Bernie, it was not I but you who mentioned your use of the toilet in
the front page Wall Street Journal Article, I don't understand why
you blame me, and I didn't understand why you defended it
as 'natural' then. I was being kind in not mentioning your name
during the YouTube interview. I feel you are not being kind to me,
now. If there is a single statement that I have made that you feel
is not a valid opinion, or fact, let me have a chance to defend it.
I live alone and in a remote part of the country because I find the
isolation from other people's thoughts as important as escaping the
noise. You are a pioneer, I'll give you that, and more. What is it
going to take for you to just leave me alone??? Comments anyone.
Support, anybody?
--- In Bernie Krause <>
wrote:
>
> That's exactly the kind of Hempton bull-shit I was speaking of
> yesterday (trying to be kind).
>
> 40 years ago this year, when I first began recording in the field,
I
> was also working primarily as a professional musician and was
doing
> an album for Warner Brothers with my late music partner, Paul
Beaver
> (we introduced the synthesizer to pop music and film, BTW). Titled
> "In A Wild Sanctuary" - the first album on ecology and the very
first
> to use natural sounds as a component of orchestration, it was my
> first attempt to capture sounds in what I then naively considered
> "the wild." The equipment was primitive. Our expertise outdoors
was
> next to nil. When I tried to capture the sound of a nearby stream,
> having brought the recording back to the studio for editing, it
> sounded terrible. Contributing to many films (139 features total
over
> the years including "Rosemary's Baby," "Apocalypse Now," "Shipping
> News," "Castaway," etc., etc.,) I was more than a little familiar
> with Foley techniques (i. e. creating sound-alike efx out of
wholly
> different sources). Mid-winter during our 1968 production, I was
left
> with no alternative other than to capture the running water sound
> from whatever source I could. Turned out to be a toilet in my San
> Francisco house. And so I did. "Guilty, yer honor." When I first
met
> Hempton, a charming fellow, by the way, I shared with him this
little
> story in confidence as a singular example of what kinds of
extremes
> we had to go to in the early years. Somehow or other, Hempton, in
his
> uninformed arrogance and desperation, has offered this
extraordinary
> crime as evidence that my work, in particular, and compared with
his
> "purist" contentions, has been loaded with studio production
> techniques that obviate the purist mantle with which he has
anointed
> himself and traded upon for years. This is really annoying, folks.
> It's also misleading and very stupid. I can assure you that
nothing
> anyone does is "pure." You choose a mic system that you like the
> sound and space of (a form of edit [decision one]). You choose the
> time and place to record (another edit). You choose which
direction
> your mics will face (yet another edit). Then, if you're creating
> media formats out of your field recordings, you're editing, again,
as
> to which parts of which clips you'll finally use. This is not to
> castigate Hempton's work or result. Some of it is magical. It's
the
> attitude that sucks and he's got to find another way to set
himself
> apart other than dinging others for their good effort. It does not
> serve him or his work well.
>
> Bernie Krause
>
>
> On Sep 12, 2008, at 11:31 AM, Kim Cascone wrote:
>
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D9AFG9B8gDrk
> >
> > I'm watching the short trailer from the documentary about Gordon
> > Hempton aka Soundtracker Juan Carlos posted to the
naturerecordists
> > list
> > and towards the end of the clip Mr. Hempton says something
> > interesting:
> >
> > '...there were some major nature sound series that were selling
> > mountain streams that were in fact recordings out of a toilet,
> > that were selling mountain air, mountain breeze that were
recordings
> > made from elevator shafts...'
> >
> > I'm interested in hearing people's reactions to this
> > statement...thoughts?
> >
> >
> >
>
> Wild Sanctuary
> POB 536
> Glen Ellen, CA 95442
> 707-996-6677
> http://www.wildsanctuary.com
>
> Google Earth zooms: http://earth.wildsanctuary.com
> SKYPE: biophony
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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