Chasseur de sons

The sound inside a tree trunk 🌳

During a hide, I came across a tree, made up of several trunks with a large cavity in its center.

The first time I found this tree, I took the time to check that the visible hole was not an occupied hollow or nest cavity. The cavity was shallow, I could see the back of it, and there were no signs or traces of activity.

I came back a second time to make this recording and film the scene. Looking inside, you could see a spider web stretched a little deeper in the cavity, with the spider sitting in the middle. That day, it was very windy. Instead of using my usual contact microphones, I decided to place an omnidirectional microphone inside the cavity to listen to what was happening within the tree.

🔊 The microphone picked up low and continuous frequencies that can be heard throughout the recording. Over them, the creaking sounds of the tree are clearly audible.

Who is hiding inside this little soil chimney? 🤔

I often walked past this spot without really noticing what was happening there. Along the edge of a path, in the grass, ground-nesting wild bees were living quietly below the surface.
The day I noticed them, it stayed with me. Once you notice their presence, everything becomes visible: the small soil chimneys, the constant movement, the takeoffs, the returns to their burrows.

I came back over several days to observe them, then decided to set up with an omnidirectional microphone mounted on a small boom pole to record their activity more closely. Over multiple sessions, I watched several bees entering and leaving burrows located very close to one another. Some remained visible at the entrance, with their heads facing outward.
I captured the usual sounds around the burrows: pass-bys, movement, takeoffs. Yet one sound in particular appeared only once, and it is the one heard in this video.
A bee, motionless at the entrance of its burrow, began producing a continuous sound, remarkably stable over time, with many overlapping frequencies. A few moments later, it took off.

Scientific research shows that bees can produce several types of vibrations using their thoracic muscles:
- Vibrations used to generate heat.
- Vibrations used for flight, associated with wing movement.
- Vibrations produced without flying, when the wings remain folded. These may be linked to flowers, defence, mating, communication, or nest construction.

I do not know exactly what triggered this buzz at that precise moment. What surprised me is that I had already made several recordings above these soil chimneys, including with bees positioned at the entrance, without ever capturing this sound before.

The sound of rain on pebbles 🌧️

This recording was made in the rain using a contact microphone placed under pebbles. I hid the cable beneath the stones to prevent any interference.

During the recording, I observed small invertebrates that are active in wet conditions: a black slug and a snail identified as Cochlostoma septemspirale.
Snails and slugs have thin skin and rely on moisture to avoid drying out, which is why they’re more active in the rain.

🚨 When it rains, watch where you step, as these small animals are more active and easy to miss.

A quiet recipe in the woods 🌳

Sometimes, I get so focused on listening… I forget to eat. But this time, Aude took care of it and she made us a really good recipe.

🥪 Recipe of the Day (for 2):
• 4 slices of sandwich bread
• Speculoos spread (be generous)
• 1 banana
• 8 squares of chocolate

Spread the speculoos on the bread, add banana slices and 4 squares of chocolate. Close the sandwich and cook it over the fire (or in a sandwich maker/oven). Repeat for the second one.

Enjoy it with a mugicha, a coffee or whatever you like 💚

Il se passe quoi à l’intérieur de cet arbre ?? 🌳

Un matin, j’entends un pic tambouriner au loin. Je m’approche, le son devient de plus en plus fort… mais impossible de voir l’oiseau.
En regardant autour de moi, je repère une cavité : le tambourinage vient de l’intérieur du tronc !

Je pose un micro de contact sur l’arbre pour enregistrer. J’avais déjà entendu des pics tambouriner, mais depuis l’intérieur, jamais.
Je reviens observer la loge les jours suivants. Je vois passer un pivert, une mésange bleue, puis à plusieurs reprises un pic épeiche.
En comparant les tambourinages, celui enregistré correspond davantage à celui d’un pic épeiche.

Beaver chewing wood 🦫 (ASMR)

The sound of pine cones 🌲

A few days ago, I was talking with my friend Tom. He told me that while walking in a forest near his home, he heard subtle cracking sounds, small sharp pops, but he couldn’t figure out where they were coming from.

The next day, while walking in Lyon, I passed by a place I often go through. An outdoor staircase next to a school, with a large pine tree nearby.

And there it was. The exact same sound.

