How to Record Bird Calls Without a VideoCam and Put it on YouTube

With all the numerous electronic gadgets around these days that are sound enabled (like handphones and ipods) you can use your recordings to make ringtones, alarm buzzers, short video clips, incorporate them in electronic greeting cards etc.

To record pure sound, however, requires quite a bit of professional equipment and technical knowledge. There are numerous professional sound recording articles on the net and this is not one of them. But if you like to just muck around without too much fuss then here are some notes on how to stick one of these unprofessional cuts on the net.

Recording Bird Calls

1. Pick a quiet location away from traffic.

2. Use a recorder that can tape in mp3 or wav for an easier post editing time. (You can pick one up at the store these days for much less than a videocam otherwise borrow an Ipaq.)

3. Try to get as close to the source of sound as possible and record at 5 seconds of track.

Editing the Track

4. There are quite a number of music editors online. But I think I’d stick with Jamglue (www.jamglue.com) ‘cos it’s really quite simple to use.

5. Jamglue allows you to add a track and then splice it into bits of sounds. So if the track has multiple types of bird calls, it’s easier to first isolate each of the different types of calls and then recombine them for a cleaner sound.

6. The best way to do this is to splice a new track for each type of bird call. So if there are 4 types of bird calls recorded within the track, use the “add” button to add 4 tracks of the same recording to be spliced one for each type of call.

7. Now that the sounds are isolated, they can be recombined, repeated and or remixed. Just move the sound bits around and duplicate them to make repeated sounds.

8. After the final cut is made consider where to store the file next. Jamglue will store the file in its server if you set up an account with them. Otherwise use Firefox Downloadhelper (http://www.downloadhelper.net/) plug-in to download it (as an mp3) into your hard drive.

Make a Movie of The Track

9. Next is to make a movie of the track by associating it with some pictures. For pc users, Windows Movie Maker will suffice. (Click here to download the Windows XP version of Windows Movie Maker.)

10. Start Windows Movie Maker and upload the track and any pictures you want associated with it.

11. Then drag and drop the track and the pictures into the storyboard at the bottom of the window. Don’t forget to add special effects like fading, a title and credits.

12. Save the movie into the hard disk and voila!, we have a movie in wmv.

Upload the Movie to YouTube

13. Go to YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) and open your account.

14. Go to My Accounts. Click on the upload link, select the file and that’s it. Go have a few beers or take a nap while you wait ageeeeessss for YouTube to process the uploaded video.

Now, how complicated is that?

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

On a miserably, hot and humid day when the air con breaks down and there isn't a beer or even the remote possibility of a swim in sight the next best thing is ice cream.

Passion fruit (passiflora edulis) has a fragrant aroma and a complex sweet and sour flavour. It is grown in many frost-free countries and widely consumed as a fruit or juice. It is also used to flavour desserts such as cakes and mousse, shaved ice, yogurt, soft drinks and syrup.

Besides being quite yummy, the fruit is also quite nutritious. Consumed fresh, passion fruit is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber. In Puerto Rico the consumption of passion fruit is believed to lower blood pressure.

This recipe for passion fruit ice cream from Falling Cloudberries - A World of Family Recipes is really yummy and easy to make.

250 ml pouring cream (single cream)

250 ml milk

230g caster sugar (superfine)

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Juice of 2 small lemons

Pulp of 6 fresh passion fruits

Put the cream, milk and sugar in a bowl and stir until dissolved. Put the rest of the ingredients in and transfer it to the ice cream maker if you have one, following the manufacturer's instructions.

If you don't have an ice cream maker don't despair. After dissolving the sugar in the mixture of cream and milk cover the bowl and put it in the freezer. After an hour, remove the bowl from the freezer and give an energetic whisk with a hand or electric whisk, then return the bowl to the freezer. Whisk again after a couple of hours, this time adding the lemon juice and rind and passion fruit pulp. Return it to the freezer. When it is nearly firm, give one last whisk, transfer it to a suitable freezing container with a lid and let it set in the freezer until it is firm.