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Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Bird Songs of the Arctic-Along the Dempster Highway by John Neville
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fave it Instructional | Nature
88 tracks | 90 minutes
Released Aug 2007
on Neville Recording
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- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:28 Introduction BUY MP3 00:28 Introduction "GIFT MP3" 00:28 Introduction
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:39 Violet Green Swallow BUY MP3 00:39 Violet Green Swallow "GIFT MP3" 00:39 Violet Green Swallow
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:45 Yellow-rumped Warbler BUY MP3 00:45 Yellow-rumped Warbler "GIFT MP3" 00:45 Yellow-rumped Warbler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:37 Sharp-shinned Hawk BUY MP3 00:37 Sharp-shinned Hawk "GIFT MP3" 00:37 Sharp-shinned Hawk
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:49 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker BUY MP3 00:49 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker "GIFT MP3" 00:49 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:42 Northern Flicker BUY MP3 00:42 Northern Flicker "GIFT MP3" 00:42 Northern Flicker
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:00 Three-toed Woodpecker BUY MP3 01:00 Three-toed Woodpecker "GIFT MP3" 01:00 Three-toed Woodpecker
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:21 Great Horned Owl and Boreal Owl BUY MP3 01:21 Great Horned Owl and Boreal Owl "GIFT MP3" 01:21 Great Horned Owl and Boreal Owl
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:16 Red Squirrel BUY MP3 01:16 Red Squirrel "GIFT MP3" 01:16 Red Squirrel
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:47 Hermit Thrush BUY MP3 00:47 Hermit Thrush "GIFT MP3" 00:47 Hermit Thrush
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:05 Swainson's Thrush BUY MP3 01:05 Swainson's Thrush "GIFT MP3" 01:05 Swainson's Thrush
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:31 Townsend's Warbler BUY MP3 00:31 Townsend's Warbler "GIFT MP3" 00:31 Townsend's Warbler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:54 Ruby-crowned Kinglet BUY MP3 00:54 Ruby-crowned Kinglet "GIFT MP3" 00:54 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:36 Boreal Chickadee BUY MP3 00:36 Boreal Chickadee "GIFT MP3" 00:36 Boreal Chickadee
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:13 Gray Jay BUY MP3 01:13 Gray Jay "GIFT MP3" 01:13 Gray Jay
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:13 Merlin BUY MP3 01:13 Merlin "GIFT MP3" 01:13 Merlin
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:08 Fox Sparrow BUY MP3 01:08 Fox Sparrow "GIFT MP3" 01:08 Fox Sparrow
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:03 White-crowned Sparrow BUY MP3 01:03 White-crowned Sparrow "GIFT MP3" 01:03 White-crowned Sparrow
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:44 Willow Ptarmigan BUY MP3 00:44 Willow Ptarmigan "GIFT MP3" 00:44 Willow Ptarmigan
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:17 American Tree Sparrow BUY MP3 01:17 American Tree Sparrow "GIFT MP3" 01:17 American Tree Sparrow
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:19 Common Redpoll BUY MP3 01:19 Common Redpoll "GIFT MP3" 01:19 Common Redpoll
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:05 Mallard BUY MP3 01:05 Mallard "GIFT MP3" 01:05 Mallard
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:03 Lapland Longspur BUY MP3 01:03 Lapland Longspur "GIFT MP3" 01:03 Lapland Longspur
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:39 Surfbird BUY MP3 00:39 Surfbird "GIFT MP3" 00:39 Surfbird
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:38 Mew Gull BUY MP3 01:38 Mew Gull "GIFT MP3" 01:38 Mew Gull
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:39 Muskrat BUY MP3 00:39 Muskrat "GIFT MP3" 00:39 Muskrat
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:49 American Wigeon BUY MP3 00:49 American Wigeon "GIFT MP3" 00:49 American Wigeon
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:04 Upland Sandpiper BUY MP3 01:04 Upland Sandpiper "GIFT MP3" 01:04 Upland Sandpiper
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:44 Wilson's Snipe BUY MP3 00:44 Wilson's Snipe "GIFT MP3" 00:44 Wilson's Snipe
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:52 Red-necked Phalarope BUY MP3 00:52 Red-necked Phalarope "GIFT MP3" 00:52 Red-necked Phalarope
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:58 Lesser Yellowlegs BUY MP3 01:58 Lesser Yellowlegs "GIFT MP3" 01:58 Lesser Yellowlegs
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:58 Least Sandpiper BUY MP3 00:58 Least Sandpiper "GIFT MP3" 00:58 Least Sandpiper
