Wild Recording Expeditions Around The World - With Field Recordist And Adventurer George Vlad (includes Free SFX!)

Wild field recording adventures with George Vlad

Posted February 24, 2021 by Asbjoern Andersen in Recording, SFX interview, Sound community highlights

Field recordist, adventurer and independent sound effects creator George Vlad travels the world to record some truly incredible natural soundscapes. Hear stories from his wild adventures capturing sounds of deserts, jungles - and even a live, roaring volcano - in this in-depth podcast interview. And, as a bonus, you get an exclusive collection of 9 premium ambiences from Mindful Audio, completely free too!

Featuring George Vlad. Interview by Jennifer Walden, hosted by Asbjoern Andersen & Christian Hagelskjaer

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In this episode:

0:00 Introduction and new independent sound effects
03:36 Wild field recording adventures – with George Vlad. Learn more about him on A Sound Effect here, and on his Mindful Audio website here.
56:32 Greetings from our friends in the Audio Podcast Alliance

Hear the episode below:

Sound effects libraries highlighted in this episode:

Nature & Countryside Ambiences African Desert Play Track 29+ sounds included, 227 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$220

African Desert is a collection of immersive stereo soundscapes recorded in the remotest parts of the Namib desert. It covers a variety of locations, from sand dunes and canyons to desert pavement and rocky outcrops. Subjects include sand movement recorded with hydrophones, soft to medium wind blowing over the surface of the dunes, and insects, birds and reptiles creating a sparse ambience full of minute detail.

The purpose of this collection is to portray the soundscape of the Namib desert in all its sparseness and beauty. Some of these recordings are not much more than very soft wind. A few of the included soundscapes feature sand being blown over the surface of dunes. There’s a variety of wildlife calls too, from insects like cicadas, crickets or flies to barking geckos and occasional birds. This is not a wildlife library though, as the focus is more on the lifeless beauty of this mostly barren landscape.

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Electricity Sound Effects Arcs and Sparks Play Track 2228 sounds included $149
Arcs and Sparks is an essential collection of electrical sounds including both longer sustained elements and one-shots, arcs and sparks if you will. The sounds in this library were created through the processing of non-electrical sources, going beyond the limitations of literal electricity. Along with the diverse, personality rich processed content, you’ll get all the raw recordings used in the design process. Use this raw source to create your own electricity designs and learn about the new techniques we discovered during our extensive sonic explorations in the creation of this library.
- 378 files
- 2,228 total sounds
- 96k/24bit
- 1117 raw source sounds
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Train Sound Effects Trains in Sri Lanka Play Track 27+ sounds included, 50 mins total $27

Trains in Sri Lanka gives you a collection of old Diesel Electric, Hybrid Train sounds. M6, S12, S13 are the Trains from which most of the sounds are from.
It contains idle engines, screeching breaks, train pass by sounds, and the sweet rhythmic sound of moving trains. Also, some unique station ambiance and PA sounds are included too.

The library was recorded with Zoom H5N and Rode NTG5.

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Mechanical Sound Effects Vintage Buttons, Switches & Mini-Mechanicals Play Track 1400+ sounds included $49.99

This immense sound-set has been meticulously recorded and curated to provide a vast array of creative sonic material.

This pack contains over 1400 sounds sourced from a variety of vintage gear from the 1970s and 80s, ranging from old analog sound equipment to obscure kitchen tools. This pack works great for Foley or just as sonic inspiration and would be ideal for use in games or movies.

Highlights include two different reel-to-reel tape recorders from the 1970s and an assortment of retro tools and implements. Included are a few bonus more modern sounds – just to complete the pack’s usability.

If you need to make gizmo or mechanical sounds then this library is for you.

It also contains a hefty amount of mechanical switches.

Gear Used: Neumann KMR 81i – Mic. Sound Devices – Recorder. Izotope RX7 – Processing.

Recorded at 24 Bit 96kHz.

