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Escape to the great outdoors of Colorado, with a chill podcast that gently transports you to natural soundscapes across the Rocky Mountain state. Quickly immerse yourself in wilderness, and enjoy our high-fidelity recordings and short introductions. Take a half hour now, put on your headphones, and relax to our monthly episodes.
An interview with Jared Blake featuring a dry thunderstorm near Leadville, Colorado.
Episode photograph: Rainbow over Mosquito Pass, Leadville, Colorado (Arek Nowak / Shutterstock)
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 started doing research on how to record high quality audio remotely, and. There weren't a lot of sources out there talking about field recording. So I basically just started explaining everything that I was learning on my website. And since then, it's grown into a much larger resource about field recording. It's also where I sell my sound libraries that I capture.
AMA: And can you talk a little bit about where your love of nature comes from?
JB: I think it all dates back to my childhood. I had two brothers, and a mom who really loved nature. So, we went on a lot of camping trips as a family, and there was no internet back then, so we spent our days outside in the woods, exploring, catching bugs, all those typical outdoor kid things,, and I just, I never grew out of it. I, to this day, spend a ton of time out in nature, exploring, hiking, recording, photographing, filming. I'm just in love with the beauty of nature.
AMA: Can you tell me a bit about what drew you to Leadville, Colorado?
JB: It was actually a conversation I was having with a friend and fellow nature field recordist, Matt Mickelson. And we were just catching up and talking about projects we were working on. And he mentioned to me that he was about to go to Colorado at the end of the summer because during that time of year, they have a lot of thunderstorms. And because the atmosphere there is so dry, they tend to be dry thunderstorms, which So, was something I had heard recordings of but never had experienced. I'm on the east coast here and it's very humid and so it's extremely rare for us to have a thunderstorm that doesn't include rain. And dry thunderstorms do actually have rain, but because the atmosphere the rain is falling through is so dry, the rain evaporates before it hits the ground. So, he got me so pumped up, uh, about these dry thunderstorms that I just, I had the time and I booked myself a week long trip in Colorado,with the sole purpose of experiencing and capturing one of these storms.
AMA: Wow. Well, can you kind of describe the area you went to, Leadville? Like, where did you set up to record?
JB: So Leadville is a mountain town close to Aspen. I, I saw that there was going to be a thunderstorm there, and given the time of year and the atmosphere there, good chance it was going to be a dry storm. So ultimately I set up in the mountains above the town, which are called the Monarch Mines, which are abandoned now and really popular for off roading and ATVing. so I drove in as high and far back into the Monarch Mines as I could get, just to get away from some of the road noise that was coming from the town. And I ended up getting this amazing view, looking Down this valley, onto Leadville, and then Turquoise Lake in the distance.
AMA: How were you able to find sort of ideal recording conditions?
JB: I spent the whole day trying to find that location and really failing. A son and his father drove up, parked right next to me, and took out a drone, and it sounded just like a million mosquitoes. And there were a lot of mosquitoes there, as well. Actual mosquitoes. Actual mosquitoes. So really I just was hoping that as the storm continued to build and the sky got darker and darker and Doom was upon us. I was just hoping that everyone was going to leave And they did,, which I was very thankful for.
AMA: How does that feel to sort of be the last guy left there, like, uh, standing in the middle of an oncoming thunderstorm?
JB: It was really surreal, to be honest. it was just such an epic scene, and to be there all alone, This was on my last day of the whole week trip of failing to record a dry thunderstorm. It was a really special moment and was quite emotional. And after the storm passed, to top it all off, there was a double rainbow over the town of Leadville.
AMA: Wow. Well, we are going to hear some of those sounds up ahead in a moment, but I'm wondering if you have future visits to Colorado in mind?
JB: I do. Ever since I left, I've been dying to go back. I mean, just even in the traveling that I did to get this storm, which was 1300 miles on the rental vehicle. Every single place that I went to was unique and had its own soundscape. And I'd love to experience all those throughout the different seasons and see how they change. But in short, yes, I am. Very much looking forward to returning to Colorado.
AMA: Jared Blake, founder of acousticnature.com Thank you so much for joining us today.
JB: Thank you.
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: Charlie Dillon
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)
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 … windmills are rhythmically pumping water for grazing cattle.
Finally … we return to Cucharas Canyon at night … where a chorus of crickets join the whistling wind.
Close
Winds of Colorado … recorded by Jared Blake, Jacob Job and Martin Burch.
Sound Design by Patrick McnameeKing.
Music by R. J. Fechter.
Script by Martin Burch.
Series Adviser … Ann Marie Awad.
If you enjoy Ambient Colorado, please send this podcast to a friend.
I’m Sarah Vitak in Denver, Colorado.
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: Charlie Dillon
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)
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 more than a hundred years ago … due to extensive hunting … there were no elk seen here. At that time … about fifty elk were imported from Yellowstone National Park … and now thousands of elk again find their mates in Colorado’s largest national park.
