River Estuary is a series of recordings centred around the River Deben estuary in Suffolk, an area famous for its natural beauty and wildlife. It is a treasure trove of sounds that capture the ambience of this serene environment, with a focus on the wading bird calls that give the estuary its unique sonic character.
The Deben starts its life in Debenham and ends at the fishing village of Felixstowe Ferry 54 kilometres away, passing through villages such as Ramsholt, Melton and the town of Woodbridge on the way. Over the course of a year, I made various trips along the stretch of the river to record the ambience and wading birds. I spent time living on a boat stationed in Woodbridge, with private access to the boatyard, allowing me to record over night. I was also granted permission to record on the privately owned Sutton Hoo side of the Deben, another of Suffolk’s areas of outstanding historical significance and beauty, equally full of life but further away from the rumbling traffic and human life coming from the town.
The library was mostly recorded in Woodbridge in the late winter of 2018, during the infamous “Beast From the East” cold snap. I continued the recordings up until late summer, making trips to other areas in between. It includes the sounds of curlews, oystercatchers, redshanks, geese, swans, ducks and various other wading bird calls, as well as general ambience recordings of the area at high tide and low tide and all hours of the day. The night calls that echo over the expanse of the river at low tide are particularly evocative.
The library was recorded entirely in 24bit/96k with a double Mid/Side rig consisting of Sennheiser MKH60/30 and 8040 mics, encoded to 5.1 Wav. A stereo option is also available at a lower price. As a bonus there is a collection of bird call spot FX taken from the recordings with noise reduction applied, for those who may need to add individual wading bird calls to their ambience.
