Xitou, September 2026
Xitou Nature Education Area, Nantou County, 5th September 2026
溪頭自然教育園區, 南投縣, 2026年9月5日
One of the biggest differences between the soundscape of Xitou today and my childhood memories may be related to environmental changes following the 1999 Jiji earthquake. What were once small, gently flowing streams have become much larger after heavy rain, with numerous streams carrying substantial amounts of water appearing throughout the area. As a result, Xitou is no longer as quiet as I remember it.
In early autumn this year, while there was still a hint of summer in the air, I returned to the same location to record again, hoping to compare how the soundscape changes with the seasons.
Compared with last summer and this spring, the wildlife was much quieter in autumn, though the forest was not as silent as it is in winter. Cicadas and birds could still be heard from time to time.
However, several consecutive days of rain had created numerous streams of various sizes throughout the park, and the sound of flowing water was clearly audible even at my recording location. To address this, I set up an additional pair of cardioid microphones at the same spot, pointing them away from the stream in an attempt to reduce the interference from the water.
The first two recordings above clearly demonstrate how differently microphones with different directional patterns capture the soundscape. After this experiment, I still feel that omnidirectional microphones are better suited to capturing the overall ambience of natural sounds in the forest.
📍 Location: 23.674380, 120.797943 Nantou County, Taiwan
🌤 Weather: 21°C, Cloudy, 89% Humidity, 0.6-1.2 m/s Wind Speed
🌿 Ambient Sound: Cicadas, Birds, Formosan Reeve's muntjac, Flowing Water
🎤 Setup (Track 1): Lom Usi Pro (AB50), Zoom F3
🎤 Setup (Track 2-3): Sennheiser MKH 8040 (NOS), Sound Devices Mixpre-3 II
🎚️ Editing (Track 1): 80Hz HPF 24 dB/oct
🎚️ Editing (Track 2-3): 80Hz HPF 24 dB/oct, +6dB Gain
溪頭, 2026年9月
現在溪頭的聲音與我童年記憶中最大的不同，或許來自 921 地震後的環境變化。過去只是潺潺流動的小溪，如今在大雨過後，園區內便會出現許多水量豐沛的溪流，讓整體環境不再像從前那般安靜。
今年初秋，趁著夏意尚未完全消退，我選擇在相同地點再次錄音，希望藉此比較不同季節的環境聲音變化。
與去年夏季和今年春季相比，秋天的生物安靜了許多，但也不像冬季那般沉寂，仍然偶爾可以聽見蟬鳴與鳥叫。
不過，由於前幾天連續降雨，園區內形成了許多大大小小的溪流，即使在我錄音的地點，也能清楚聽見流水聲。因此，我在相同地點另外架設了一對心形指向麥克風，並將麥克風朝向遠離溪水的方向，希望藉此降低流水聲的干擾。
從上面前兩段錄音中，可以明顯聽出不同指向性的麥克風所捕捉到的聲音有很大的差異。經過這次嘗試，我仍然認為，在森林環境中，全指向麥克風更適合用來捕捉四周自然聲音的整體氛圍。