Insect sounds

February 23, 2005 9:39 PM

Insect sounds : "but have you heard a rice weevil larva eating inside a wheat kernel, a termite cutting a piece of wood, or a grub chewing on a root?"
posted by dhruva (10 comments total)

I originally misread this as "Incest sounds".

Hail Quonsar!
posted by davy at 10:26 PM on February 23, 2005

oh my god - what an amazing resource. thank you!

the caribbean fruit fly sounds a lot like muffled talking . . . and this sample could be a song with the some snips here and there.

Technicians Everett Foreman (left) and Cornelius Dunmore (right) holding an Acoustic Location Fingerprinting Insect Detector in the CMAVE anechoic chamber
posted by nyoki at 11:06 PM on February 23, 2005

Great link. When I was a teen my family spent a month on Black Bear Beach in the Ottawa Valley. Each of us had a tree stump as a chair around the campfire, and during the day while digesting Piers Anthony novels I would hear some sort of insect knocking in the tree stumps, spitting out little spirals of wood.

Now I have no choice but to try out all of those samples to see if one of them matches.
posted by furtive at 11:43 PM on February 23, 2005

Great link. Sounds that will work great in my poor Autechre imitations!
posted by swordfishtrombones at 11:50 PM on February 23, 2005

Furtive, if you happen to turn up the sound of a large insect digesting Piers Anthony, I'd be interested in hearing that.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:13 AM on February 24, 2005

HELLO! AND WELCOME! TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD... OF SOUND!!!

[/Palin]
posted by soyjoy at 7:18 AM on February 24, 2005

Every Sunday night we take turns creating a special romantic interlude. I was in charge last Sunday and we went pretend camping. Nice fire in the fireplace; tent made of out of chairs, rope and blankets; glow in the dark stars pasted on the ceiling; AND the genius touch: a background loop of night sounds. Unfortunately the only thing I could find was "night in the Florida everglades" which was a little heavy in the frog and panther department.

But now...

How does: "Jungle Explorers Trapped By Encroaching Fire Ants, Forced To Make Wild Abandoned Love For Last Time" sound?

This: Plodia interpunctella larvae in dry dog food is going to need some work though.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:46 AM on February 24, 2005

awesome.
It's great to close your eyes and picture what's happening.
Asian longhorned beetle passed out in front of TV nearly knocks over Cheetos bowl before accidentally disengaging phone. (there's a song title for ya, Swordfish - though not very Autechre-y).

Soil microphone! I've got to have one.

This site may have prolonged the micro-house/glitch sub-genres another 6 months to a year...

Gravy - sounds like fun...beats S&M, huh?
posted by hellbient at 9:01 AM on February 24, 2005

*swoon*

I just got engaged to a Med. fly.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:45 AM on February 24, 2005

His eyes are quickened so with grief,
He can watch a grass or leaf
Every instant grow; he can
Clearly through a flint wall see
Or watch a startled spirit flee
From the throat of a dead man.

Across two counties he can hear
And catch your words before you speak.
The woodlouse or the maggot's weak
Clamor rings in his sad ear
And noise so slight it would surpass
Credence--drinking sound of grass,
Worm-talk, clashing jaws of moth
Chumbling holes in cloth;
The groan of ants who undertake
Gigantic loads for honour's sake
(Their sinews creak, their breath comes thin);
Whir of spiders when they spin,
And minute whispering, mumbling sighs
Of idle grubs and flies.

This man is quickened so with grief,
He wanders god-like or like thief
Inside and out, below, above,
Without relief seeking lost love.

(Robert Graves, "Lost Love")
posted by kenko at 4:55 PM on February 24, 2005