The Western Soundscape Archive
December 14, 2011 5:47 AM   Subscribe

"The Western Soundscape Archive [...] features audio recordings of animals and environments throughout the western United States." "The project's geographic focus includes eleven contiguous western states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming - as well as baseline sound monitoring in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska."

"Types of Recordings
The WSA typically features three types of recordings: those of individual species, ambient soundscapes and interviews.

Individual "species cuts" are often relatively short recordings that are commonly used for species identification and call analysis. In most cases, the WSA focuses on terrestrial vertebrates, including amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles.

Ambient recordings, or "soundscapes" are usually longer recordings - up to an hour or more - that feature all of an area's sonic components together in concert. The National Park Service defines soundscape as "the total acoustic environment of an area."

Interviews with scientists and other experts are included to give added context to the sounds, and will occasionally be heard on radio broadcasts and podcasts."
posted by OmieWise (4 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wow, this is awesome. I can't wait to give some of these a listen.

If I recall correctly, in the book "The Soundscape," R Murray Schafer talks about how we keep records of a lot of different sensory experiences but rarely the total soundscape - repositories like this are a great resource.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 7:56 AM on December 14, 2011


Awesome, thanks.
posted by Theta States at 10:06 AM on December 14, 2011


If any of this ends up on a downloadable mix, I'd appreciate a heads up.
posted by OmieWise at 11:06 AM on December 14, 2011


Deal. :)
posted by Theta States at 12:40 PM on December 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


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