Rain is to be expected on a rainforest expedition and Costa Rica is no exception. Recording soundscapes in the rainforests and cloud forests of this beautifully green Central American country reminds me of previous jungle experiences and also teaches me a few new lessons.
It's been two years since my last rainforest expedition, Borneo in 2019. For some odd reason (!) travel has become more challenging and I somehow managed to avoid rainforests in my expeditions since. Costa Rica had been on my radar for a while but I kept longing for more exotic and difficult locations. Sadly most of these are closed for tourism so the decision is made: we're going to Costa Rica!
As soon as we drive out of San Jose we start feeling the heat and humidity that I'm familiar with. After a few hiccups and problems I'll go into later, we make it to Braulio Carrillo National Park. While not too far from villages and man-made sound, this location proves pretty good for sound recording and wild enough for a true rainforest experience.
After a few recce trips I manage to find a handful of secluded spots in the jungle where I can drop recording rigs. There's a good amount of rainfall so I take advantage of this and build my trademark canopy so I can record clean rain without the sound of the drops hitting the mics, blimp or other surfaces.
Two days later I hike up to the place I left the rig to collect it, and to my surprise it is now a construction site! For fire ants, not for humans, fortunately. They've already built a small mound on the dry bag that was protecting my recorder and battery from the elements, making holes into cables, padding and other fabric. Luckily the recorder and mics are fine.
It takes about half an hour of hard work in the steamy jungle to get rid of most ants and to collect the rig. Fortunately there's about 25 hours of clean rainforest soundscape on the SD card including this hour-long rainfall sequence so the kit was not sacrificed in vain.
Recorded with Sound Devices Mixpre 3 ii and Sennheiser DMS rig (MKH30 and two MKH 8040s) in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Costa Rica. Shot on Sony A1 with Sony 135 GM lens. Enjoying the videos I upload on here? Feel free to support me by:
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#soundsofcostarica #rainforestsounds #rainsounds
9 янв 2022
