhagen. It holds today quite interesting nature with the water canal, hilly terrain, diverse trees and bush vegetation. A downside in terms of sound recording is however the O3 motorway which lies just next door and follows the fortification all the way round.
Warning: Slow-TV. Absolutely no action or drama to be expected in this video 😉
I am still testing my new audio-video setup. In terms of audio quality, the recording is unfortunately suffering from some Wi-fi EMF noise from my mobile phone, which I am using as a view finder for the camera. I will need to try shielding the mikes somehow for the next recording.
12C, video starts at 18:50. Equipment: Customized setup with Sony fdr-x3000 action cam, on Smooth Q gimbal and external audio recording using tree-ears microphones. Settings: WB 7000K, EV -0.3 to -1.0, mp4 17mpbs. No post processing of video footage only audio dubbing.