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Explore the libraries from Mindful Audio below:

Newest libraries from Mindful Audio:

Environments & Ambiences African Desert Sahara Play Track 83+ sounds included, 486 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $220

African Desert: Sahara is a collection of stereo and quad soundscapes recorded in the barren but beautiful mountain range at the heart of the Sahara desert. This is the largest hot desert on Earth, incredibly difficult to access and explore. It’s a breathtaking place with a huge dynamic range, from dead silence to powerful winds. The soundscapes in this collection were recorded around giant rock formations, rocky outcrops, canyons and sand dune expanses.

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Environments & Ambiences Atacama Desert Play Track 40 sounds included, 246 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $220

Atacama Desert is a collection of stereo and quad soundscapes recorded in the barren but amazingly beautiful desert plateau of Western Chile. This is the most arid desert on Earth, with some weather stations here having never recorded any rain. It’s a breathtaking place with incredible silence and powerful winds. The soundscapes in this collection were recorded around giant rock pillars, endless rock plains and fields of sparse dry vegetation.

This library is the perfect way to portray the barren expanse of the Atacama desert. Some of the soundscapes recorded are the lightest of desert airs. The others feature wind, from light and soft to heavy and gusty. Lastly, some of the recordings also include flies buzzing around.

This library was recorded in several locations on the border between Chile, Argentina and Bolivia . Reaching this part of the world was no easy task, as you can see in the second part of the teaser video.

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Wild Animals Sound Effects Whale Song Play Track 17+ sounds included, 108 mins total $250

Whale Song is a collection of underwater recordings of humpback whales singing and calling in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Madagascar. These soundscapes were recorded in pseudo-stereo with two hydrophones and also include the sounds of corals, fish, shrimp and water movement.

Humpback whales migrate to this part of the Indian Ocean every year to mate and give birth. Their fascinating songs and calls can be heard underwater from tens of miles away, however reaching this part of the world can prove quite challenging as seen in the second part of the teaser.

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Nature & Countryside Ambiences Arabian Desert Play Track 67+ sounds included, 416 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $220

Arabian Desert is a collection of stereo and quad soundscapes recorded on the Arabian Peninsula in the Empty Quarter, the largest expanse of sand dunes on Earth. The recordings range from soft to medium and gusty/blustery wind, with variations including sand spray, vegetation movement and insects.

This collection of recordings will help portray the vast expanse of the Empty Quarter. Many of these soundscapes are not much more than soft wind. There’s also gusty and blustery wind, recorded with microphones at the top of dunes and underneath the sand surface. Wildlife is incredibly sparse in the Empty Quarter and is represented in this library by buzzing flies and other insects.

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Best-selling libraries from Mindful Audio:

Environments & Ambiences Woodland Atmosphere Play Track 58+ sounds included, 309 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$125

Woodland Atmosphere is a collection of clean and immersive natural ambiences recorded in forests around Europe by George Vlad. The library is updated with new content on a regular basis, all free for existing users.

Get more than 5 hours of pristine nature recordings and birdsong with this SFX library:

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Featured Sound Creators Elements: Gears Play Track 212+ sounds included, 205 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$125

Elements: Gears is a collection of small and large gear, ratchet, cogwheel and other mechanical sounds recorded and edited over more than 2 years by George Vlad. The library encompasses more than 4000 individual sounds covering actions such as single clicks, slow movement, fast movement, short turns etc. The objects recorded include ratchet tools, plastic toys, old sewing machines, wagon wheels and ethnic noise making instruments. Some of the larger objects have been recorded using MKH 8040, DPA 4060 and a JrF contact microphone with each perspective included on a separate track.

Elements: Gears 1.1 Update adds more large gear sounds! Check out the accompanying spreadsheet.

The sounds can be used for obvious purposes such as ratchet wrenches, cogwheels, drawbridges, steampunk mechanisms, machinery etc.. As is the case with other libraries in the Elements series, these sounds can also be used as building blocks for more complex sounds such as spaceships, vehicles, industrial machinery and others. Additionally, all files are recorded and mastered at 24/96 quality which makes them excellent sound design elements ripe for serious processing.

