River Maas NL 738PM 210626_0299.ogg

It is a beautiful summer evening by the river.


People scurry along the water and there is hardly any wind. The cuckoo calls in the distance and a man imitates him. Several green woodpeckers call each other. There are many more birds such as the finch, crow, blackcap, common tern, redstart, oystercatcher, chiffchaff, blackbird, thrush.
Children play in the distance. There is a recreational lake on the lake behind the river. There are boats going back and forth. There is some traffic on the winter dike.

After 13 minutes, two speedboats pass by. The last sails on the other side of the river so that the waves slowly come ashore later.
Occasionally there is a breath of wind in the foliage.

At eight o'clock (after 22 minutes) you will hear several church bells indicating the time.

After 33 minutes, in the far distance, you can hear a middle-aged woman singing scales with her face towards the setting sun. Her way of worshiping the sun or nature as she stands. It is a pity that she is not stable and her repertoire is not extensive. She keeps it up, with interruptions, for fifty minutes.
For a moment, common terns come calling and another speedboat passes by. He slowly disappears around the bend in the river.

After 53 minutes a large, slow speedboat and an oystercatcher pass by.

The man on the boat who comes by after 70 minutes is clearly in good spirits. He makes himself heard clearly. The cause of his singing is obvious; there is a microphone on the side and there is a man with headphones. He makes me smile.
The children on the other side of the water are having a lot of fun.
And the woman just keeps on singing.
A zander and the common terns splash in the water hunting for fish.

After 72 minutes, a couple appears on the scene. They talk and seem in love. They don't feel like being near me and leave. Or would not feel like the singer? We will never know.

After 82 minutes, the scale singer has lost her dog. She calls and she calls, but the dog doesn't respond because he likes it much more with me and she can't see us behind the breakwater.
The pike-perch and the common terns are now plunging closer and closer into the water. The heron flies by calling, but does not dare to land for a fresh meal of fish so close to me.

When the weather is nice in the summer there are always motorbikes that tear over the dikes. During the weekend, sound recording is of no use during the day because there are dozens of motorbikes. It is now very bad that protests against the noise overlay and the dangers are being organized by dyke residents. The government and the police are also starting to wake up. No action will be taken against women who sing out of tune. Haha.

So this is a summer evening by the river in the Netherlands. A special painting.

More recordings here: https://freesound.org/browse/geotags/?c_lat=51.75329054970001&c_lon=5.3464115387192805&z=15.049821675426958

More short ambient recordings along Dutch waters: https://freesound.org/search/?q=klankbeeld+river+embankment&f=&s=duration+asc&advanced=0&g=1

More long ambient recordings along Dutch waters: https://freesound.org/search/?q=klankbeeld+river+embankment&f=&s=duration+desc&advanced=0&g=1

Date/time: June 26st Saturday 2021, start 728PM, sunset 10PM

Weather in time: 24-22c, Partially cloudy, wind ENE 3-0bft with gusts to 21-4 km/h, 1017 hPa, humidity 49-57%.

Location; river Maas near Viewpoint Fort Blauwesluis, Gewande, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands (Holland), Europe. Gps: 51.753049 5.348143

Gear chain: Sennheiser mkh30/50 MS, in Rycote cyclone small, windjammer > Sound Devices 302 >Tascam dr-100 Mk2. Decoded Mid-side to STEREO. LMR -3,-3,-8dB. Low-cut 6dB / octave and blimp audio correction. At the end of the editing some compression.

If any of these sounds have been of help, and you are feeling charitable, please do consider donating to Freesound to help keep the site running (a link is also on the home page). Any donations are greatly appreciated!

YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO CREDIT/ATTRIBUTE me (klankbeeld) and freesound.org in your work if you use this sound.
Please do it like this if possible: https://freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/
Thank you.
This sound may NOT be used in (royalty free) stock material. Don't put my raw sounds/files on youtube or anywhere else. You can use them in creative way as a part of art-form, but not "re-distribute" as (royalty free) stock material. Thank you.