Sunset at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - Gentle Waves on the Beach: A Different Perspective

Quick Note: I am on my way to Houston, Texas to help a friend pick up his new overlanding trailer. Our annual camping trip had to be postponed, so we used the time to make a road trip from Michigan to Texas. I’m taking my camera and a recorder, but I’m guessing that chances will be slim that I will have time to do any recording. Fingers crossed.

Welcome to the 11th episode of the Nature is my Jam Podcast! We are still at the Peterson Road Beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes and revisiting the gentle waves from last week. I received a lot of great feedback for that episode and thought it would be fun to listen to the waves from a different perspective; the seismic activity of the waves recorded from beneath the sand on the beach.

While I was recording the normal wave activity last week, I had the Zoom F3 paired with the Lom Geofón to record seismic activity. The Geofón is hand built in Slovenia by a cool group of field recordists and engineers. Getting one of their microphones is an effort as they don’t build many and the demand is very high. They will announce when an item is planned to be in inventory and then it is a mad dash to get your order confirmed before they sell out. There is a reason their gear is in such demand! Their version of the geophone is an omnidirectional microphone that has been adjusted specifically for field recording. For this session, I used the spike adapter so I could easily capture the sound from beneath the ground.

This recording is around 25 minutes and very different from what one might consider a natural soundscape. I find the sound to be very hypnotic and feel a sense of calm as I listen. This may come across as abstract, but this is the sound I would conjure up in my head if someone asked me to describe the heartbeat of Lake Michigan. Let me know if you agree!! As always, I love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for areas to record. Have a great week!

Recording Summary:

• Date and Time: 8/9/2022 | 9:15 PM
• Location: Benzie County, Michigan, USA
• Landscape/Feature: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore | Peterson Road Beach
• Conditions: Sunny, Warm, Gentle Wind
• Recording Device: Zoom F3
• Microphone(s): Lom Geofón
• Digital Audio Workstation: Adobe Audition

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