Elements: Gears at a glance:

• 212 .wav files; more than 4000 sounds in total
• recorded and presented as 24 bit/96 kHz mono files
• 3 hours and 55 minutes total length
• 3.83 GB uncompressed size – 3.11 GB zip archive
• recorded on Sound Devices 633 with Sennheiser MKH-8040, DPA 4060 and JrF microphones
• comprehensive metadata compatible with Basehead and Soundminer

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Nature & Countryside Ambiences Eerie Forest Play Track 30+ sounds included, 154 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $140

Eerie Forest is a collection of subtle ambiences recorded at night in dense forests in the regions of Transylvania and Moldova, Romania over two trips in Spring and Autumn 2017. The library features soft wind, distant hum, vegetation rustles, dogs barking at various distances, church bells tolling, a variety of owl species and other birds like ravens and woodcocks. All these elements are not foreground, but rather washed-out, echoey and atmospheric.

Eerie Forest is not suitable for foreground sound elements as the recordings are very soft and subtle. Make sure you check out the demos before you purchase.

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Aircraft - Jet/Propeller Plane Sound Effects WW2 Aircraft Play Track 59 sounds included, 96 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$150

WW2 Aircraft is a collection of recordings of rare World War 2 aircraft. It features icons such as the Supermarine Spitfire, Bucker Bu-131 Jungmann, North American P-51 Mustang, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, Grumman F8F Bearcat and others. The library consists of 59 recordings ranging from 13 seconds to over 10 minutes in length. The sounds have been recorded with the Sennheiser MKH416, MKH8040 and the Sony PCM D100.

The library covers exterior flybys from slow to very fast, aircraft taxiing by, engines starting up, idling, revving, stopping and a few takeoffs. It also includes an on-board recording of a Bucker Bu-131 biplane as it starts up, taxies, takes off, flies, lands and then stops. The planes have been recorded at a variety of distances, from close to relatively far away. As an added bonus, one of the P-51 Mustangs recorded had had its guns removed, which caused an awesome whistling sound every time it swooped down at a certain angle.

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Nature & Countryside Ambiences Amazon Jungle Play Track 49 sounds included, 357 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $220

Amazon Jungle is a collection of unique ambiences recorded in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. The library was recorded during the rainy season when birds are vocal and humidity is at its highest. These recordings feature species such as the Screaming Piha, Toucans, Howler Monkeys, Trogons, Tinamous, Owls, very vocal Bamboo Rats and a multitude of insects and frogs.

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Nature & Countryside Ambiences African Jungle Play Track 80+ sounds included, 460 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $220

African Jungle is a huge collection of unique ambiences recorded in Central Africa’s Congo Basin rainforests. To my knowledge, these are the first surround field recordings made in this area. Last year I spent a whole month off the grid, listening to and recording a variety of habitats at all times of day and night, at the height of the rainy season when birds are most vocal. It took me many days of travel to get to these places, from using trains, boats, cars and planes to hiking on foot in the jungle.

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Nature & Countryside Ambiences Arabian Desert Play Track 67+ sounds included, 416 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $220

Arabian Desert is a collection of stereo and quad soundscapes recorded on the Arabian Peninsula in the Empty Quarter, the largest expanse of sand dunes on Earth. The recordings range from soft to medium and gusty/blustery wind, with variations including sand spray, vegetation movement and insects.

This collection of recordings will help portray the vast expanse of the Empty Quarter. Many of these soundscapes are not much more than soft wind. There’s also gusty and blustery wind, recorded with microphones at the top of dunes and underneath the sand surface. Wildlife is incredibly sparse in the Empty Quarter and is represented in this library by buzzing flies and other insects.

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World Sounds Human Africa Play Track 46+ sounds included, 260 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
From: $150

Human Africa is a collection of authentic ambiences recorded in rural and urban locations across various countries in Africa.

The library covers a wide range of settings, from urban idyllic countryside ambiences and conversations in various languages to traffic and skyline soundscapes. Each file is carefully meta-tagged with location, time of day and language (if present) information.