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:35 Alder Flycatcher BUY MP3 00:35 Alder Flycatcher "GIFT MP3" 00:35 Alder Flycatcher
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:12 Savannah Sparrow BUY MP3 01:12 Savannah Sparrow "GIFT MP3" 01:12 Savannah Sparrow
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:33 Long-tailed Duck BUY MP3 01:33 Long-tailed Duck "GIFT MP3" 01:33 Long-tailed Duck
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:31 Common Loon BUY MP3 01:31 Common Loon "GIFT MP3" 01:31 Common Loon
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:50 Northern Shoveler BUY MP3 00:50 Northern Shoveler "GIFT MP3" 00:50 Northern Shoveler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:09 Semipalmated Plover BUY MP3 01:09 Semipalmated Plover "GIFT MP3" 01:09 Semipalmated Plover
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:23 Red-throated Loon BUY MP3 01:23 Red-throated Loon "GIFT MP3" 01:23 Red-throated Loon
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:55 American Dipper BUY MP3 00:55 American Dipper "GIFT MP3" 00:55 American Dipper
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:04 Green-winged Teal BUY MP3 01:04 Green-winged Teal "GIFT MP3" 01:04 Green-winged Teal
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:28 Common Raven BUY MP3 01:28 Common Raven "GIFT MP3" 01:28 Common Raven
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:59 Wilson's Warbler BUY MP3 00:59 Wilson's Warbler "GIFT MP3" 00:59 Wilson's Warbler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:58 Gray-cheeked Thrush BUY MP3 00:58 Gray-cheeked Thrush "GIFT MP3" 00:58 Gray-cheeked Thrush
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:43 Townsend Solitaire BUY MP3 00:43 Townsend Solitaire "GIFT MP3" 00:43 Townsend Solitaire
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:54 American Kestrel BUY MP3 00:54 American Kestrel "GIFT MP3" 00:54 American Kestrel
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:17 Gyrfalcon BUY MP3 01:17 Gyrfalcon "GIFT MP3" 01:17 Gyrfalcon
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:10 Western Wood-Pewee BUY MP3 01:10 Western Wood-Pewee "GIFT MP3" 01:10 Western Wood-Pewee
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:54 Peregrine Falcon BUY MP3 01:54 Peregrine Falcon "GIFT MP3" 01:54 Peregrine Falcon
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:27 Northern Waterthrush BUY MP3 01:27 Northern Waterthrush "GIFT MP3" 01:27 Northern Waterthrush
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:35 Great Gray Owl BUY MP3 00:35 Great Gray Owl "GIFT MP3" 00:35 Great Gray Owl
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:55 Varied Thrush BUY MP3 00:55 Varied Thrush "GIFT MP3" 00:55 Varied Thrush
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:18 Lincoln's Sparrow BUY MP3 01:18 Lincoln's Sparrow "GIFT MP3" 01:18 Lincoln's Sparrow
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:22 Horned Grebe BUY MP3 01:22 Horned Grebe "GIFT MP3" 01:22 Horned Grebe
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:53 Rough-legged Hawk BUY MP3 00:53 Rough-legged Hawk "GIFT MP3" 00:53 Rough-legged Hawk
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:54 Northern Goshawk BUY MP3 01:54 Northern Goshawk "GIFT MP3" 01:54 Northern Goshawk
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:51 Gray Wolves BUY MP3 00:51 Gray Wolves "GIFT MP3" 00:51 Gray Wolves
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:45 Rock Ptarmigan BUY MP3 00:45 Rock Ptarmigan "GIFT MP3" 00:45 Rock Ptarmigan
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:37 Short-eared Owl BUY MP3 00:37 Short-eared Owl "GIFT MP3" 00:37 Short-eared Owl
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:04 Northern Wheatear BUY MP3 01:04 Northern Wheatear "GIFT MP3" 01:04 Northern Wheatear
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:40 Horned Lark BUY MP3 00:40 Horned Lark "GIFT MP3" 00:40 Horned Lark
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:05 Long-tailed Jaeger BUY MP3 01:05 Long-tailed Jaeger "GIFT MP3" 01:05 Long-tailed Jaeger
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:12 Hawk Owl BUY MP3 01:12 Hawk Owl "GIFT MP3" 01:12 Hawk Owl
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 02:28 American Robin BUY MP3 02:28 American Robin "GIFT MP3" 02:28 American Robin
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:19 Sandhill Crane BUY MP3 01:19 Sandhill Crane "GIFT MP3" 01:19 Sandhill Crane
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 02:22 Blue-winged Teal BUY MP3 02:22 Blue-winged Teal "GIFT MP3" 02:22 Blue-winged Teal
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:45 Rusty Blackbird BUY MP3 00:45 Rusty Blackbird "GIFT MP3" 00:45 Rusty Blackbird