Small pops, quite faint, almost lost in the noise of the city and the children playing nearby, coming from the top of the tree.
After stopping to listen for a moment, I realized that the sounds were coming from pine cones.

In warm and dry conditions, pine cones lose moisture and their scales build up tension as they try to curl outward. They are held closed by resin, which softens when heated by the sun. When it releases, the scales snap open suddenly, producing these small popping sounds.

🔊 To make these small pops easier to hear in the video, I increased their volume. In reality, these sounds are subtle and are usually completely masked by the surrounding noise.

Underwater Noise Pollution 🏭

At the beginning of this year, I joined Romain and Titouan Pilliard on board their monohull USE IT AGAIN for YOUTH, renovated according to circular economy principles. We headed offshore in Brittany to record ocean noise pollution.

I lowered my hydrophone near a boat carrying out maintenance work. The recording you hear in this video comes directly from that moment: the underwater water jet, the engine and the mechanical sounds produced by the boat. It clearly shows how sounds generated at the surface also propagate below the surface and spread through the water.

What is striking is that this type of continuous noise occupies almost the entire frequency spectrum, extending both very low and very high. It leaves little acoustic space for other sounds.

USE IT AGAIN has been working on underwater noise pollution since 2021. The first trimaran was equipped with a hydrophone under the hull to record sounds during Romain’s westabout round the world. These recordings are shared with scientists to analyze human maritime activity and better understand its impact on marine species, including in remote areas. With USE IT AGAIN for YOUTH the same underwater data collection system has been implemented to increase the impact of these measurements.

🚨 Ship noise can significantly affect marine mammals, which rely on sound to navigate, communicate and feed. It can disrupt behavior, cause stress, and, over time, alter migration patterns and reproduction cycles, ultimately influencing population dynamics.

🔍 Research is ongoing to better understand these impacts and reduce them by adapting vessel speed and routes, developing quieter technologies and regulating human activities in sensitive areas.

The sound of a pony’s belly 🐴

I recorded this with Tom L'Art Cène and it really made us smile.
When you place a microphone against a pony’s belly, you hear a steady mix of sounds. Gurgling, rumbling, sometimes even a low growl.

Most of it comes from digestion. Air and fluids moving through the gut create those noises. Hearing them is a good sign. It means everything is working as it should. If you heard nothing at all, that would be more worrying...

The sound of a pony’s belly 🐴..and L'Art Cène new haircut 💇🏻‍♂️

This recording session really made us smile.
Between the gurgles, the strange little internal rumbles and all those oddly organic sounds, getting that close to a pony’s belly was definitely an experience.

At the same time, L'Art Cène decided it was also a good moment for a haircut. So in between takes, I somehow ended up playing barber.

It turned into a slightly surreal day, full of unexpected sounds and definitely one to remember.

The drumming of a Woodpecker INSIDE a tree 🌳

One day, while walking in an area I regularly explore, I heard a woodpecker drumming in the distance. As I moved closer, the sound became stronger and more intense, yet I could not see any bird drumming where the sound seemed to come from. After looking around, I noticed a cavity in a tree trunk. At that point, it became clear that the drumming was coming from inside the tree.

To confirm this, I placed a contact microphone directly on the trunk. The recording clearly captured the drumming from inside the tree, with great precision, without disturbing the bird or causing it to leave.

After this short recording session, I decided to stay in the area to see whether the occupant of the cavity would emerge. During this observation period, the only direct interaction I witnessed was a Green Woodpecker briefly approaching the cavity before suddenly flying away. I did not observe any bird exiting the cavity at that time.

I returned the following morning and observed a bird inside the cavity. Due to low light conditions, the species could not be identified. This footage will be shown in a longer video, where I will discuss this experience in more detail.
I then carried out additional observations over several mornings and late afternoons. During these sessions, I repeatedly noticed a Tit moving around the cavity, and on several occasions, a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Was the bird drumming inside the tree a Great Spotted Woodpecker? It is difficult to say with certainty. In this area, Great Spotted Woodpeckers are common, and a few Black Woodpeckers are also present.

⚠️ The Green Woodpecker visible at the end of the video is unlikely to be responsible for the drumming. This species relies mainly on vocalisations, which can be heard at the end of the video, and only rarely drums.

I had often observed Woodpeckers drumming on tree trunks before, but never from inside.