CDs and publications
Dec
5
2020
AudioWings Digital Archive Published
Over the last 20 or more years, AWSRG members have contributed recordings and articles to our journal, AudioWings.
The journals and accompanying CDs have been published (usually) biannually, and collectively contain a treasure trove of wildlife recordings and research, from this country and further afield.
Previously editions have been mailed out to financial members as they were produced, with limited back issues available. Now, all editions, from No.1 to the latest, No.42, are available online, for listening or digital download. This is the first time they’ve all been available together.
Collating the entire archive has involved members pooling their personal collections (“I’m missing the first six CDs, and who’s got the journal of Vol.8 No.1?”). My thanks to Tony, Jeff and Bob for their assistance in this, and to all past journal and CD editors, Fred, Bill, Sue, Tony and Vicki particularly.
While digitising CDs, entering track details and creating cover artwork, I’ve been aware that these recordings represent the history of the group. Past and departed members and their research interests are presented, often along with their spoken commentary, a poignant reminder for those who remember them personally.
Our AudioWings digital archive is hosted on Bandcamp, click here to view and listen. Each CD edition is available either to stream, or purchase and download, as a complete album or per track. Each download edition includes its corresponding journal in PDF format, plus recordist and equipment information.
We hope that having the complete AudioWings archive publicly available will boost the profile of the AWSRG and its history of participation and research.
Current financial members may download any editions for free. The member’s section of this site contains details of how to access free codes to enable this.
A partial index for the audio archive is also available via the member’s section. We’re currently updating it to a complete index of all recordings.
Aug
6
2020
Capturing Wildlife Sounds: A Useful Guide
Some of you will know the ‘Overseas Representative’* on our committee, Roger Boughton. Roger is the co-author of a new book on the art of wildlife sound recording. With decades of hard-won experience, he is a most authoritative and dedicated recordist.
I warmly recommend Roger and Stevens’ book – it is a privilege to be able to share in their wisdom.
Here’s the publication announcement:
Roger Boughton (Lancashire, UK) and Steven Shepard (Vermont, USA) are pleased to announce the publication of their new book, “Capturing Wildlife Sounds: A Useful Guide.” Written primarily for beginning wildlife sound recordists, the book is a comprehensive primer on the craft of capturing the sounds of the natural world.
“We wanted to produce a book,” says Boughton, “that would provide all the information necessary for a beginning sound recordist to get started, in the same way that a nature photography primer does for a budding nature photographer.” more »
Jun
27
2020
Latest Audiowings Published
Our latest Audiowings journal has been produced, and may already have landed in your postbox.
If there’s a theme to this edition, I feel it is a concern for the health of the environment. Vicki Powys, Sue Gould and Tony Baylis each contribute articles on species that are deeply threatened; Speckled Warblers, Regent Honeyeaters and the Kroombit Tinker Frog respectively. In each case, vocalisations and behaviours are discussed in fascinating detail.
Sue also contributes a thoughtful summary of our human impact on the natural soundscape. She details a sad story of degradation to both physical and acoustic habitats, and puts our situation in this country in a global context regarding the activism and initiatives that offer positive approaches to issues.
There’s also some great tech tips. Tim Duck talks about the how to’s of live streaming, in light of his experience contributing to International Dawn Chorus Day on May 1st. Tayler Brook from the Macaulay Library introduces the functionality of Cornell Lab’s Merlin bird identification app, and also writes about how to contribute recordings to their nature sound archives. Tony also compares an Audiomoth with Songmeter and Bioacoustic Audio Recorder as part of his passive monitoring project.
As usual, the accompanying CD is packed full of remarkable listening, much of which complements the articles.
Thanks again to AWSRG’s dynamic editorial team; Sue Gould (journal) and Tony Baylis (CD, production), with John Campbell assisting and on this occasion, also penning a fine editorial.
Audio wings is posted out to paid up members, and is a benefit of joining the AWSRG. You can become a member by following the link above.
Mar
8
2019
Latest Audiowings journal plus CD
The December 2018 issue of Audiowings has been out a while, and members will have received and devoured it well by now! However for those who haven’t, here’s a summary of what’s in our latest edition.
