Jungle sounds - fascinating birdsong in the Congo rainforest

This is a field recording I made in a village in Central Gabon on my expedition to the Congo basin rainforest. We stopped to buy fruit from a village and it sounded so good that we decided to spend the night with a very welcoming local family.
After a 5 minute walk away from the main road we found this gorgeous wild banana grove where a myriad birds were singing. This soundscape was captured there the next morning with a field recording rig that I set up at 3 am and left recording until midday. Read the expedition report here: mindful-audio.com/blog/2019/8...
Technical details: Sony PCM M10, Sound Devices Mixpre-D and DPA 4060 microphones. Enjoying these videos? Feel free to support me by:
- becoming a patron: / georgevlad
- buying my sound effects libraries: mindful-audio.com/sound-effec...
- buying me a coffee: ko-fi.com/georgevlad
- buying my soundscape albums: wildaesthesia.bandcamp.com
#fieldrecording #naturesounds

[@GeorgeVlad]

The soundscapes I recorded on the Congo expedition are available for purchase:
For commercial use check out this sound effects library: mindful-audio.com/african-jungle/
Check out my Bandcamp albums if you just want to buy the recordings so you can listen to them: wildaesthesia.bandcamp.com/

[@Aethuviel]

I had sounds from Borneo on and my (Congo) African grey loved it. I thought to put this on and she got very quiet. XD

[@Blue_Lugia]

I started to look for different clips with nature sounds, especially from Africa and I found some that I liked.
I have them on my "Watch later" list now and I just realized that major of the videos was uploaded by you. 😅😅
Very well done with these videos! You have so many great ones! 😊

[@GeorgeVlad]

Thank you for listening, great to hear that!

[@mutangyurud3745]

George, wonderful recordings. I listened to your gibbons recording while I work, refreshing my thought process.
I want to point out that the image you have for this Congo bird sound is from the forest of Borneo. the bird is a Crimson eastern sunbird (we call ngaé') and the bush is bracken fern (Dicranopteris linearis) (we call namam).

[@GeorgeVlad]

Thanks very much for the kind words. I can confirm that I took this image myself in Eastern Gabon so it cannot be from Borneo. The bird is probably a tiny sunbird (Cinnyris minullus). If anything this shows the power of convergent evolution, both in birds and in rainforest plants.

[@mohamedromdhani9912]

thank you sir it's the best audio recording I love your job 💓💜

[@GeorgeVlad]

It's a very rewarding job for sure.

[@trillcanada]

THANK YOU GEORGE!

[@GeorgeVlad]

My pleasure, thanks for listening.

[@robinstrickler2302]

I also have seen this bird (in the photo) and heard some of the same sounds in Western Rwanda. Great memories!

[@GeorgeVlad]

Nice, that's one of the sunbirds although not sure which species.

[@Wildlife-film]

This is wonderful and listening to it is vastly improving our work day!! :)

[@GeorgeVlad]

Thank you, that's great to hear!

[@David_Lee_33]

Simply awesome stuff!!!! I’d like to do this up at my cottage.

[@GeorgeVlad]

Thank you! Nothing's stopping you, here's how I record natural soundscapes: th-cam.com/video/t-3BerSX5uQ/w-d-xo.html

[@aph1555]

Another amazing recording. Do you have Tikal in Guatemala? The sunrise over there is amazing. We experienced it first hand and i cannot forget the jungle waking up

[@GeorgeVlad]

Thank you! Never been to Central America but I hope to get there sometime after this year.

[@aph1555]

You will love it, costa rica, guatemala jungles are amazing

[@aph1555]

What's going on TH-cam next?

[@GeorgeVlad]

I'm working on an expedition vlog but it will take me a few weeks before it's ready to upload.

[@75ajw]

Marvellous stuff. Are the DPAs in an A-B sort of setup?

[@GeorgeVlad]

Yep, I taped them to opposite branches on a tree stump in the middle of the banana grove. They were about 30 cm apart but with a baffle in between and quite far away from sound sources.

[@christinagens2538]

So wonderful !
Do you know if the Congo rainforest and wildlife are safe ?

[@GeorgeVlad]

Not really, the rainforest, wildlife and people living there face many dangers. Wildfires, deforestation, drought, poaching, logging, mining, civil conflict, Ebola are just a few of them.

[@mimief7969]

Having this on while rereading Conrad.

[@GeorgeVlad]

This might be a bit too chirpy and upbeat for Heart of darkness. Try this slightly tenser one: th-cam.com/video/DitFKkBPtWQ/w-d-xo.html

[@greathornedowl1783]

I always thought those background calls were primates only recently learnt they are birds called turacos

[@GeorgeVlad]

They are fascinating creatures, and their calls are just beautiful.

[@collectionofsensations]

How did you make that visual representation of the stereo field seen in the video? That was really cool! Also your work sounds great!

[@GeorgeVlad]

Thanks, I used Adobe After Effects.

[@collectionofsensations]

@@GeorgeVlad Thank you for your answer!

[@canamoxproductions]

At 40:30 I removed my headphones. I thought the mosquito was in the room.

[@GeorgeVlad]

Sometimes I do that too :D

[@Blue_Lugia]

Same 🤣

[@cowboydan507]

Where’s the Mokele Mbembe? Ha ha just joking