Just back from a couple of days recording Albert's lyrebirds. Listening to
the main recordings I was puzzled by the low-pitched background roar. Not
very loud, and I'll be able to filter it out, but most annoying. Tascam DAT
and Telinga shouldn't do that.
Then I heard a change in the roar that made me think "motor traffic". But
I'm down in a valley where there's no road. What gives? Finally concluded
it was this: the parabol was pointing towards the head of the valley, very
steep sided, precipitous in places. And about 2 1/2 km behind me at the
mouth of the valley, there was a busy highway. Reckon the sound was
funnelled up the valley and I was getting a sort of combined echo.
Put me in mind of an earlier experience. After the Second World Conference
on National Parks in '72, I had the privilege of visiting several US
National Parks with relevance for Park management here in Australia. Big
Bend in Texas was one. Some fascinating management problems ... and
imaginative and effective solutions.
But back to sound. Behind the village where I stayed, the high vertical
cliffs of the Chisos (spelling?) Mountains loomed over us. I could see
that it was possible to skirt around the precipitous part and get on top
with no more than a stiff walk, and I reckoned that from the top I'd have a
superb view and get a better appreciation of that fascinating Park.
The view was indeed magnificent, but when I walked to the edge to look down
on the village I'd come from, I was greeted by a blast of pop music from a
juke-box. I've no idea now, how many hundreds of feet high those cliffs
were, but some freak of acoustics channelled that sound up to me as clear as
anything. (Didn't do much for the wilderness experience, though!)
Cheers
Syd
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