Wintertime in the countryside is very quiet. Hardly an animal to make a noise, forget about the birds as well, except for some Chickadees here and there. Even the crows are quiet. For field recording that leaves you with banging on things or recording flowing water and waves.

I am not one to bang on things, even armed with a recorder, it looks like people around here LIKE it quiet. A nut with a stick banging on things is frowned upon.

Back when I was a kid, those vinyl records with sound effects were all the rage. Even more, if you wanted to make your own slideshow afternoon for the whole neighbourhood. The only way to not have everyone fall asleep after 5 minutes of vacation slides was to include some serious sound.

Sound recording devices were in very short supply back then, so the next best thing was to get the records with sound effects.

When you take the ferry between Halifax and Dartmouth, you are always above the water. No sound from below ever reaches your ears. So I went out to get that sound from underwater.

Swimming and diving is not permitted close to the ferry terminals, so there was only one thing left to do.

A while ago, when it was still warm and balmy at night, I was trying to relax in my backyard. So, I prepared myself and sat in my comfy chair on the deck, only to be nagged into action by a visitor.

The visitor in question didn’t speak my language but made it clear that I had to do something and not just sit there with a drink in my hand.

Streaming in the old-fashioned sense. Recently I acquired a pair of Clippys. So the first thing to try them out was on bird song in my backyard. But by now, most of the birds have left the province for warmer climes, and I am left with a few crows and some House Sparrows.

And even they don’t want to talk to me. So I had to find a different source of sound. A stream, not too far away from my house was my next target.

I haven’t been in Halifax for leisure a long time. The boardwalk seems to have been finished for now, no more cordoned-off parts, everything is there. There are even a handful of new art installations.

Now I am not an artsy guy to begin with, it takes a lot of effort to get me excited about anything art.