Nocturnal ecologist Julie-Broken Brow begins with an insightful article on how habitat and foraging ecology are related to ultrasonic microbat vocalisations.
Cetacean ecologist Jennifer Allen takes us under the sea searching for clues on how Humpback Whale songs are transferred so faithfully and quickly across vast distances from one population to another.
Sue Gould paints a broad-brush picture of Huon Bowerbird vocalisations, focusing on the overall pattern of singing behaviour and how that might relate to their social behaviour. She includes links to her online audio recordings.
Tony Baylis contributes a companion article on the birdsong of Papua New Guinea’s Huon Peninsular, focusing on vocalisations of the Emperor Bird of Paradise, with spectrograms. more »
Oct
19
2018
Audiowings – out now!
Thanks to our amazing journal editors – Sue Gould, text and Tony Baylis, audio (with John Campbell proof reading) – the latest edition of Audiowings (plus accompanying CD) is now available.
If you’re a paid up AWSRG member, you will have received it recently. Its arrival in the post may also be a prompt for a few members to renew their membership! If you’d like to receive the journal, simply get in touch with us (via contact form) and become a member.
So, what’s in this edition? A personal reflection and summary of our 2017 Baradine workshop from Bob Tomkins, articles on environmental music practices by Vicki Hallet and Nicole Carroll, Sue Gould discusses song variation in Cicadabirds, Michael Mahony details his research on the intriguing vocalising of the Green-thighed Frog, pioneering field recordist Les Gilbert converses with John Campbell, and I recall my recent experience in New Guinea’s cloudforest.
Then there’s the CD, featuring humpback whales, flamingos, froglets, curious crows and acquatic soundscapes. And a diversity of vocalisations from our cover bird, New Guinea’s White-winged Robin.
And finally, a reminder that past editions of Audiowings are digitally archived and available to members on this site.
Aug
21
2018
Your journal needs you!
AudioWings is the member’s journal of the Australian Wildlife Sound Recording Group. With it, we aim to improve the skill base of members with respect to sound recording techniques, sound analysis and archiving of your sounds. We also aim to facilitate information sharing among the community of sound recordists.
The AudioWings editorial team has been working on improving the quality of the journal. With this in mind we have updated the Style Guidelines, both to improve the look of the journal, and to make the guidelines simple for contributors to follow.
We welcome ANY contributions relating to sound recording including: observations and analysis of sound recordings, book reviews, equipment reviews, trip reports, profiles of sound recordists and any novel techniques you may have developed.
Southern Royal Albatross pleading for copy (Photo: Sue Gould)
Mar
23
2018
Is Birdsong Music? – book & CD reviews by Michael Hannan
AWSRG member Michael Hannan has written two reviews of recent publications by zoomusicologist, composer, violinist (and fellow AWSRG member), Hollis Taylor.
Hollis’s work presents insights and responses to the songs of Pied Butcherbirds, and essentially poses the question; do birds display a sense of aesthetics? It is an intriguing question!
Click here for Michael’s review of Hollis’s book, ‘Is Birdsong Music?‘
Michael himself is a composer and performer, and had one of his pieces premiered at our recent conference by clarinetist Vicki Hallett (which can be heard here – scroll down to audio file #19)
May
29
2017
Hollis Taylor – ‘Absolute Bird’, CD review
Review by Andrew Skeoch
Music and birdsong have been entwined in mythology and artistic practice through the ages. It would be easy to dismiss the relationship as mere romanticism, yet there remain clear comparisons between birdsong and the way humans express themselves in music.
Hollis Taylor’s ‘Absolute Bird’ is a lavishly produced, double CD set and extensive booklet. It is part musical document, part memoir of her travels, and part musing on a bird’s capacity for aesthetic sound making. But above all it is a celebration of a remarkable single species of songbird; the Australian Pied Butcherbird. Their tonally rich songs are often considered among the most musical in the birdworld – not simply by being melodic and pleasing on the ear, but by the bird’s creative exploration of repertoire.