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:43 Bonaparte Gull BUY MP3 00:43 Bonaparte Gull "GIFT MP3" 00:43 Bonaparte Gull
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:03 Pacific Loon BUY MP3 01:03 Pacific Loon "GIFT MP3" 01:03 Pacific Loon
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:41 Arctic Tern BUY MP3 00:41 Arctic Tern "GIFT MP3" 00:41 Arctic Tern
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:50 Trumpeter Swan BUY MP3 00:50 Trumpeter Swan "GIFT MP3" 00:50 Trumpeter Swan
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:48 Beaver BUY MP3 00:48 Beaver "GIFT MP3" 00:48 Beaver
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:11 Sharp-tailed Grouse BUY MP3 01:11 Sharp-tailed Grouse "GIFT MP3" 01:11 Sharp-tailed Grouse
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:11 Orange-crowned Warbler BUY MP3 01:11 Orange-crowned Warbler "GIFT MP3" 01:11 Orange-crowned Warbler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:59 Chipping Sparrow BUY MP3 00:59 Chipping Sparrow "GIFT MP3" 00:59 Chipping Sparrow
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:36 Bohemian Waxwing BUY MP3 00:36 Bohemian Waxwing "GIFT MP3" 00:36 Bohemian Waxwing
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:01 Spotted Sandpiper BUY MP3 01:01 Spotted Sandpiper "GIFT MP3" 01:01 Spotted Sandpiper
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:04 Yellow Warbler BUY MP3 01:04 Yellow Warbler "GIFT MP3" 01:04 Yellow Warbler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:09 Blackpoll Warbler BUY MP3 01:09 Blackpoll Warbler "GIFT MP3" 01:09 Blackpoll Warbler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:05 Wood Frog BUY MP3 01:05 Wood Frog "GIFT MP3" 01:05 Wood Frog
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:46 Glaucous Gull BUY MP3 00:46 Glaucous Gull "GIFT MP3" 00:46 Glaucous Gull
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:49 Tundra Swan BUY MP3 00:49 Tundra Swan "GIFT MP3" 00:49 Tundra Swan
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:42 Greater White-fronted Geese BUY MP3 00:42 Greater White-fronted Geese "GIFT MP3" 00:42 Greater White-fronted Geese
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:36 Snow Geese BUY MP3 00:36 Snow Geese "GIFT MP3" 00:36 Snow Geese
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 01:03 Snow Bunting BUY MP3 01:03 Snow Bunting "GIFT MP3" 01:03 Snow Bunting
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:53 Snowy Owl BUY MP3 00:53 Snowy Owl "GIFT MP3" 00:53 Snowy Owl
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:39 Arctic Warbler BUY MP3 00:39 Arctic Warbler "GIFT MP3" 00:39 Arctic Warbler
- sample "DOWNLOAD" 00:26 Conclusion BUY MP3 00:26 Conclusion "GIFT MP3" 00:26 Conclusion
Awesome deal! When you buy this album for $8.88 you get 88 tracks for less than $0.10 each
Awesome deal! When you buy this album for $7.77 you get 88 tracks for less than $0.09 each
2CD's Beautifully crafted natural sounds of the birds, recorded in the Arctic along the Dempster Highway--Listen to some excerpts.
Bio / Background
Bird Songs of the Arctic-Along the Dempster Highway
A double CD album from John Neville
Reviewed by Gordon Edgar
So, It is May 2004, and the ‘Neville Recording’ team is on the road again, and heading north!
However, before I launch into this review, some background information would not go amiss.
History of Neville Recording
When John arrived in Canada in 1975 there were precious few recordings available for students of birdsong. He became interested in the subject and started nature recording in 1994 after attending a workshop at Cornell University.
John published his first title, ‘Birds of the Kootenays’ in the same year, and has never looked back. It is fair to say that he is now a record-label mogul!
The ‘Neville Recording’ team consists of John and Heather, plus Falco the dog. They are veterans of many campaigns in their self contained RV, dubbed the ‘Bird Mobile’.
↓ more ↓‘Bird Songs of the Arctic’ is their ninth title so we can assume that the team is fully trained and these legendary expeditions are slick, well-rehearsed operations.
Equipment
Fellow recordists will want to know that John uses a trusty directional Sennheiser 416 and a Telinga Pro-5 ‘parabolic’ microphone to a Marantz PMD 650 MiniDisc Recorder.
He recharges the MiniDisc batteries using an ’ inverter / charger’ to boost power from the mobile bunkhouse. Bio-acoustniks will appreciate that a MiniDisc is not as ‘power-hungry’ as a DAT recorder but it is good to be liberated from the electricity grid when working in faraway places.
Post production
Making the recordings is only part of the operation and John spends the rest of the year script writing and documenting his raw audio.
