I took a drive out Bonanza road looking for a scene to share with you. I turned around right before a big flowing glacier at the Eldorado/Bonanza creek crossing and stopped to get out and look around. And that’s when I heard Bonanza Creek flowing!
It was frozen over a week ago, but spring is settling in!
I was so excited for the chance to record the sound of a creek! But there was a lot of snow between me and the creek!
I geared up and boldly stomped my way into the snow. I was heading for the picnic table, thinking if I could at least get there, I’d be able to see the creek, but it was too high, with a bad angle. And then my next step landed on nothing. Uh oh, I think I just stepped over the bank of the creek! I had to use my tripod poles to push my momentum back up on the slope!
I shifted to the left and pushed my legs through the snow to the edge of the trees, putting my tripod up high, high enough to see the water.
Then I pressed record and returned to sit on the frozen picnic table for 17 minutes while the video was made. As I sat there, I cringed when I noticed what I had forgotten to do. I carefully tie up the neck strap on my camera to the tripod so the wind doesn’t cause it to move around and make noise. But I had just used my camera off the tripod to get a picture of a fox alongside the road, and I had forgotten to tie it back up. I can hear it blow and tap against the tripod stand a few times in the final video. đŸ˜¬ Oops!
By the way, this is the free claim in the summer, a place on Bonanza Creek where tourists can pan for gold. That’s where there are picnic tables.
Here is the result!
I wasn’t crazy about the angle while I was recording, but it turned out all right? I love that this video has movement to see and a sound that isn’t just wind.
I learned a bit more about audio compression, which made the water sound better. But I can’t hear any of the birds over the sound of the water.
With the stereo microphone system, you can hear the river more in the left channel, where the sound was relative to the recorder. Do you like that? Or would you prefer more of a balance?
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