My Life's Musical Journey... Araluen - The Idea
It was not long after completing 'The Changing Years' that I really felt the need to get outside. I had visited Araluen Park previously and remembered the ambiance and peace of the place. So I approached the Park's Council with a suggestion that I record the natural sounds heard within the park and blend those with my music. That proposition was accepted and I made arrangements to visit the park early one morning.
This was a new ball game for me. I only had basic equipment, but the birds sang for me, the frogs croaked and the streams were full of the sound of running water. This, despite my tripping over my leads and nearly falling off a bridge when I disturbed a couple of ducks lurking underneath.
Setting up under a tree, I pointed my microphone at the sky and waited. To my astonishment a bird started singing and went on for ten minutes! The same thing happened at the next tree. And down at the river and in fact everywhere I went.
I was well satisfied.
On returning home, I listened to the results and immediately thought that this was going to be harder that I first imagined. I was not about to compromise on the sound of the bird song, thinking that this little bundle of feathers and its' forbears had been performing this song since the dawn of creation. It was I who had to model my music around this tiny creatures' call.
It took me therefore about two hundred hours to put down the first track!
Another challenge was to capture the spirit of the surroundings, but when I was listening to the sounds of nature the inspiration was flowing, like the stream that I had recorded. It became somewhat confusing when all the birds in my garden joined in and the crickets responded to the sounds of the frogs. I had to sound proof the house with blankets.