He is working with a new sound engineer named Traz Damji, so the next stage took place at Traz’s studio in Vancouver, recording and mixing in the narration. The audio was ‘twin-tracked’ and after editing, the master copy was sent to Toronto for ‘glass mastering’ and pressing. Then Heather selected the artwork for the front cover and insert tray. Job done! Mission accomplished and the goods are ready to fly off the shelves!
The Dempster Highway
The Dempster Highway is 734 kilometers of gravel road from Dawson City in the Yukon to Inuvik on the Mackenzie Delta and to remind readers, John penned an abridged version of his adventures for our Spring 2005 issue. Tellingly, he wrote that it was the most wonderful wilderness experience of his life.
John’s self-imposed target was 90 key species for a double CD set and in the event he managed to find 75 himself. Recordings of missing species were sought from guest recordists that included Catherine Thexton and Simon Elliott, both fellow WSRS members.
The tracks
This release is intended as a sound guide for identification and continues to use a successful formula: every track being introduced with a ‘voice-over’.
It goes without saying that all the audio is good quality and as readers will know, the Telinga Pro-5 microphone has a reflector and a good output, so all the samples are fully modulated.
The tracks are quite short, many lasting less than a minute. There are no long habitat recordings or bird ’concerts’, as continental Europeans call them. The longest continuous sequence at 2m 29s was an American Robin singing; it was pleasant listening and it had that all-important convincing background.-Well worth the time-slot!
I have quite a library of North American recordings so many of the subjects are familiar, old friends. Of course, there are marked affinities between the faunas of North America and Northern Europe and indeed many featured species are found in Eurasia, albeit with slightly different names.
Recording the sounds of nature is a specialty and the great outdoors is not a recording studio where the director can control the action. We all know that ideal recording conditions are elusive and there are plenty of difficult subjects to test us.
Running water comes with the territory as the Dempster runs alongside rivers, swollen during the annual thaw. That said, the balance between subject and flowing water is well handled and the tracks featuring the Savannah Sparrow, Northern Waterthrush, and Horned Grebe, had convincing backgrounds, to mention three.
Surely, the American Dipper must rank as a problematic subject, yet in Track 40 we hear a bird singing against the characteristic background of fast flowing water? A difficult subject, handled well! Now it is question time. Do both males and females of this species sing and are their outputs readily separable?
The road runs north through changing vegetation zones, so it is unsurprising that some of the featured subjects are on the edge of their range, quite literally. We learn that the most northerly known nesting site of the Great Grey Owl is at km 237 in the Northern Ogilvies and the most northerly lek of the Sharp-tailed Grouse is found at km 643 by the Rengleng River., Catherine Thexton supplied the sample on Track 29.
And, if you think John is fixated on birds, we have recordings of mammals including Wolf, Beaver, Muskrat and Red Squirrel. I don’t associate amphibians with the Arctic but I now know that the hardy Wood Frog breeds all the way to the Mackenzie Delta. Perhaps the world’s most northerly frog?
Other noteworthy tracks present local dialects of the American Tree Sparrow, Fox Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow and a Gray Jay giving a convincing Merlin imitation.
There are plenty of good raptor recordings, namely Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, American Kestrel, Gyrfalcon, Peregrine, Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus to Europeans) and Northern Goshawk.
There is a traditional Gyrfalcon nesting site in Windy Pass at km 158. The very name is a deterrent and presumably, conditions are often testing with an ambience like Cape Horn. Nevertheless, John has produced a clean and rare recording of the species and he rates this as one of the highlights.
I must comment on the Peregrine track that includes intimate calls at the nest, captured by a guest recordist, namely our very own Simon Elliott. Regular readers will have heard this sequence before in our 2004 competitions and in Sound Magazine 140.
I heard the mosquitoes whining in the Alder Flycatcher clip. I wonder if our hero dropped a few notches in the food chain!
There are numerous species of owl in the north and John recorded Great-horned Owl, Boreal Owl (Tengmalm’s), Great Gray Owl, Short-eared Owl, Hawk Owl, and Snowy Owl. Again, these are all found in northern Europe except the Great Horned Owl.
Of course, we cannt visit the far north without a stirring ‘night chorus’ from Common Loons on territory. John delivered the goods, and the audio on Track 36 is as wild and wonderful as ever. Irresistible sounds!
Conclusion
There are lots more treats, too numerous to mention here. John has not lost his form and this set is a worthy addition to the list of titles from Neville Recording. This latest release is the best yet, and the identification aspect will be useful to budding naturalists visiting the north. So there we have it. Why not listen to the album yourself?
Looking ahead
So, what will he do for an encore?
Evidently, John is not a man to rest on his laurels and I happen to know that the team headed for Europe in 2005. In fact, they toured my native Scotland, so I am naturally curious to hear the results. I tried recording there once, but it was an unequal contest; a case of Geophony upstaging Biophony!-Ed
Available from:
http://www.nevillerecording.com
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