We end in Big Meadows. A bull elk walks through the tall grass and calls into the night … echoing his ancestors … who bugled here for millennia.
Sounds of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park … recorded by Jacob Job.
Series Producer … Martin Burch.
Series Adviser … Ann Marie Awad.
Sound Design by Patrick McnameeKing.
Music by R. J. Fechter.
If you enjoy Ambient Colorado, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts.
And share this podcast with a friend.
I’m Sarah Vitak in Denver, Colorado.
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: Charlie Dillon
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)
Welcome to Ambient Colorado. I’m Sarah Vitak.
Rangers tell visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park … stay far away from big animals like elk. Especially during the rut … this large deer’s autumn mating season.
The sound of elk bugling is often heard far off in the distance this time of year.
Now you’ll have the chance to get up close and personal. A herd of elk will charge past your ears on their way to a watering hole. They’ll practically breathe down your neck … as they eat … drink … and wallow in the mud. Males will spar with their antlers … right in front of you.
Through the use of special techniques and equipment … we’re able to safely record sound without disturbing the animals. This is a rare opportunity to experience the autumn rut happening all around you.
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Sounds of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park … recorded by Jacob Job.
Sound Design by Patrick McnameeKing.
Music by R. J. Fechter.
Series Producer … Martin Burch.
Series Adviser … Ann Marie Awad.
If you like what you hear on Ambient Colorado … spread the word! Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts … and share this episode with nature lovers in your life.
I’m Sarah Vitak in Denver, Colorado.
Appreciate the natural sounds of a Colorado backyard.
Hear more from Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/
Series illustration: Charlie Dillon
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)
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 feeder and bathing in a small fountain.
Big sounds deserve a closer listen, too. Crickets chirp as a train passes through. A thunderstorm rolls in. And birds sing as the recycling is collected.
Nature is all around us … if you listen closely.
...
Sounds of Loveland, Colorado … recorded by Jacob Job.
Series Producer … Martin Burch.
Series Adviser … Ann Marie Awad.
Sound Design by Patrick McnameeKing.
Music by R. J. Fechter.
I’m Sarah Vitak in Denver, Colorado.
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)
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 pretty places around the country to use in communication pieces like Ambient Colorado and other podcasts.
AMA: And is there, like, a favorite outdoor place you’ve ever recorded?
JJ: Oh, man. So many different places. I would say my favorite has to be the North Woods of Minnesota, up in the Boundary Waters with, like, the Common Loons, and the thunderstorms. And all the songbirds.
AMA: Oh yeah, it sounds amazing. Well, so we just came out of an episode of beautiful prairie sounds and we’re going to enjoy some more. But before we move on to some new prairie sounds, I wonder if you have some favorites from the last episode.
JJ: Yeah, well, the prairie is interesting. It’s a real challenge to record, just because it’s wide open, there’s wind all the time, which is as you probably are aware, really tough on microphones and really tough recording environment, but on this particular morning I was out recording and I found this, like, dip in the prairie where there was this wetland, and so it kinda shielded me from the wind but it also gave me an opportunity to, like, explore all this life around this wetland, these songbirds, and swallows, and insects. It was just a really acoustically rich environment. I think actually the water from that wetland made the acoustics. sound even better than it would have otherwise so it was just a really neat find out there in the middle of the prairie.
AMA: Yeah, yeah. And that was, can you tell us, where?
JJ: That was out in the Pawnee National Grasslands, up in northeast Colorado.
AMA: And so the reason that we had decided to do a bonus episode today was you have lots of other recordings from some other beautiful prairie locations in the state. I wonder if you could tell us a bit more about the places we’re going to hear from today.
JJ: Absolutely. I think we have three different locations in the bonus episode. One of them takes place in Fort Collins Colorado actually just outside the city limits at a place called Reservoir Ridge Natural Area. Just a small, maybe hundred, two hundred acre prairie-type setting with wetland right in the middle of it, and surrounded by houses, surrounded by busy roads, and you get these really, really neat prairie birds that you otherwise wouldn’t get, had that place not been preserved. So I think that’s a really special spot because it’s so close to people.
JJ: Another one of the locations, a little bit farther up in Northern Colorado, Wellington State Game Area. Sort of a transition from between prairie habitats and farmland, sort of these working lands. And I found this large pond out there surrounded by cattails, and I discovered this breeding population of marsh wrens and yellow-headed blackbirds, just this really beautiful sound of birds around this place. And so I crawled in knee deep into the pond and attached my microphones to the cattails and I left. I just left that recording going overnight and I really got an inside peek into the lives of these birds around that prairie pothole, so to speak.
