Episodes

  • Dry Thunderstorm Bonus

    Dry Thunderstorm Bonus
    Feb 24 2024
    An interview with Jared Blake featuring a dry thunderstorm near Leadville, Colorado. Episode photograph: Rainbow over Mosquito Pass, Leadville, Colorado (Arek Nowak / Shutterstock) Transcript ANN MARIE AWAD: Today, we're featuring the stunning sounds of dry thunderstorms in Leadville, Colorado, with Jared Blake, the founder of AcousticNature.com. Blake made a special visit to Leadville in August 2022 to capture these sounds, and he's actually been all over the place in search of nature sounds. and joins us to talk a bit about his trip to Leadville. Jared, thanks for joining us. JARED BLAKE: Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. AMA: What is Acoustic Nature? JB: Acoustic Nature is a website where I provide advice and recommendations about everything field recording with a heavy focus on recording nature sounds. It started from me just wanting to record paying homage to one of my favorite hiking spots and being really unsatisfied with the audio quality. So I starte
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • Wind

    Wind
    Jan 22 2024
    Let the many winds of Colorado carry you across the state. Hear more from Jared Blake at https://www.acousticnature.com/ and Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/ Episode photograph: The state flag of Colorado blowing in a breeze under a blue sky (Darryl Brooks / Alamy Stock Photo) Series illustration: Mia Rincón Hear more from R. J. Fechter on https://rjfechter.bandcamp.com and https://www.twitch.tv/rjandj Hear more from Patrick McNameeKing on his podcast, Empty Clouds (Spotify, Apple, Google) Transcript Welcome to Ambient Colorado. I’m Sarah Vitak. Let the many winds of Colorado carry you across the state. We begin with the breeze whistling over the edge of Cucharas Canyon in the south. Rustling leaves of aspen trees create unique music in this canyon. We’ll add the rush of wind though spruce trees from the Fraser Experimental Forest … west of Denver. Then we visit the windswept prairies of Northern Colorado. On the Pawnee National Grassland … windmil
    Show More Show Less
    36 mins
  • Enduring Elk

    Enduring Elk
    Dec 11 2023
    Elk mating calls echo through the ages in what is now Colorado's largest national park. Hear more from Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/ Series illustration: Mia Rincón Episode photograph: Mark Byzewski CC-BY (Landscapes and Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park. Estes Park, Colorado.) Hear more from R. J. Fechter on https://rjfechter.bandcamp.com and https://www.twitch.tv/rjandj Hear more from Patrick McNameeKing on his podcast, Empty Clouds (Spotify, Apple, Google) Transcript Welcome to Ambient Colorado. I’m Sarah Vitak. The echoes of elk bugling reveal the vast high-altitude meadows in Rocky Mountain National Park. From September through October, these male elk are calling for mates. We begin on a cold, rainy night in Moraine Park. The temperature is barely above freezing. A hundred thousand years ago this area’s evergreen-covered ridges … called moraines … were created by rocks left behind by a slow-moving river of ice. A little mor
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • Elk Up Close

    Elk Up Close
    Oct 7 2023
    Get close to the autumn elk rut in Rocky Mountain National Park. Hear elk bugling, a herd of elk running through a flooded meadow, two males cooling down by drinking and wallowing in the mud, a bull elk scratching his antlers on a tree before playfully sparring with another male, the sounds of elk eating grass, two bulls fighting, and elk calling to each other in the rain. More from Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/ Episode photograph: Bull elk (Cervus canadensis) chasing cow during the autumn rut with tongue sticking out in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (Steve Boice / Alamy) Series illustration: Mia Rincón Hear more from R. J. Fechter on https://rjfechter.bandcamp.com and https://www.twitch.tv/rjandj Hear more from Patrick McNameeKing on his podcast, Empty Clouds (Spotify, Apple, Google) Transcript Welcome to Ambient Colorado. I’m Sarah Vitak. Rangers tell visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park … stay far away from big animals like elk. Especi
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
  • Backyard

