The Great Animal Orchestra Symphony for Orchestra & Wild Soundscapes now available as Mp3 Digital Download

"...Sonically spectacular!" - CB Hill - BBC Culture

The Great Animal Orchestra Symphony, a collaboration by UK composer Richard Blackford and Wild Sanctuary's Bernie Krause is the first full symphony integrating wild soundscapes into the orchestration.

Based upon the book by Bernie Krause, this extraordinary celebration has also inspired a museum installation and an upcoming ballet!

Find the Mp3 digital download of the album - which also include's Blackford's Carnival of the Animals - in the WildStore at WildSanctuary.com

For CD version or performance licensing please contact Wyastone.co.uk 

Reflections on the History of Soundscape Ecology: Berkeley School of Journalism

Audio journalist/producer Greta Mart interviews Wild Sanctuary's Bernie Krause on the early days of Soundscape Ecology for recent radio show.  

A World of Soundscapes: Alpine Meadow

Just as streetlights engulf the starlight, human noise is all too rapidly drowning out the living sounds of the natural world.  For those who like a little wild nature in their days and nights, nothing can provide a sense of place like sound.

Wild Sanctuary's newly designed WildStore features an incomparable collection of soundscape albums from the most amazing wild places left in the world!  The collection of downloadable albums brings together several of the world's top nature recordists sharing their finest works.  To browse the catalog and listen to the short sound clips provided, is to enter directly into the habitats portrayed: rich, resonant, and utterly real.


Convenient preview (there is no word for pre-hear) sliders on the site provide a brief sense of content, artistic and exemplary detail for each album. Better yet, you can purchase full-length Mp3 selections by Krause, and his extraordinary colleagues in the field, that each provide a true sense of being at a particular place, season, and time.  A collection - worth collecting, as habitats like this are rarely found, often costly to get to, and the ephemeral nature of their soundscapes even more difficult to capture with such accurate presence and vitality.

Play the video (above) of 'Alpine Meadow', then take a journey of your own -- a visit to the WildStore is a breath of fresh air!

Announcing New Wild Sanctuary Website & WildStore

Today, we're pleased to announce that our new Website and WildStore is launched!

We welcome you to our totally redesigned site and streamlined store, which features a fine collection of extraordinary soundscape titles - and other offerings - including many wonderful natural sounds audio works from our colleagues in the field.  It's a new site... so please, let us know if you have questions, comments, or suggestions at: info@wildsanctuary.com ...and do come join us!

Our new site and storefront are the result of an extraordinary collaborative effort from a variety of talented designers and programmers who joined us in this effort.  We are most grateful to them all:

Applause to the build team!
     Evelyn Badia, Whitney Green, Erica Hirshfeld, & group: Tröllback + Company
     Jennifer Ozkan, Robert Blackburn, & Jeff Zienowicz: Cybersense
     Trevor Carlow: CarlowSEO
     Kathleen Norris
     Mark Wilder: Wilder2
     'Zanne Clark: ZannePhotography 
     - And the other experts who helped out with this new construction

It shouldn't go without saying...Special cheers to all our family and friends for offering kind words and patience while we were immersed (for many months) within cyberspace on this creative project.
                                                                                                               -- Kat Krause

Coming Soon: Paperback Edition of 'The Great Animal Orchestra'

Received fine news from publishing group Little, Brown & Company (Hachette Book Group) that Bernie's newest book, 'The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places", (already available in hardback, e-book, e-book (enhanced), and audiobook versions) will soon be available in Trade Paperback version. Watch for it at your favorite local and on-line booksellers.

   

• PAPERBACK, March, 2013 •

"It's a passionate amalgam…aesthetic and holistic."  -- New York Times

Wild Sanctuary and the Global Sustainable Soundscapes Network

Wild Sanctuary is a Founding Member of The Global Sustainable Soundscapes Network, bringing together landscape ecologists, conservation biologists, ecologists from the creative arts, acousticians, and psycho-acousticians to explore the coordination of studies in diverse soundscapes.

We'll be joining with other member organizations including Purdue University, The Acoustic Ecology Institute, Art Institute of Chicago, College of Environmental Science and Forestry/State University of New York, University of Georgia, McGill University, Michigan State University, Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring/Team Network, Tuskegee University, University of Alaska/Fairbanks, Universidad Nacional/Costa Rica, University of New Mexico, and University of Urbino to share, express, and further expand our long-held goals of expanding and connecting the practical, creative, and academic understanding of natural soundscapes and soundscape ecology.

As the acoustic connection to the natural world become stronger than ever before, we'll continue to share news of how this and our other similar involvements develop as we endeavor to build community and further the field of soundscape inquiry around the world. 

The Sounds of Silence

Virginia Morell's comprehensive article in Conde Nast Traveler reports on the world's last quiet places. Wild Sanctuary's Bernie Krause joins colleagues in sharing their insights from the field of Soundscape Ecology. Click on the headline to read it.

