On Sunday May 7th, I took part in the 24 hour global broadcast of the dawn chorus as part of Reveil 10 and thought I would share my experience in a bid to encourage others to take part next year.
The idea is that people from around the world sign up to broadcast the sound of their environment as dawn breaks during the first weekend of May. There is a comprehensive guide to setting up your broadcast available from the organisers (both for broadcasting over wifi at home or using a mobile device) and a range of suggested equipment. They are keen to point out that there is no need for expensive equipment!
I went for using my iPhone to broadcast with my Zoom H1n as an audio interface with two cheaper lavalier microphones (in the hope that the Zoom microphones would give greater clarity that the iPhone mics).
Reveil ran into some server isssues few days before the broadcast which meant that the LocusCast app they normally use wouldn't work, but they were very open about this and suggested some alternative solutions. One was to use iziCast which costs £7.99 from the App Store. I actually found this app to be much easier to use that LocusCast as it clearly shows that you are broadcasting, linked to the server, has a level monitor and a record function!
You are requested to start your broadcast 10 minutes before the start of civil twilight and to continue until 10 minutes after dawn. Part of the process it to create a broadcast page on their website and this automatically populates these broadcast times for you based on your geocoordinates!
As for my broadcast: I am working on a piece of extended writing about my experience that will follow at some point, but what I will say now is that signing up was a great incentive to get out of my comfort zone and experience my local AONB in a new light.
I noticed that some other broadcasters were incorporating live electronics or feeding the data they were capturing into Max to make music from the bird song/radiation/air pressure (maybe!) and this is something I would definitely like to find out more about. I did take along some solar power bleepers to try and add some sound to the environment, but it was a little overcast on the morning so they didn't really add much. There were also groups of people that had formed soundcamps and who spent the weekend exploring their area together, making instruments and capturing interesting sounds. This is something else to think about for next year if I can find a suitable location with cheap/free accommodation.
I encourage more people to sign up to broadcast the 2024 dawn chorus from their home/local beauty spot/top of a tree at/ anywhere at all interesting at what will be Reveil 11 next year.