Stream Side Morning Meditation

Finally, Pacific Northwest had a rain break over the weekend. On Saturday, I got up while it was still dark outside and drove to Cougar Mountain, arriving right about sunrise time. I knew where I was heading as I had scouted a few good spots on my previous visits. After fifteen minutes on the trails and about another fifteen minutes trekking through the brush, I reached my destination. Among several water streams cutting through Cougar Mountain's slopes, I chose North Fork Coal Creek for its gentler, more delicate flow.

At that point, it was a matter of experimentation with precise positioning of the recorder, adjusting the settings, and taking joy in the burbling of the creek accompanied by songs of the birds around.

The resulting recording came out pretty clean. In editing, I only had to cut out a few segments when a plane flew overhead, introducing the engine noise. Other than that, I fine-tuned the gain, leaving EQ and everything else true to how it was captured in the field.