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Browse the full Mindful Audio catalog here

Exclusive gift: Instantly download 9 premium ambiences from Mindful Audio:

To give you a taste of what Mindful Audio has to offer, here’s an exclusive collection of 9 premium ambiences from Mindful Audio, completely free:
Download the free sounds here
One wish from us: Please remember to share a link to this page, so others can discover what Mindful Audio has to offer, and get free sounds too. Thanks in advance!

More about George Vlad and Mindful Audio:

Featured Sound Creator: Mindful Audio
Learn more about Mindful Audio, a Featured Sound Creator here on A Sound Effect:

Learn more here

Preparing for a successful field recording trip
Make the most of your field recording trip with these excellent planning tips from recordist George Vlad:

Read the story here

The Senegal sound recording expedition – with George Vlad:
Sound recordist George Vlad shares the stories behind an incredible recording expedition to Senegal:

Read the story here

Capturing the fascinating sounds of Africa

George Vlad and Daan Hendriks tell the intriguing stories behind their many African recording adventures:

Read the story here

How To Find The Best Handheld Recorder
A good handheld recorder is an essential addition to any audio professional’s toolkit – but finding the right one is tricky. Get a much-needed overview here:

Read the story here

Recording Atmospheric Nature Sounds in Scotland
Get the story behind Woodland Atmosphere, a new SFX library that captures the atmospheric sounds of Scotland’s nature:

Read the story here

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THE WORLD’S EASIEST WAY TO GET INDEPENDENT SOUND EFFECTS:

A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement - a few highlights:

Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Four Elements Play Track 3050 sounds included, 251 mins total $112.49
Master the Art of Bending the Elemental Forces

Unleash the raw power of fire, water, earth, and air with this comprehensive 9 GB sound library featuring 3050 high-quality sound effects across 630 files. Whether you’re designing cinematic soundscapes or enhancing video games Four Elements delivers the tools you need to harness the energy of the natural world.

Construction Kit – 2443 Sounds

A treasure trove of raw, organic, and processed sounds including seamless loops divided into Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Explosion categories. Customize every detail with an extensive selection of sound components.
- Organic Fire: Campfire sizzles, torch whooshes, and flame bursts.
- Processed Fire: Distorted impacts and unique crackles.
- Organic Earth: Rock crashes, gravel scrapes, and heavy stone hits.
- Processed Earth: Stylized rumbles and granular textures.
- Organic Water: Ocean waves, hydrophone bubbles, and fluid splashes.
- Processed Water: Underwater whooshes and stylized liquid smashes.
- Organic Air: Bamboo swishes, cloth movements, and pressure bursts.
- Processed Air: Filtered gusts and dynamic noise sweeps.
- Explosion: Firework detonations, Butane bursts, and cinematic impacts.
Building Blocks – 416 Sounds

Game-ready sound layers featuring Impacts, Whooshes, and Textures as seamless loops. Elevate transitions and enhance atmospheres with loops and pre-designed sound layers.
- Fire: Explosive bursts, blazing infernos, and warm embers.
- Earth: Ground-shaking impacts, crumbling terrain, and heavy collisions.
- Water: Cascading waves, serene rivers, and underwater ambiences.
- Air: Whispering breezes, stormy turbulence, and slicing gusts.
Design Kit – 192 Sounds

A collection of ready-to-use sound effects divided into Attack, Bend, and Explosion categories for quick integration into your projects. Perfect for high-energy scenes and immersive storytelling.
- Fire: Crackling flames, fiery bursts, and roaring infernos.
- Earth: Crushing impacts, shifting ground, and massive land eruptions.
- Water: Splashes, fluid manipulations, and crashing tidal waves.
- Air: Slicing winds, swirling currents, and thunderous gusts.
Four Elements gives you complete creative control, blending organic recordings with processed sound layers to meet the demands of any project. Master the forces of nature with Four Elements. Let your creativity ignite.