JJ: And then the last recording took place at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, again, north of Fort Collins in Northern Colorado, wide open very short grass prairie, very hot. A dawn-ish type of recording, so early in the morning I went out there with all of my recording gear and just hit record and really was interested in understanding what were the natural sounds out in this prairie, but also because so many of our prairie lands are also working lands what are the anthropogenic noises out there like cows mooing and you can hear oil and gas development and distant trains going by and so sort of this sharing of the land with wildlife and people.
AMA: Yeah, that’s very cool. I wonder if you have favorite sounds from this episode we’re about to hear.
JJ: I mean, I really do think the prairie puddle, where we’ve got these marsh wrens and yellow-headed blackbirds, because I like clipped these microphones right to the cattails and the cattails are where these birds nest, they live … it’s just, because I’m not there, you get this intimate, intimate look into their lives. And you can hear marsh wrens flying back and forth, left ear to right ear, as they zoomed across the microphone. I don’t think otherwise anybody could ever experience that much intimacy in the bird world so I’m really excited for people to hear that.
AMA: Yeah, me too.
AMA: Before we get to that, I wonder if listeners are interested in hearing more about your work and the other kinds of sound you collect, where can they find that?
JJ: They can explore my personal website at Jacob R Job dot com. I list a lot of my work on there. People can click on any of the links and explore any of those sounds. If you have a Soundcloud account or not, you can search for my account on there, Gavia Immer. It’s the Latin name of the Common Loon. Tells you how much I love Common Loons. But that’s my handle, and almost all of my recordings or a good chunk of them go on to that platform and they’re free to listen to and some of them are hours and hours and hours long so you can listen while you work.
AMA: Very cool. Well thank you Jacob for taking a moment to chat with me.
JJ: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
AMA: Without further ado, another episode of beautiful prairie sounds from Colorado.
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: Charlie Dillon
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)
Black tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado, United States. 6 July 2017. Adult Sciuridae (Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy)
Male red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) displaying, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado, United States of America (James Hager/Alamy)
Welcome to Ambient Colorado. I’m Sarah Vitak.
We’re visiting the Pawnee National Grassland in Northeastern Colorado today.
It’s a cold and windy May morning on the prairie.
This is the place to hear the official state bird, the lark bunting. And that’s not all.
Nearby, red-wing blackbirds are kicking up a fuss, in a small round marshland known as a prairie pothole. And there’s the unmistakable coo of the mourning dove.
Later, we hear chirps from an iconic grassland native, but this one is a rodent, not a bird.
Prairie dogs, a type of ground squirrel, stand upright like fluffy meerkats to watch over their underground tunnels.
We end our tour of Colorado’s prairies with birds at Reservoir Ridge … near the city of Fort Collins. Bobolinks fly all the way from South America each year to find a mate here.
Want to hear more from the state’s grasslands … and find out how Jacob captured these scenes?
Be sure to subscribe for a bonus episode with a behind-the-scenes peek at how we make this podcast.
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: Charlie Dillon
Episode photograph: Larry Lamsa (American Dipper, Gunnison County) CC-BY 2.0
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 something to eat.
Later, sparrows sing along North Saint Vrain Creek, which feeds into the South Platte River.
We end on a June morning with the roar of Tonahutu Creek overflowing its banks as it fills Grand Lake downstream.
Spring comes to the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.
The recordings in this episode were made in the spring and summer of 2021 to study the effects of the East Troublesome Fire, a wildfire which burned the previous autumn.
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 illustration: Charlie Dillon
Episode photograph: Brian Wolski / Alamy (Kawuneeche Valley)
Special thanks to Ann Marie Awad.
Welcome to the Ambient Colorado podcast. I’m Sarah Vitak.
Today, spring comes to the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. We’re high up, in the mountain meadows and evergreen forests, near the headwaters of the Colorado river.
First, you’ll hear a dawn chorus of birds: robin, snipe, sparrow ... in full song at 6:30 in the morning.
The birds continue to sing, even as snow begins to fall. Clumps of heavy, fresh snow slide off the pine trees and land with gentle thumps.
When the sun comes out, and the weather warms, the snow melts and flows into the creeks and lakes here.
Finally, as the sun sets, the chorus frogs sing, joined by an owl and small water birds.
Amanda is a wife. A mother. A blogger. A Christian.
A charming, beautiful, bubbly, young woman who lives life to the fullest.
But Amanda is dying, with a secret she doesn’t want anyone to know.
She starts a blog detailing her cancer journey, and becomes an inspiration, touching and
captivating her local community as well as followers all over the world.
Until one day investigative producer Nancy gets an anonymous tip telling her to look at Amanda’s
blog, setting Nancy on an unimaginable road to uncover Amanda’s secret.
Award winning journalist Charlie Webster explores this unbelievable and bizarre, but
all-too-real tale, of a woman from San Jose, California whose secret ripped a family apart and
left a community in shock.
Scamanda is the true story of a woman whose own words held the key to her secret.
New episodes every Monday.
Follow Scamanda on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
Amanda’s blog posts are read by actor Kendall Horn.
