Peter Roberts Productions ‎- PRAC5008
Earth Sounds Series, also distributed via Miramar Recordings
Chrome DDA cassette tape
Released in 1991 with a "Recommended by the American Museum of Natural History" sticker to boot, a sign of how popular environmental sound releases were by 1991 as it was becoming imperative to distinguish unique and meticulously recorded works from the wrath of similar releases - less quality knock offs, repackaged existing recordings, releases mixed with spoken word, or new age oriented music of varied quality.
Another quality recording of thunderstorm activity this one sounds notably different than the Krause and Tiebel releases.While continuous in format there are multiple recordings separated into tracks for this release, the last track having far more wildlife sounds in the background. Sound wise the thunder rumbles are more sparse with more akin to the West Texas storms I grew up hearing with long, drawn out crashes of thunder. There is also a useful test tone at the beginning to help set the volume for the listener.
Gordon Hempton is another major figure in acoustic ecology and soundscape studies in general, and quickly became a respected and accomplished figure in this genre. Just a year after this release he won an Emmy for his PBS documentary "The Vanishing Dawn Chorus." After his Earth Sounds series Gordon went on to create the Quiet Planet sound library and work on numerous multimedia projects. Perhaps his best known project is "One Square Inch of Silence" a location marked with a small red stone in Hoh Rainforest at Olympic National Park, in what has been determined by Hempton as the quietest place on Earth.