Keywords:

Elements, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Wave, Water, Liquid, Rock, Cast, Stone, Pebble, Torch, Gas, Flame, Campfire, Sizzle, Burst, Scrape, Whoosh, Impact, Texture, Attack, Bend, Bending, Explosion, Processed, Surge, Quake, Hit, Flow, Burn, Ignite, Drop, Smack, Destruction, Rumble, Hiss, Blow, Wind, Cloth, Movement, Underwater, Bubble, Ocean, River, Lake, Firework, Firecracker, Bang, Blast, Detonation, Magic, Fantasy, Forces, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Air, Fire Effect, Fire Whoosh, Water Whoosh, Seamless Loop, Loop, Fire Cast, Water Cast, Earth Cast, Air Cast
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Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Spells Variations Vol 1 Play Track 361 sounds included $16

Charge up on magical energy with our Spells Variations Vol 1 sound library! We’ve designed this collection to give you a wide range of magical effects, allowing your project to shine with an extraordinary variety of sounds. With 361 fully categorized and carefully named magic sounds, you’ll have everything you need to create an immersive and magical atmosphere.

Explore categories such as arcane magic, water magic, electric magic, zaps, whooshes, celestial magic, dark magic, summons, and much more. Each effect has been meticulously recorded,edited and distributed at 192 kHz and 24-bit, ensuring exceptional sound quality. Whether you’re a professional sound designer or just looking for magic effects to drag and drop into your projects, you’ll find what you need here.

Our files have been named to reflect the essence of each magic, making it easy to intuitively find the perfect sounds for your creation.

More about the pack
– Intuitive file naming
– All you’ll ever need regarding magical elemental sounds [Use them again & again
Use the sound effects over and over, in any of your projects or productions, forever without any additional fees or royalties. Use the SFX in your game, in your trailer, in a Kickstarter campaign, wherever you need to, as much as you want to.
– Totally mono compatibility
– All sounds have several variations.
– Use your imagination and feel free to use any sound for a creature other than the one described, remember that the world of sound is totally subjective.
– For any questions or problems: khronstudio@gmail.com

Features
– 361 spell sounds
– Number of Audio Waves: 361
– Format: 192KHz / 24 bits
– Do Sound FX loop yes
– Minutes of audio provided: 12 minutes and 31 seconds

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Bundles Sci-Fi Interface Bundle Play Track 1844 sounds included, 723 mins total
Rated 5.00 out of 5
$50
Design the futuristic user interface of your electric dreams with this feature complete bundle of next-gen, forward thinking science-fiction sounds.

Inside Sci-Fi Interface Bundle you’ll find original frequency modulated content coming from a wide array of sources like complex modular synth squelches, simple sinusoidal beeps and bleeps from hardware, complex software patches generating both futuristic and retro sounds, electromagnetic recordings from a multitude of home appliances, long evolving takes of digital machine hums and other experimental soundscapes, synthetic drones, odd clanging rhythms and this is just scratching the surface.

The bulk of this library is comprised of thousands of micro one-shot sound effects, all edited, mixed, cleaned up and ready to be dropped onto any science-fiction based project. Given the variety and cheer number of sounds present, you can create completely new and original content by layering and mashing these high resolution files with one another, mangle and destroy them with samplers, use complex effects chains to remodel something slick and clean onto industrial noises and make use of the Atmospheres folder and its long evolving files to generate background ambiences and computerized beeping. Your imagination is the limit.

With over 18GB of content spread through 723 minutes, you’re guaranteed to find the perfect futuristic sound effect for your UI/UX projects.

Sci-Fi Interface Bundle contains:
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Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:

Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects DEEP TOCK Play Track 415+ sounds included $49

Unleash your creativity with out-of-the-box loops and tones.

HorrorSound’s Deep Tock is a unique collection combining two sample packs in one, offering a dynamic selection of stylized clock loops and signature sonic elements.

Signature Sounds

The Signature section boasts 145 modern horror abstracts and unsettling tones. These tormented and unique bleeps perfectly punctuate modern horror trailers and scores.

