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Re: Great Natural Sound Recordings: Steering Committee for Digital S

Subject: Re: Great Natural Sound Recordings: Steering Committee for Digital S
From: "Gianni Pavan" gianni_pavan
Date: Sat May 5, 2007 11:59 am ((PDT))
At 18.20 05/05/2007, you wrote:
><snip>
>I completely agree about compressed and uncompressed options. My
>thought exactly.
>The uncompressed takes more space, but what the heck?, space is
>cheap these days and
>getting cheaper. However, this will be a low in number, highest of
>high quality project
>exhibiting the best sounds ever recorded, so volume should not be
>problem, at least
>initially.

I can offer space for a backup and also some bandwidth for a mirror.
I just received 10x500GB disk space for backups. Also I'm starting a
pilot project about a shared sound library, thus I should have in the
near future some chance to setup and maintain a TeraByte space for
sound sharing.
To begin I can offer backup of the whole system you setup. This is in
the direction of "preservation".

>I also agree about recording data. Great idea.

as others pointed out, file headers may now hold some basic data and
may be future recorders could be improved with a GPS input for
georeferencign recordings! I do that when recording on a laptop.

>I suggest that to get started -- someone just start nominating
>excellent recordings: They
>need to be identified first, and someone probably will have a great
>time auditioning them.
>This will take some time and a collection would build slowly. This
>would seem to be "fun,"
>which more than anything, is the name of the game for me.

I have some sounds in mind, probably a very small and very biased
sample of what is available, but each of us should have its own list
to share...
I mean sounds that are very special for their technical excellence or
for the very special situation (event, behaviour, ecological
situation, etc) they show.
I think it is important to clearly distinguish among:
- focused recordings: for example with a parabola to focus on just one subj=
ect
- soundscapes: recordings where all sources are preserved in a XX
degrees space. Here it is important to specify the mic
characteristics, placement, and orientation.

then it is important to clearly declare if the recordings are
unfiltered or filtered. Sometimes hard filtering is required to bring
a subject to foreground. It is important to explain what type of
filtering has been used, and maybe offer both unfiltered and filtered files=
.


>I have in mind certain criteria for Candidate Recordings:
>
>1. Technical excellence A+ recordings. The best. I have in mind a
>ranking system if this
>continues to go forward.
>
>2. Richness and interestingness of sound: including not only unique
>sounds, but
>unusually pleasant ones that might make for background ambience.
>Many natural sounds
>are "in your face," such as great recordings of Spotted owls,
>especialy when made with
>parabolas. These are interesting, but people are adapted to music,
>and you can't play this
>while making dinner or reading a book, or typing on your computer.
>They are a curiosity
>often not interesting to the new generation, but only to the serious
>naturalist. The goal is
>to recruit more naturalists.
>
>3. Recording Data, as you suggest: (a). Date, (b). Place, (c).
>Recordist, (d). Millieu or
>Ecosystem, (e). Recording gear, (f). As much ecological or
>anthropological data as can be
>supplied and (g). Links to recordists' sites or information.
>
>On these subjects:
>
>1.. Ecosystem sounds (non-human). This arouses religious feelings in
>me, but that is
>personal.
>
>2. Species sound ("soloists") -- such as great birdong--I have
>immediately in mind the
>Sage Grouse, the Buff Collared Nightjar, the Little Nightjar, the
>Great Potoo, but I know
>mainly birds of the Americas. There are also elk, and coyote, and
>wolves, and whales, etc.
>
>3. Sounds of human cultural diversity (language, song, music,
>ritual, non-industrial
>marketplace or village etc). This is the preservation of diverse
>cultural adaptation to
>ecosystems.

just recently I unsuccessfully searched for examples of voices to be
used for a lesson on the evolution of human languages.

>There are also some interesting industrialized ritual sounds -- the O.U.
>Texas football game is one ritual that comes to mind. I have been
>there and the sound
>sends chills down your spine. An army of 40,000 on either side of
>the field shouting in a
>primitive ritual of annihilation. This must have been what ancient
>batttles were like
>(Cannae?) Creativity is key here.

I would reserve a special section to these...

>There are probaly many archives out there with recordings of famous
>events: I can think
>of FDR's speech here of "A Day That Will Live in Infamy," or "Mr.
>Gorbachev, Take Down
>Your Wall" or "Ich in ein Berliner" in June of 1963, Therefore, we
>can't dillute this
>idea by recreating something that full time employees are already
>doing. It has to have its
>own niche.

I agree. The British Library, for example, has a huge collection of
famous talks...
There is no need to try to duplicate that.

>Accordingly, the key is to pick the unique and not easily
>commercially available, and to
>wrap in a conceptual package that instructs and inspires, and
>hopefully in my mind, allows
>people to use the sound in their environments.
>
>You would seem to have big headstart over in Europe, and can perhaps
>think about that
>aspect. Europe has a refined landscape, and a culture less dependent
>on machines. Much
>of the US did not even develop until after the invention of the
>auto, so our human
>ecosystems are entrenched in that sound, and the sound of airconditioners.

I often thought about recording the noises made by ancient works...

>In Europe you have villages and ways of interacting that go back way
>before the industrial
>revolution. That is one reason why we Americans enjoy visiting. And
>architecture. I
>wonder who has made the best ever recordings inside gothic cathedrals?
>Which one has the best acoustics? Do you have that info handy?

A friend of mine studies the acoustics of old theaters and
cathedrals; he has a huge collection of "impulse responses" he uses
to convolve with recordings made in anechoic rooms. I'll ask him if
he hase true recordings made in those old temples of music and culture.

as important as those there are the recordings made by travelers
around the world....  "Annapurna" - now I don't remember the Author -
is one of those lovely recording where the praire wheels of a tibetan
temple bring you xx thousand km away from your home....

>That would seem to be a
>good one to start on the western world/human side: The best
>recording of ambience
>inside man made structures. This is fitting because for many of us
>historians in the new
>world, the cathedral is an icon, representing the foundation of
>modern western
>civilization.
>
>I am, on this end, very much hoping that 3 or 4 of the top sound
>recordists in the U.S. will
>agree to let us showcase their work in a didactic setting, with
>links to their websites or
>other contact information. I have in mind 3 of them, and one who was
>the leading
>recordist of neotropical birdsong, who tragically died on a
>collecting trip. I don't know
>how much Cornell would charge to get access to his recordings. I
>would love to edit and
>present them, as a tribute.
>
>Thanks again. George Paul

I now think it would be nice to write a "manifesto" of this iniative
and ask, first to naturerecordist people, to contribute to make a
list of valuable sites and recordings...
If you like I could present the manifesto, and hopefully a first core
of the archive, at the International Bio-
Acoustic Congress I'm organizing here in Pavia next September.

Gianni

---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
----------------------------
Gianni Pavan
Centro Interdisciplinare di Bioacustica e Ricerche Ambientali
Universita' degli Studi di Pavia, Via Taramelli 24, 27100 PAVIA, ITALIA
Phone       +39-0382-987874    Fax +39-02-700-32921
Email      
Web       http://www.unipv.it/cibra
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----------------------------
CIBRA organizes the XXI IBAC Congress, Pavia, 15-18 September 2007
http://www.unipv.it/cibra/xxi_ibac.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----------------------------




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