24-HOUR RELEASE SALE INFO:
- The library was 60% off for 24 hours
- The sale ended at 10:00 am CDT on Wednesday, May 27th.
- The library will never go on sale again.
DESCRIPTION:
I learned my lesson in Hawaii. One of the best ways to record whales without noise pollution is to go out in the evening and at night. The first day in French Polynesia, I was super happy as we were sailing out of the lagoon...because all the other tour boats and guide boats were coming in. The new challenge was gonna be setting up this crazy 3D hydro rig in the dark.
The Humpback soundscapes in French Polynesia are wildly different from the ones I recorded previously. In Hawaii, it's a chorus of twenty to fifty whales singing at the same time. And in French Polynesia, it's usually a solo humpback echoing to infinity.
I'm pretty sure the male humpbacks pick locations that are optimized for acoustic sound quality...like singing in an underwater canyon so their echoes sound better. At least that's what I was imagining when laying on the deck of a sailboat in the dark in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, listening to the magical underwater soundscapes of these massive whales.
That's a wrap on my 142nd sound library from the natural world, and I hope you enjoy listening. I'll talk to you again soon.
BEHIND THE SCENES:
BLOG POST:
- Read the full blog post for more technical info – 3D Immersive Hydrophone Arrays
KEY FEATURES:
- Solo humpbacks echoing to infinity
- Small pods of 1-3 humpbacks
- Deep subwoofer-thumping calls
- Trumpeting
- Whistles & grunts
- Dewdrops
- Close & distant perspectives
SPECTROGRAM DEMO:
- A compilation of my favorite sounds from this collection.
FILE LIST:
- Click "View larger version" in the bottom right corner of the File List below to open in a new tab for easier viewing. This works best on a desktop computer.
- View spectrograms for each track, search, and filter in the Airtable spreadsheet.
FILE TYPES:
- Stereo – AB (7 meter spacing)
-
3D – these recordings were made with a 3D-Cube of 8 hydros:
- 3D-Cube: 7 meters by 7 meters by 7 meters (LxWxH)
- Channel Layout: L (1),R (2),Ls (3),Rs (4),Ltf (5),Rtf (6),LTr (7),Rtr (8)
- All 3D files are delivered as 8-channel WAVs that can be mixed into the 3D format of your choice, for example, a 7.1.4 Atmos mix.
LIBRARY INFO:
| Stereo Specs: 21 GB – 192 kHz / 24-bit – 64 stereo WAV files – Approx. 5 hours total |
| 3D Specs: 83 GB - 192 kHz / 24-bit – 64, 8-channel WAV files – 5 hours total |
| Stereo + 3D Specs: 104 GB – 5 hours total |
|
Metadata: Universal Category System, CSV, Soundminer, BWAV |
|
Categories: AMBUndwtr, Humpback Whale, Cetacean
|
|
Location: French Polynesia, October 2025
|
| Mastering: read my Field Recording Mastering Rules for more info. |
| Delivery: Instant - blazingly-fast - digital download |
| License type: Single user, royalty-free - for a multi-user license, click here |
| Sound Library Guarantee: If you're unhappy with my field recordings in any way, I'll give you store credit equal to the cost of the sound library. Read the full details – here. |
GEAR USED:
- Gladys Hydrophones x8
- Zoom F8n Pro