Recording rainforest ambiences at Kondalilla National Park

If there was one thing we looked forward to recording most when we moved out to Australia, it was nature. Often us sound designers find ourselves stuck in the studio or in front of the computer gazing at the outside world hoping the next job will take us to the great outdoors. Luckily for us, so far we’ve managed to be out and about quite a lot this month.

Kondalilla National Park

The Kondalilla National Park sits in south east Queensland in the Blacknall Range. It’s a protected area featuring lush rainforest, creeks, waterfalls and beautiful views. In fact this was probably the first place we visited when we arrived and so far, it’s never disappointed. We’ve swam in the creek lakes and seen huge goannas and even brushed past the odd snake.

The air of the rainforest is filled with the sound of cicada and other insects during the summer months, but at this time of year (autumn), the air is noticeable quieter, with the odd chirp from a lone cricket but generally a much calmer and more peaceful atmosphere. So armed with our new Sony PCM D100 portable recorder we dived in to the forest and got recording.

Normally entering from the northern end of the park, this time I headed in from the south and straight into a meandering creek. This long stretch of water gives me ample opportunities to gather a range of creek and water sound effects from deeper water to shallow fast flowing falls over rocks. It’s a bit of a climb over and through some slightly risky sections (one eye out for snakes) but I made it to a fantastic section and set up the recorder.

The free sound effects of the creek and waterfalls recorded at Kondalilla can be found here.

Next I moved back into the rainforest and up towards the main falls. Its a pleasant and unchallenging walk, but I barely bumped into anyone, just a couple of people also enjoying the forest. Obviously I stopped to record as many sound effects as possible so captured some general forest ambience, some rock and stone impacts and also some footsteps. Following the signage that helpfully leads you round the tracks, I headed down towards the falls. Being scared of heights I’m not usually happy with this sort of thing, but in the name of sound effects, I did it…

The falls are about 90 feet high and the water starts a gentle flow from the top rock face, into a rocky section and then down off the end into the creek below. I took this opportunity to record as many variations as possible, from close up water sounds to distant ambiences. The results are also found in the waterfall sound effects category.

It was at this point I ran out of time and needed to head back. But given the proximity of the park to our studio and home, I’ll be back visiting and recording again soon. There are plenty more parts of the forest I’ve yet to visit and every time I’ve been so far, the sound is completely different.

We recorded all the sound effects at the park on the Sony PCM D100 recorder. This is a versatile and great sounding device so we were pleased to get our hands on one and put it to the test.

So if you’re looking for free rainforest, waterfall or creek sound effects, you’ll find a great selection here at zapsplat.com