DESCRIPTION:
On the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, there's beautiful blue lagoons. The mooring for the large catamaran was out in the middle of one. For each session, the captain, his deckhand and my whale guide piled into this tiny clown car of a dinghy, and I would pray we didn't capsize or sink. The tiny boat had a slow leak and was overloaded, so it was not a trivial chance.
The sailboat was my platform for recording whales out past the reef in deep water. It was also perfect as a long duration drop rig with three Audioroot 100 watt hour batteries and power combining cables... so that I could run three batteries into one recorder.
I could record continuously with eight channels at 192 kilohertz and 32-bit float for about 60 hours.
I had no idea what I'd record when leaving a 3D hydro array for that long. I'd never done it before. When scouring through the recordings, I was pleasantly surprised to find a sound that I had no idea even existed. Underwater rain plus snapping shrimp. The combo of a storm and the pops of the shrimp claws, made for an otherworldly sci-fi rain that is brimming with electric energy. Several storms blew through during my stay in Moorea and I felt lucky to have had a chance to record them.
Going exploring and finding unheard sounds like this is one of the ways I feel most alive. 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.
KEY FEATURES:
- The combination of underwater rain + snapping shrimp makes a beautiful electric rain soundscape that I didn't know existed.
- Sci-fi, electric, otherworldly precipitation
- Light, moderate, and heavy underwater rain
- Snapping shrimp clicks and pops
- Recorded in 3D. Channels 5-8 have much louder rain sounds (versus 1-4 down deep). So these soundscapes have a strong vertical component.
SPECTROGRAM DEMO:
- A compilation of my favorite sounds from this collection.
FILE LIST:
- View spectrograms for each track, search, and filter in the Airtable spreadsheet.
- Click "View larger version" in the bottom right corner of the File List below to open in a new tab.
- Mobile File List viewing is limited. Use a desktop computer for the best experience.
FILE TYPES:
- Stereo – AB (7 meter spacing)
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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: 10.5 GB – 192 kHz / 24-bit – 42 stereo WAV files – Approx. 2.5 hours total |
| 3D Specs: 42 GB – 192 kHz / 24-bit – 42, 8-channel WAV files – Approx. 2.5 hours total |
| Stereo + 3D Specs: 52.5 GB – Approx. 2.5 hours. |
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Metadata: Universal Category System, CSV, Soundminer, BWAV |
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Categories: AMBUndwtr, Rain, Snapping Shrimp
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Location: French Polynesia, Moorea, October 2025
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| 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