    Backyard
    Aug 30 2023
    Appreciate the natural sounds of a Colorado backyard. Hear more from Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/ Series illustration: Mia Rincón Episode photograph: Marek Uliasz / Alamy (Storm cloud over Fort Collins, Colorado) Hear more from R. J. Fechter on https://rjfechter.bandcamp.com and https://www.twitch.tv/rjandj Hear more from Patrick McNameeKing on his podcast, Empty Clouds (Spotify, Apple, Google) Transcript Welcome to Ambient Colorado. I’m Martin Burch. Today … a new perspective on a familiar, domestic landscape … as we listen very closely to a northern Colorado backyard. Our recording equipment makes it easier to be a patient, quiet listener … revealing ever-present details which can be easily missed. When most people are still asleep … a whole bush full of House Sparrows are waking up and chatting away in the pre-dawn light … as sprinklers water the garden. Later … we get close enough to touch the black-capped chickadees eating from a bird
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • Prairie Bonus

    Prairie Bonus
    Jul 22 2023
    An interview with Jacob Job featuring more grasslands of Colorado. Episode photograph: Windmill with a pump and cattle water tank overlooking the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area near Ft. Collins in northern Colorado (Marek Uliasz/Alamy) Transcript ANN MARIE AWAD: Welcome to this special bonus episode of Ambient Colorado. My name is Ann Marie Awad and I’m part of the team behind this show and I’d like to introduce you to another member of that team, Jacob Job. The man behind the stunning sounds that you hear in every episode. AMA: Hello, Jacob! JACOB JOB: Hi Ann Marie, how are you? AMA: Good. How are you doing? JJ: I’m doing quite well. AMA: Jacob, can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and the work you do as a sound recordist? JJ: Yeah, I’m a scientist who decided I didn’t want to do science anymore. And so I took my knowledge of the outdoors, ecology and I turned it into … or I channeled it into audio recording, where I mixed cool recordings of p
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
  • Prairie

    Prairie
    Jul 22 2023
    An early May visit to Pawnee National Grasslands, featuring Colorado's official state bird (the lark bunting), prairie dogs, red-winged blackbirds, and more. Field recordings by Jacob Job. Hear more from Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/ Sound design by Patrick McnameeKing. Hear more from Patrick McNameeKing on his podcast, Empty Clouds (Spotify, Apple, Google) Music by R. J. Fechter. Hear more from R. J. Fechter on https://rjfechter.bandcamp.com and https://www.twitch.tv/rjandj Series producer: Martin Burch Series adviser: Ann Marie Awad Narrator: Sarah Vitak Series illustration: Mia Rincón Episode photographs, clockwise from top left: Grassland sign, Pawnee National Grassland, Pawnee Pioneer Trails Scenic and Historic Byway, Colorado (George Ostertag/Alamy) Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado, United States. 6 July 2017. Adult Male doing display flight. Passerellidae (Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy) Blac
    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
  • Water

    Water
    Jun 22 2023
    Tour the rivers and creeks of north-central Colorado. Field recordings by Jacob Job. Hear more from Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/ Sound design by Patrick McnameeKing. Music by R. J. Fechter. Hear more from R. J. Fechter on https://rjfechter.bandcamp.com and https://www.twitch.tv/rjandj Series producer: Martin Burch Series adviser: Ann Marie Awad Narrator: Sarah Vitak Series illustration: Mia Rincón Episode photograph: Larry Lamsa (American Dipper, Gunnison County) CC-BY 2.0 Transcript Welcome to the Ambient Colorado podcast. I’m Sarah Vitak. A gentle thundershower, near Black Canyon Creek in eastern Rocky Mountain National Park, begins our journey along Colorado’s waterways. Melting snow, and spring rain, swell Colorado’s creeks and feed the state’s iconic rivers. Along the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River, little gray birds, called American Dippers, sing as they dip their fluffy round heads under the water, looking for somethi
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins