Dune Drones

Song of the Dunes

The phenomenon known as “singing” or “booming” sand is known to occur in only 35 locations around the world. Specific conditions such as heat, humidity, granular shape of the sand, and angle of incline have to be met for the sand to produce this low humming rumble as it cascades down the slip-face of these crescent shaped Barchan dunes. These extremely rare recordings were made under such conditions, at one of these special locations: the Eureka Dunes in California’s Death Valley National Park. Tucked far away off into the northwest end of the park, the Eureka Dunes are possibly the tallest dunes in North America at 3000ft.

The recordings in this library were made using an array of mics both above and below the surface of the vibrating sand. Contact mics and hydrophones were buried at spaced intervals to capture the avalanche of sand as it moved downhill. The main microphone used above ground is a Lewitt LCT540S which is known for its exceptionally low noise floor. These channels are presented in the library as separate tracks but could be combined to create dynamic texture and movement. All capture was done at 96kHz / 24bit.