Free Yellowstone recordings

Audio producers from around the country are starting to discover a treasure trove of free recordings from Yellowstone National Park. The recordings were made in part through a cooperative agreement between Yellowstone-based recordist Jennifer Jerrett and the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University where I am program director. We worked together to create the Acoustic Atlas’ Yellowstone library, which continues to upload more recordings every year.

Check out this story in the online publication Live for Live Music:

Yellowstone audio samples keep National Parks’ spirit alive during government shutdown

Esri features 'Sounds of the Wild West' story map

There’s a nice blog on the Esri site about the Sounds of the Wild West story map. It offers a behind the scene look at how Esri worked with my group at the Acoustic Atlas to feature sounds of four of Montana’s major ecosystems.

Story Map: Sounds of the Wild West

New story map

I’m really proud of this collaboration with the Esri Story Maps team. We worked together to incorporate sounds into a story map featuring four of Montana’s major ecosystems. You can scroll through the map below or see the original at: https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2018/sounds-of-the-wild-west/index.html.

Tidal forest

This tidal forest, where a mixture of salt and fresh water flows through dense stands of evergreens, is now one of the last places of its kind. I took this video at Otter Island on the Snohomish River with the help of scientists at NOAA and a little inspiration from Joseph Conrad. The music is an outtake from the Flesh and Blood sessions.

Video from my trip to Otter Island today.

Music for the film Flesh and Blood

Keep an eye out for Neil Brookshire’s new short film Flesh and Blood, “an intimate tale of secrets, fear, redemption, and time.” I wrote some music for it.

Appearing in this week's New York Times Magazine

It was an honor to contribute to this week’s special issue of The New York Times Magazine. As Adweek reports, the issue will be “heard, not read.” The issue is now online and you can hear my recording of the Pando Clone, a unique stand of genetically identical aspens that constitute one of the world’s largest living organisms.

Relax and take cover

This thunderstorm in Utah goes well with scented candles if you don't get blown off the side of a mountain by a billion volts of electricity.

A relatively "quiet" thunderstorm recorded by Jeff Rice in the Uinta Mountains of Utah.

Surrounded by bison

Early August is the height of the bison rut at the American Prairie Reserve in Montana. Yesterday, we found a group of about 70 bison that were pawing the earth and challenging each other for mates. APR's bison management specialist Scott Heidebrink helped me get close to the herd without getting stomped and I couldn't have made the recordings without his help. Thanks, Scott!

A bison bellows during the rutting season. Recorded on 8/8/18 by Jeff Rice for the Acoustic Atlas at the American Prairie Reserve in Montana.

Toads of Trinity now on NPR

Here's my story about the toads that sang us into the atomic age. Listen to The Toads of Trinity: Witnesses To The Atomic Age on NPR's Here & Now. 

This July 16, 1945 photo, shows the mushroom cloud of the first atomic explosion at Trinity Test Site, New Mexico. (AP Photo)

The Toads of Trinity

They were all there. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the bomb. Edward Teller, the original Dr. Strangelove. Enrico Fermi, creator of the first nuclear reactor, was taking bets on whether the blast would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the world. The scientists were waiting, nervously, for the morning to come.

Robert Oppenheimer’s brother Frank couldn’t sleep. He was listening to the strange sound coming from the edge of camp on July 15, 1945, the night before Trinity. The world was about to enter the atomic age and Frank Oppenheimer was thinking about frogs.

It had rained that night, and “All the frogs in that area,” he recalled “had gathered in a little pond by the camp and copulated and squawled all night long.”

You can hear more about the "frogs" (toads, technically) of Trinity in a story I am producing for NPR that airs next week. I visited Trinity Base Camp several times over two summers in a quest to find and record those toads. Here's what they sounded like on August 1st, 2017 — and possibly on July 15, 1945 just before the world changed forever.

Green toads call on August 1st, 2017 near Trinity Base Camp on the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Recorded at 11:50 PM by Jeff Rice for the Acoustic Atlas at the Montana State University Library.

Here's a 360 degree video that allows you to see Trinity Base Camp in all directions. Just click on the screen and move the image. 

A 360-degree video of Trinity Base Camp at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This video was recorded on August 1, 2017 by Jeff Rice for the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University. Copyright Jeff Rice, 2018. All rights reserved.

This video was recorded on August 1, 2017 by Jeff Rice for the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University. Copyright Jeff Rice, 2018. All rights reserved. 2 MAR 2018 APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION IS UNLIMITED

Support for my recordings at Trinity Base Camp was provided by the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University.