Dolphins destroyed in Taiji, Japan

Fellow audio-naturalist and animal advocate, recording colleague Martyn Stewart has been traveling to Japan to witness and share news about the disturbing Dolphin slaughter taking place in Taiji.  He sent this 'ear-witness' report.

Dolphin slaughter in Taiji. November 29th 2010 from Martyn Stewart on Vimeo.
Find out more at Sounds of Critters.

Derek and the Cobra

Friend and colleague, Derek Solomon, with wife Sarah, do some amazing work in South Africa and keep us well-posted. We always delight in his latest efforts - finely done sound recording and splendid photographs. Check out the astonishing photo (which really makes us smile) and the details just received. Now that's intrepid! Here's what Derek had to share:

Photo (c) D. Solomon/ all rights reserved.

"The Snouted Cobra Naja annulifera (previously thought to be a subspecies of the Egyptian Cobra) is a large snake averaging 1.5 to 2m in length, and is a common species of the southern African bushveld. It hunts at night favouring toads, but eats other frogs as well as snakes, lizards and birds and is an unpopular visitor to poultry runs. During the day it is often found sunning itself close to its home in a rocky outcrop or termite mound.

The 'spread-hood' threat display of a cobra is actually a defence behaviour used as a warning signal and may be accompanied by a loud hiss. The hiss, given as the reptile exhales, is different in every species of snake. In the case of the Snouted Cobra the initial hiss may be repeated several times and as it strikes it makes a loud 'pfftt' sound. We made this recording at Khamai Reptile Park in South Africa's Limpopo Province."

For more information contact Derek at info@kuyimba.com

Nature Recording Workshop At the Murie Center

Join us in the field late in June, in spectacular Moose, Wyoming, and learn
about the art and skill of soundscape recording with Wild Sanctuary's own experienced Soundscape Team, including master recordists Bernie Krause, Martyn Stewart, and Kevin Colver. The SOUNDS OF NATURE workshop will include both field and indoor sessions in and around The Murie Center and Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The exciting Niche Hypothesis (biophony) offers new insights into listening and recording natural sounds and helps explain why creatures vocalize in special related ways rather than separate and apart. These phenomena and more will be shared with participants who will learn to listen and record in the field with an emphasis on the holistic soundscape and what it reveals. After each field session participants will exchange examples of their discoveries in enjoyable and informative workshop settings. Participants will learn to record everything from insect larvae to amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, arthropods (ants) in areas surrounding the Tetons, hearing how all the voices in a particular habitat setting interact with one another. Minimum required equipment: digital stereo recorder, microphone(s) and earphones. There is no age limit young or old. Workshop limit: 5 participants per leader. For more information contact us.

Inside the Creative Mind

This week, PRI posted their interview with Wild Sanctuary's Bernie Krause, discussing how his background in music led to the formation of 'The Niche Hypothesis', describing the elegance of biophony, the astonishing chorus of the creature world. Our thanks to Studio 360 for helping share the sounds of the natural wild. Listen here!

Mp3 Downloads vs CDs - Where old CDs go

Each day in America, thousands of CDs are tossed into landfills or worse yet, ultimately become part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, because of inefficient recycling services to properly handle all the wasted jewel boxes, DVDs, floppy discs, and CDs that get routinely trashed. Helping to reduce this waste is why we've switched to Mp3 downloads as our preferred delivery format for Wild Sanctuary album titles.

Help make a difference by swapping, selling, or donating your old albums to others who might find them of use, or if they've gotta go... send your unwanted old discs and jewel cases to CD Recycling Central. (For larger quantity or studio recycling, try Greendisk). Oh, and you can punch a couple of holes in the top of one and tie it to hang down in back of your bike seat. Makes a good reflector! Click the link for the address and other information you need - and help keep these items from showing up where they really don't belong (like in the ocean). The fishes will thank you.

Keeping WIRED to the Natural World

Thanks go to Clive Thompson and the well-versed editors at WIRED, for their May 19, 2008 story on soundscapes and 'How Man-made Noise Can Be Altering the Earth's Ecology.' Kudos always to that publication for their environmentally-friendly approach to the high tech world. We appreciate intrepid trailblazers of the Wired kind, exploring new ways to stay well-connected to the natural world - within the digital age. Image: budgetstockphoto.com

Find Kevin Colver at the WildStore

It's a patchwork constellation of biodiversity!...and a rare find for those who love the sounds of birds at home in their natural habitats, as they pour forth their remarkable melodies in sweet-sounding collaboration. Our respected colleague, Dr. Kevin Colver, is a top-notch audio/naturalist - and we're greatly pleased to announce that several of his noteworthy songbird titles are now available as MP3 downloads within Wild Sanctuary's WildStore. From Songbirds of SouthWest Canyon Country, to the Sierra Nevada's, Yellowstone, and the High Rockies, Colver's beautiful biophonic anthologies are certain to please.