AMB015 WIND IN TREES

“When the wind rises, the forest sings!”

As a field recordist and photographer, my plans are dictated by the weather. Chasing light is perhaps more predictable – at least we know when & where the sun rises and sets! But in real life, local knowledge combined with some expert weather modelling and forecasting are the only guides! 

AMB015 WIND IN TREES represents an Autumn month of chasing weather forecasts and aiming to be at specific and remote forest locations as the pressure shifts with an approaching front. Locally, the two prevailing winds are the gusty Nor’Wester and the bone chilling Southerly. With the forecast in mind, each location was chosen for exposure and captured multitrack 24bit/96kHz (12-MKH8040 ORTF, 34-MKH8020 spaced omni, 56-spaced/discrete MKH70 pair)

Next we shifted focus to discrete spot elements. Broad strokes and landscapes are important but so are details. Accordingly we recorded wind in grass, bushes, flax, palms, hedges, ferns and ni! a shrubbery, some captured from insect pov with spaced DPA4060 omni or with a shielded MKH8040 pair.

Weirdly during the final weeks of recording, an old school Wind Machine turned up on a local secondhand website. Serendipity insisted I nab it, and after some hand cranked test recordings it was soon apparent as being most useful at half or quarter speed. So it has been captured at 192kHz with spaced MKH8020 omnis. Check the promo vid for a short varispeed example… With clever manipulation and processing some uniquely evocative winds can result.