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The year of the Cicada


dfisk

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So, apparently every 17 years cicadas come out of the ground, hell bent on ruining your production track. If you live on the east coast, these little suckers will start appearing once the ground temp hits about 64 degrees, and they will be out literally in the billions all up and down the eastern coast. Supposedly they only live for 4 to 6 weeks, but that's plenty long to ruin some productions. Just a heads up in case you go on location scouts. 

 

post-321-0-79884500-1366052254_thumb.jpg

this wants to ruin your takes

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As a bug geek I'm looking forward to this, in doing sound work, not so much. I'm based in Maryland area so we are expecting a lot of activity. Will definitely take the opportunity to grab many recordings of these guys.

For your reference there are three species that have a 17 year cycle with varying sounds..

Magicicada septendecim (Song - http://magicicada.org/about/magi_sounds/m_sdecim_chor.mp3)

Magicicada septencassini (song - http://magicicada.org/about/magi_sounds/m_scassini_chor.mp3)

Magicicada septendecula (song - http://magicicada.org/about/magi_sounds/m_sdecuIaCI.mp3)

The septendecula is very different than the rest and here it is mixed with the M. Cassini (http://magicicada.org/about/magi_sounds/m_sdecula_chor.mp3).

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There must be different groups with different starting points for their 17 year cycle. I was working in Savannah on a film on the beach 4 years ago, and these little monsters were louder than the OCEAN.

 

Possibly useful fact - I heard (after the shoot of course) that apparently a blast from a starter's pistol will grant you about 5 minutes of peace by scaring them silent. I don't know if this is true, but I'd love to hear from any mixers that decide to try it this summer.

 

If they are crazy around Savannah again, maybe I'll give it a try just for giggles.

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There definitely are different starting points for their cycles. I remember about 10 years ago in Maryland the cicadas were plentiful!! I think there are a couple large batches of them every 17 years but one of them is huge. I believe 100dB. They are loud especially when there are millions in direct sight.

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i love nature but damn this is going to suck. just the regular cicadas in the summer time in NC can be a pain in the ass but this is going to be on a another level.

I'm coming to North Carolina in a little over a week, and the Cicada issue was discussed by our production team.  Hoping it won't be too bad when we're there but I guess it is what it is.  I'm thinking of trying an air horn blast to see if they'll quiet down.  I'll let you know where we are so if you're close enough maybe we can meet up.  Coming in on the 22nd and leaving the 27th.

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From Wiki the life cycle varies among species and the long cycle has to do with the predators that have short life cycles

 

"....Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts from two to five years. Some species have much longer life cycles, such as the North American genus, Magicicada, which has a number of distinct "broods" that go through either a 17-year or, in some parts of the world, a 13-year life cycle. These long life cycles perhaps developed as a response to predators, such as the cicada killer wasp and praying mantis.[18][19][20] A predator with a shorter life cycle of at least two years could not reliably prey upon the cicadas.[21].....

 

 

And

 

"...Some species of cicada also have an unusual defense mechanism to protect themselves from predation, known as predator satiation: because so many emerge at once, the number of cicadas in any given area exceeds the amount predators can eat; all available predators are thus satiated, and the remaining cicadas can breed in peace..."

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Growing up in Georgia, I dont remember a hot, humid, dusk in the summer without them.  I found them relaxing while eating dinner on a screened in porch after a long day of looking for snakes, lizards, and turtles at my grandfathers lake house.  This was before I was a sound mixer though... 

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Could be my imagination but I thought I observed them getting quiet every time a plane went overhead.

Maybe you could set up a thumper and send out 40 Hz at high volume during takes. I always wanted to try this but of course the set up is elaborate and impractical. And when it doesn't work you'll look really stupid! But if it does you'd be a genius!

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Must be different cycles for there 17 year life span because I've read about this impending doom a few times over the years on these forums and/or the old RAMPS forums. lol.

There are quite a few different "broods" of cicadas across the country. The ones in the Mid-Atlantic region are due out this year while the ones in Iowa, for example, are due out next year. See when they're coming to your town at http://www.cicadamania.com/where.html.

 

You can fry them up and eat them (evidently).

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  • 3 weeks later...

Probably the best entymology-themed headline ever:

PLAGUE of SEX CRAZED MONSTER GRASSHOPPERS to hit East Coast

Red-eyed, noisy-as-MOTORBIKES insect ORGY imminent

 

A horny insect horde is set to hit the East Coast of America in search of sex after lying dormant for almost two decades..

 

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/07/cicada_insect_horde/

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We came up with the perfect plan to deal with Cicada noise.  We arrived there before they were active.  Worked perfectly!

 

"before they were active". Hmm what does that mean? Like seasonal? Time of day? I bet Camera will mess up when we choose though. 

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"before they were active". Hmm what does that mean? Like seasonal? Time of day? I bet Camera will mess up when we choose though. 

Meaning they hadn't hatched yet, so there weren't any.  Mainly we were teasing our executive producer long distance about our "plan" to deal with the bugs.

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