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Cicadas – Brood V

by bbob drake

supported by
Arlene and Larry Dunn
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michael billings
michael billings thumbnail
stephen petrus
stephen petrus thumbnail
Ernst Karel
Ernst Karel thumbnail
Michael Rosenstein
Michael Rosenstein thumbnail
drawfork
drawfork thumbnail
chefbillbailey
chefbillbailey thumbnail
/
1.
Cicadas - Brood V 59:49

about

Composite recording based on multiple field recordings of periodical cicadas (genus Magicicada) made in Cuyahoga Valley National Park during their emergence in 2016. This is a stereo mixdown of an 8-channel surround-sound installation first presented at the Satellite Gallery in Cleveland in 2017. These sounds also appear in a geo-located sound walk currently installed at the Kendall Lake area of CVNP; more information at fluxmonkey.com/cicadas/

About Cicadas:
Unique to the eastern United States, periodical cicadas appear in either 13 or 17 year cycles, for about a month, in particular geographic areas that define “broods” (between emergences, they live underground as nymphs, subsisting on tree root sap). All of the cicadas in a brood appear in the same year, but different broods are staggered.  So our eastern Ohio brood V last appeared in 2016, when these recordings were made, and will not appear again until 2033. Brood V includes 3 species of Magicicada:  M. septendecim, M. cassini, M. septendecula.  Each of these species have unique sounds and song patterns.  Their singing also varies depending on their activity. Only the males sing, and they often gather in trees and sing in unison (called “chorusing”), as a way of increasing their ability to attract females.  The male abdomen is largely hollow and is used as a resonant chamber to amplify their sound.  Cicadas can chorus at extremely high volumes; I measured sound levels in excess of 95 decibels when making these recordings. 

Regarding recording, researcher David Dunn writes:

"Put simply, there are many kinds of sonic phenomena that cannot be adequately represented through traditional audio recording conventions. An excellent example is the collective sound of cicadas as an emergent global behavior. What most observers experience is a complex dynamical interaction between multiple individual soundmakers distributed over a large spatial distance. The phenomenon almost stands alone in nature for its acoustic depth and complexity. Stereo recordings fail miserably to capture the effect and single-point surround arrays (ambisonic) do only slightly better depending upon the accuracy and complexity of the playback circumstances." (Dunn, David, et al. 2020. “Recording Meta-soundscapes: Synchronized Multi-frame Audio Field-recording at a Large Spatial Scale.” OSF Preprints. February 28. doi:10.31219/osf.io/9tz2w.)

Dunn suggests that one aspect that eludes capture via recording are psycho-acoustic phenomena, where the brain creates some aspects of the sound during the listening process.  He also referred to the phenomenon of "stochastic resonance," where intelligibility is enhanced by noise within a communicative system rather than masked. I am reminded of Maryanne Amacher’s work with psychoacoustic illusions—sound shapes or "presence." 

In this recording, all sounds are direct recordings of the cicadas. No additional modifications or effects (reverb, phaseshifter/chorus, etc.) have been added, but I have layered and subtly manipulated phase via time shifts to try and recreate some of the experience of chorusing cicadas. It is intended to be played loud. I am indebted to the Cicadas for producing the music.

credits

released January 23, 2023

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fluxmonkey Cleveland, Ohio

Experimental electronic &
electroacoustic improv from Cleveland OH

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