Featuring: Twisted Vocals, Signals, Alarms, Bursts, Processed Toy Piano and Glissato Strings.

Clock Loops

The clock loops are organized into 8 folders, featuring over 270 tempo-synced loops from 60 to 140 BPM. Spanning classic to experimental, you’ll find everything from ticking mechanisms to haunting chimes and plucks. These incredibly realistic and pristine loops are ready for action horror trailers and suspense underscores.

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Door Sound Effects Doors: Willerby Granada XL Static Caravan Play Track 169+ sounds included $20

This sound library boasts a comprehensive collection of door sound recordings taken around a Willerby Granada XL two-bedroomed static caravan on a quiet resort in Cenarth, Wales.

As well as interior and exterior door sounds, this library also features sounds of furniture and cabinet doors.

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Car Sound Effects Jaguar F Type SVR Play Track 56 sounds included $80

Jaguar F Type SVR

Probably the most extreme sounding Jaguar you could buy as of 2025, and since the future of company is electric – probably most extreme exhaust sound on any Jaguar ever.

This SVR version has a supercharged 5-litre V8 engine with 567bhp.

Exhaust is titanium, vs stainless steel on F Type R version, meaning a different and more agressive/much louder sound.

The library consists of vehicle track day recordings with 2 exhaust mic configurations (different runs different rigs) – Shure SM58 dynamic mic and DPA 4062 rig and engine mic array capturing various engine sound perspectives.

External recordings were made with Sennheiser 8060 shotgun mic.

Library consists of startups, revs, onboards and variety of passbys.

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Nature & Countryside Ambiences East European Meadows & Hedgerows Play Track 20+ sounds included, 99 mins total From: $79.99
This premium collection of sound effects was recorded over 3 years in the foothills and lowlands around the Southern Carpathian Mountains in Romania. This is the sound of the eastern and southeastern European countryside – meadows and hedgerows thrumming with the sound of insects and birds.

Recorded in a spatially-open, exciting and realistic-sounding quad-surround NOS-based format*, these are ultra-low-noise recordings of cinematic quality. They are fully ‘rotatable’ for next-level sound editing options or alternative perspectives. Also available in stereo version.
Key Features

20 wildlife-rich atmospheres

detailed Soundminer and BWAV metadata including species lists

available in quad (4.0) or stereo (2.0)

ultra low-noise

fully rotatable surround format for alternate perspectives (4.0 version only)
Featured Habitats

Lowland rural meadows, scrub edges and hedgerows.

Wildlife Vocalisations

Some of the many birds to be heard include turtle dove, golden oriole, blackcap, buzzard, jay and great-spotted woodpecker. The birds have a range which extends across southeastern Europe.

CLICK FOR FULL FILE LIST

Technical

Sennheiser MKH8040 based 4.0 microphone setup recorded into Sonosax SX-R4+
Recording Characteristics

Ultra-low-noise

Carefully mastered to remove any unwanted artefacts whilst preserving low-frequency energy

Spatially balanced to ensure a coherent and immersive image appropriate to the recording.

Continuous, unedited and uninterrupted, preserving the natural rhythms of the biophony.
All sounds recorded by Nicholas Allan, a Jackson Hole and BAFTA-nominated sound designer who, along with his team, has created the natural soundtracks for countless natural history TV documentaries and feature films for National Geographic, BBC, Discovery, Animal Planet, Netflix and others.

Special thanks to: Christoph Promberger, Andrew Wilson and Jolanta Brdej-Allan.

CLICK FOR FULL FILE LIST

* tracks 19 and 20 are recorded in double mid/side
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Ambisonic Sound Effects Ambisonic Roomtones and Ambiences Play Track 54+ sounds included, 206 mins total $23

Roomtones and ambiences recorded in ambisonic B-format (ambix) and binaural.
Including some actions like elevator in use, door open-close etc.
Recorded with Sennheiser Ambeo VR microphone and Sound Devices recorder. See the track list for additional info.

B-format (RAW-4ch.) and Binaural files. Audio preview is in Binaural (best with headphones). Metadata tagged.

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