JVCKENWOOD Design Corporation runs a live streaming service “Forest Notes,” which provides live sounds of forests on the Internet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year through microphones placed in forests across Japan.
As an experimental streaming service in collaboration with Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (hereafter IIJ) who provides a high-resolution audio streaming service “PrimeSeat,” we have started distributing free “high-resolution audio live streaming” service that provides high quality sound of forests in Okutama in cooperation with Tokyo University of Agriculture, who owns an experimental forest in Okutama, Tokyo.
Please take this opportunity to enjoy highly-realistic forest sounds in real time.
How to access, specifications, and system requirements of high-resolution audio
To access the high-resolution audio service, download “PrimeSeat” software, the high-resolution audio streaming service by IIJ, to your computer (Windows/Mac) or iOS device (iPhone/iPad). Read through the following instructions of “PrimeSeat” and download the software to access.
Specifications
DSD5.6 MHz, 2.8 MHz, PCM 96kHz/24bit
System requirements
Computer (Windows/Mac), iOS device (iPhone/iPad)
*Use optical cable and Wi-Fi to access this service, as transmission of high-resolution audio requires a large communication capacity.
Duration of free high resolution-audio streaming service
About one year from Tuesday, July 16, 2019 (scheduled)
*The above service is an experimental streaming service, and may be changed or terminated without notice according to research development status with interested parties in the future.
What do forest sounds in high-resolution quality sound like?
Forest sounds consist of a variety of delicate and feeble sounds including cries of various animals, rustling of tree leaves, raindrops, and drips of water. The authentic feeble sounds of forest produced by high-resolution audio enable listeners to experience the presence of a wide-spread deep forest, even its breath, as if they are right in the middle of the woods in Okutama.
About “Forest Notes Okutama Project”
“Forest Notes Okutama Project” was launched by JVCKENWOOD Design Corporation, Jun Kitamura Architects, and Tokyo University of Agriculture for the purpose of utilization of forest resources of the entire Okutama area in Tokyo, collaboration with tourism, and research in the Okutama experimental forest of Tokyo University of Agriculture. By utilizing JVCKENWOOD’s expertise in the area of audio-visual and communications, we are engaged in collaborative research to enhance added value of wood resources, to strengthen the appeal of forests, and to promote tourism. Also, we are considering use of live-streaming sound to verify the effect of forest-bathing or to record phenology of the ecosystem, as well as forestry research using video analysis.
Received Japan Wood Design Award 2019 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
“FOREST DOME - the sound of forests” is part of this project, delivering the “live sounds of forests” and the scent of Okutama to facilities, event venues, and offices in the center of a city. By making walls and the entire frame vibrate, the interior of the dome is filled with forest sounds, and provides a time and space for rest and relaxation with the close presence of the forest while you are in the city. By using thinned trees effectively without discarding them, we are expressing our wish that this becomes an opportunity for people to think about a recycling-oriented lifestyle, instead of a consumptive lifestyle.
(FOREST DOME was designed by Jun Kitamura Architects, and received the Good Design Award 2016 of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Wood Design Award 2016 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. This time, “FOREST DOME - the sound of forests,” which was produced by the three entities, received the Wood Design Award 2019 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. (Heart-warming design award)
On visit day of Tokyo University of Agriculture Setagaya Campus
Exhibition of “FOREST DOME - the sound of forests” (August 4th and 5th, 2019)
