I spent the night of July 14, 2019, camped near Thirtymile Meadows in the Okanogan National Forest at 6400 ft (1950 m). The area is known as the Okanogan High Country, and for a good reason. Tall, sharp mountains standing on an already high, mostly dry plateau make it a unique place in the Pacific Northwest.
The shallow-bowl shaped meadows made for a beautiful natural amphitheater for recording. Quiet little burble and occasional ripple sound from the boggy ground beneath. With a shockingly low noise floor for an open-air recording space and reverberation that seemed to go on forever (RT60 of over 5.5 seconds), it was just a stage waiting for a performer. Luckily one came along.
A lone coyote entered the meadow from the distant right and vocalized for nearly 50 minutes before trailing away. For those unaware, coyotes are extremely vocal animals. They're not the quiet loners wolves can be. They often bark, yip, howl, and more for long periods as they make their rounds of their territory. When it's just you and the coyote, though, it's hard not to feel that she's making the racket as a special performance just for you.
It's quiet moments like these that I find so rewarding as a recordist.
This track is unmastered, just decoded to a stereo image.
For the technically nosy:
Microphones: Double Mid-Side of MKH8040/MKH30/MKH8040
Stereo Matrix: Harpex-X
Recorder: MixPre 6
