Fushan Botanical Garen, May 2022
Fushan Botanical Garen, Yilan County, 9th May 2022
福山植物園, 宜蘭縣, 2022年5月9日
My earliest field recording dates back to 2009, at Fushan Botanical Garden. I visited the garden several times during those years, and its remarkable tranquility left a lasting impression on me. Later, when I began to feel that I might never have another chance to return, I decided to preserve its soundscape.
At the time, I was completely new to field recording. To avoid capturing visitors' voices, I arrived at the entrance checkpoint early in the morning and waited for the park to open. Armed with nothing more than a Zoom H4n—and without even a windscreen—I wandered through the garden recording as I walked. Unsurprisingly, the recordings were filled with handling noise and wind buffeting the microphones. Even so, for years afterward, I found those "failed" recordings comforting enough to fall asleep to.
Many years later, after discovering the true joy of field recording, I often thought about returning to Fushan Botanical Garden to record its soundscape again. That opportunity finally came in 2022. The garden was still wonderfully quiet, but voices carried astonishingly far through the valleys. After removing recordings containing human voices, only a small number remained suitable for sharing.
In this recording, you can hear the frequent calls of the Taiwan barbet. I don't remember hearing them here during my visits many years ago, which makes this recording feel all the more special.
📍 Location: 24.759922, 121.584202 Yilan County, Taiwan
🌤 Weather: 25°C, Cloudy, 88% Humidity
🌿 Ambient Sound: Birds, Insects, Rustling Leaves
🎤 Setup: Sennheiser MKH8040 (ORTF), Sound Devices Mixpre-6II
福山植物園, 2022年5月
我最早的田野錄音是 2009 年的福山植物園。那幾年去了幾次，對格外寧靜的環境留下深刻印象。也因此，當後來覺得以後可能沒機會再去福山植物園時，才決定要把聲音記錄下來。
當時為了不想錄到人聲，特地一大早到管制站，在開園前就等候入場。但那時只是剛接觸錄音的新手，手上拿著 Zoom H4N，也沒裝上防風罩，在園區裡一邊走一邊錄。可想而知，錄音裡都是手持噪音和風吹過麥克風產生的爆音。即便如此，在往後的好幾年裡聽著那些「失敗」的錄音，依然可以入睡。
多年之後，當真正發現錄音的樂趣，總會想著要再回到福山植物園，重新記錄那片聲音。直到 2022 年終於有機會再次成行。園區內環境靜謐，遊客講話的聲音就像山谷回音可以傳得很遠，所以刪除掉人聲後，能夠分享的並不多。
這段錄音可以聽見很多五色鳥的鳴叫聲，印象中多年前並未曾在這裡聽過這樣的聲音。