>
>I guess that brings up a more general question, however; to what extent
>can topography be relied upon to block undesirable sources of noise? It
>seems that topography can make a significant difference potentially, as I
>know that when I hike up one of the mountains right near town the noise of
>traffic, dogs, machinery, etc. drops dramatically once the trail goes to
>the side of the ridge facing away from town (the sounds are very audible
>at the 1800 foot level or so, just a few steps up and over the ridge line
>and it seems very quiet).
That depends on atmospheric conditions. Sometimes you can get in the
"acoustic shadow" of a hill and that works...at least to the human
ear. However, good recording equipment is unforgiving when it comes
to picking up noise from a distance. The biophony tends to be fairly
light in general density around SE Alaska. So one has to crank the
input levels to get something recorded at levels that are convincing.
The result is that you pick up the sound of distant streams and human
noise you never heard before and that is the main problem. Took 12
years of trips recording in SE to get enought material for one 60
minute album ("Whales, Wolves and Eagles of Glacier Bay"). Took about
3 days in the Yukon Delta because the vocal critter density was so
rich.
Bernie
--
Wild Sanctuary
P. O. Box 536
Glen Ellen, CA 95442
t. 707-996-6677
f. 707-996-0280
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|