> Lately I have been thinking we are making a error in publishing
> recordings without man made noise. As we all know it's extremely rare
> you can record for long anywhere without picking up man made noise.
> Maybe what the public should be given is what's really out there. So
> they will learn just what people are really doing to the environment.
> After all people are just another species of animal, so are a subject
> for "nature recording".
Like everything, there is value in each of the opposing viewpoints on
this topic. As you have said, "nature" recordings without the presence
of man are quite rare. Thus, capturing these events is exceedingly
valuable as both a document and as commodity. After all, its a
relatively common affair to record a scene with humans as incidental
extras - or even entire scenes composed of our machines.
Additionally, our world is so filed with the noises of machines that
the playback of a rare and pristine natural scene will inevitably have
its own machine noise added to it (hard drives, neighbors, pets,
refrigerators, fans, and other engines of progress). In some sense,
capturing man-less nature leaves more room for man on playback.
The other side of this is that publishing recordings without the
sounds of man is creating a fantasy in the ears of the public (at
least when the recordings are viewed as entertainment). We are told
about what is happening to the ecosystems of our planet (sonic and
otherwise), and yet here is a steady parade of sonic rarities. Like
many of the productions of our modern world, they just seem to appear
for consumption - their utter simplicity and attractive packaging
belying the hundreds (thousands?) of hours needed to produce a
single, man-less audio CD.
At the moment, the reality of the situation is that scientists and
naturalists are absolutely scrambling to document nature without man
while it is still possible. Western culture is overwhelmingly visual I
think that the awareness of our soundscapes and their preservation has
really just begun.
Do we have any reference for an aesthetic of nature recordings which
include man? Anything historical?
David
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