SD017 MONKEY VOCALS

 

The island of Shodoshima in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan is home to five nomadic tribes of Macaque monkeys, along with an even larger resident population at an outdoor monkey park… During my two months Artists Residency on the island I used some of my spare time field recording their vocals, in a group and when possible on an individual basis.
For creature vocal sound design the macaques provide a unique & very malleable pallet: the young monkeys have very shrill, screechy voices (especially when play fighting) while the alpha males tend to be more gutteral & powerful when aggressively protecting their tribe. When there was an intruder, or two groups overlapped territory, there were small skirmisches occurring every few minutes…

Nearly all of the monkeys also made use of various forms of clicking vocalisations, but one of the most intriguing group sounds was the hopeful murmur that rises to a plaintive almost human cry of 'Eeeeeeee' whenever someone approached the feeding shed. But most evocative to me are the more ambient group sounds, the ensemble communication within one of the wild tribes, as they travelled through the bush. The individual murmurs & quiet cries presumably being used to locate & direct all of the members of the tribe. I found it strangely exhilarating to be in the presence of such a highly evolved social group, especially in the wild! I made the most of my opportunties by completing over 6 hours of recording, the best material of which is included in this new creature vocal library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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