It was an honor to present at the Ivan Doig symposium at Montana State University earlier this week. Our team at the Acoustic Atlas focused on the "Soundscapes of Ivan Doig," a collection of recordings inspired by Doig's writings and his early life in rural Montana. In 2016, I made a series of trips to document sounds at locations described by Doig in his books English Creek and This House of Sky. Those recordings will eventually become part of the MSU's Ivan Doig Archive, and you can listen to a few samples here.
Cottonwood grove
This is a recording of a cottonwood grove on the American Prairie Reserve in Montana.
Listen to more of my recordings on the Acoustic Atlas.
Recordings at the Montana State Fair
My audio recordings were featured in an exhibit at the Big Sky Country State Fair in Bozeman, Montana from July 19 – 23. The exhibit was sponsored by the Montana State University Library and focused on the literary work of the late author Ivan Doig. The recordings included soundscapes of rodeo events, livestock and wildlife from around Montana.
In 2016, I took several recording trips to trace locations featured in Doig’s writings as part of the library’s new Ivan Doig archive. Doig was raised in Montana and spent much of his life writing about his experiences. He wrote more than 16 books of fiction and non-fiction.
You can read more about the Doig exhibit in an article published last May in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
American Prairie Reserve
I just returned from an incredible recording trip to the American Prairie Reserve in Montana. If you don't know about the Reserve, it is part of an ambitious project to preserve America's vanishing grassland ecosystems. They hope to create one of the largest stretches of protected land in the United States — plenty of room for these coyotes (click to hear recording) that were calling there over the weekend.
Prairie grass at sunrise. Photo by Jeff Rice.
New grant
There's a story in today's Great Falls Tribune featuring one of my upcoming projects. This summer, I'll be recording the sounds of weather along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front. The project is for the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University and just received funding from the Montana History Foundation.
The Toads of Trinity
It has been about seven months since I visited Trinity Base Camp on the White Sands Missile Range. Now spring is here and I am hard at work on the story. Stay tuned for The Toads of Trinity...
Trinity Base Camp. Photo by Jeff Rice.
Sounds for new film at Sundance
Walking Out promotional still
I am excited to hear that many of my field recordings will be used in the upcoming film Walking Out. The film is an adaptation of David Quammen's short story of the same name and premiers at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
Workshop and listening session at the School of Film and Photography January 29th and 30th
Join me in Bozeman on January 29th and 30th for a listening session and recording workshop at Montana State University's School of Film and Photography.
New video from UW Foster School of Business
I was very pleased to record the University of Washington Chorale as part of a 2016 promotional video for the university's Foster School of Business. This was recorded in the midst of a noisy public space that required creative microphone placements and extensive filtering in post-production. In the end, I hope all you will hear in the video is the excellent singing.