Almost struck out at a music festival

[AshenElm]

Last summer, I attended a music folk festival that was camping based. Until most festivals, it is mostly for musicians, so most music and many dances happen at people's camp sites. People will often have seating and a little bit of light to invite more musicians to their camp. Some big camps have tons of space and extensive set ups to allow for really big jams or dances. I could only be there for a few nights, but it seemed like a golden oprotunity: music, drinking, dancing and passionate people all over, with wandering around in the dark very normalized. This seemed like a perfect chance to try and follow a couple at a distance, place a recorder near their tent, and acquire sound. However, it turned out that the very thing that made it easy to not be seen being an overt creeper made it hard to follow people, and harder to know if they were headed back for the night or were just out for more dancing (or worse yet, playing! They could be at that for hours!)

I had several long and fruitless nights where I got a very nice buzz and heard a ton of fantastic music, but no hits on the recording front.

Once, I heard a couple talking at 2am, and figured this was my opportunity. Alas, they just fell asleep.

After we had gotten mostly packed up the last day, I was trying to get a little nap before driving home. I was laying in my hammock, mostly dozed off, when I heard exactly what I had be after the whole time. People were up and packing up all over the place, but there they were going at it in their tent, clearly audible 50 meters away. (Look I did the metric thing for the rest of the world!) I didn't want to be seen sprinting to the spot, but I turned on my recorder, tried to walk still and quiet with it (and you all know how that will sound) and place it as I made my way to the bathroom. Not great results, but hey, this section is always thin. I hope you all relate to my frustration and enjoy what I could pull from the file (it's really not much, unfortunately). The couple slept in, and thus I never saw them. Sounded middle aged when they were talking, the conversation had been about life paths and concerns of a long-term couple. I'm sad I didn't clearly catch some of the first moans that I heard, it was sexy to hear it over so much background noise and with so many people clearly outside their tent, all packing up.

Most of the moans are in the first minute, and unfortunately 45 seconds of that is me walking the recorder over.

[emmpet8]

You're right about this section being 'thin' as you put it. Thanks a lot for your efforts to make it less 'thin' and for sharing.

[sndprv]

it was sexy to hear it over so much background noise and with so many people clearly outside their tent, all packing up.

Yeah, that's the problem with camping festivals. You know someone is having sex somewhere, but these couples
are difficult to locate and record under all that noise.

Beaches are even worse. Not only do you have loud wave sounds to contend with (hopefully the couples
aren't having sex too close to the shoreline), but it's also very difficult to approach them without being
seen.

Sometimes you can get lucky if she's the really loud sort. Like the time I went for a midnight stroll on the beach
when I lived abroad. I turned around to walk back and saw a dark-coloured SUV blocking my way. So I just waited
a while to see what would happen. After a few minutes, I heard these loud and wild female moans emanating from
the vehicle's dark interior. I mean, she was really screaming away - and I could easily hear her voice above the loud
wave sounds even though I was about 100 feet away. (She sounded Eastern European.)

[AshenElm]

Yeah, that's the problem with camping festivals. You know someone is having sex somewhere, but these couples
are difficult to locate and record under all that noise.

It's a tantalizing thought: thousands of people there, maybe a third of them there with a partner, people meeting, maybe sparks fly at the dance, there surely are people screwing out there in the dark. I certainly have a fair number of times in the past, and that's with my tent set up within feet of many of my oldest friends.

Oh, and the setting for the festival is really idyllic, the campground is really heavily wooded. Honestly, the sneaking around and getting close part is easy. This year, I will simply try and see where couples get out of their tents in the morning and place recorders at my earliest convenience then search the files when I get home.

She didn't sound like she was trying to be quiet at all, no muffled sound through a pillow, no stutter of her moans breaking through her attempt to hold them back. I think it was exactly as loud as they would have been in their own bedroom. I loved it!

Sometimes you can get lucky if she's the really loud sort. Like the time I went for a midnight stroll on the beach
when I lived abroad. I turned around to walk back and saw a dark-coloured SUV blocking my way. So I just waited
a while to see what would happen. After a few minutes, I heard these loud and wild female moans emanating from
the vehicle's dark interior. I mean, she was really screaming away - and I could easily hear her voice above the loud
wave sounds even though I was about 100 feet away. (She sounded Eastern European.)

Wow, that's amazing. Were the windows down?
I'd guess they assumed the beach at night would be empty and private. If it were me, I think my pulse would race when I saw a dark SUV for weeks afterwards.

[dtron]

this gave me a good laugh. So chaotic with all the noise. Still, I REALLY appreciate the effort and risk you've taken

[sndprv]

Wow, that's amazing. Were the windows down?
I'd guess they assumed the beach at night would be empty and private. If it were me, I think my pulse would race when I saw a dark SUV for weeks afterwards.

The windows were definitely lowered. I would not have been able to hear anything otherwise, because
the beach is very narrow at that location, i.e. the SUV was close to the shoreline - and the wave sounds
were quite loud as this was definitely not during the summer when the sea is almost always calm.

It was easy to tell that there was a lot of sex happening on that beach at night due to the numbers of used
condoms (and condom wrappers) on various spots. My best recording on that beach was this one:
viewtopic.php?p=8996#p8996

[findu]

To be honest the story is a lot better than the recording.. But hey at least you tried and I can completely relate to the stories. In fact I could write a book about all the late nights, following couples, placing recorders by tents, rooms, windows etc, having girls ask for sex and the guy saying he is tired (me cursing), having the guy start and the girl saying "not now maybe later" (me cursing), domestics, dead batteries in recorders, I have taken recorders from rooms thinking they had gone to sleep only to listen back later and finding out they were just starting, people asking me "Hey, what are you doing there?", yet another 3AM finish with nothing to show for it... last week at a hotel I had a connecting room with a recorder and heard them having sex but it turned out it was 2 men! (good for them but not my cup of tea). Man- the life of a sound freak is not easy..

But yeah, this wasn't much. Better luck next time

[AshenElm]

To be honest the story is a lot better than the recording.. But hey at least you tried and I can completely relate to the stories. In fact I could write a book about all the late nights, following couples, placing recorders by tents, rooms, windows etc, having girls ask for sex and the guy saying he is tired (me cursing), having the guy start and the girl saying "not now maybe later" (me cursing), domestics, dead batteries in recorders, I have taken recorders from rooms thinking they had gone to sleep only to listen back later and finding out they were just starting, people asking me "Hey, what are you doing there?", yet another 3AM finish with nothing to show for it... last week at a hotel I had a connecting room with a recorder and heard them having sex but it turned out it was 2 men! (good for them but not my cup of tea). Man- the life of a sound freak is not easy..

But yeah, this wasn't much. Better luck next time

So 100% this! I really wouldn't have bothered sharing the sound of I didn't think everyone couldn't relate to the frustration in the story.

[edtraveller]

Outdoor sessions are incredibly difficult to capture. Hats off to all the successful contributions here!