Ah, yes. The Wall Street Journal article. It was there that you
compared yourself to Ansel Adams as an example of being the purist
model to which you aspired (obviously compared to my work). Turned
out that even Adams, upon reflection and a bit of historical
digging, placed a spurious moon in one of his pueblo photos, the very
photograph to which you were alluding, to alter the ambience of the
piece. I don't need you to "give" me any mantle at all, Gordon.
Pioneer or otherwise. My life's work stands, warts and all. Your work
is sometimes at the top of the heap. Sometimes not. Living so
isolated, it is certainly not your objective to support my efforts or
anyone else's but your own. That's the way it's pretty much been as
far as I can see. Perhaps there's a way to be a bit more generous and
not so defensive - always playing the victim. What a delight that
would be!
Bernie
On Sep 12, 2008, at 12:40 PM, pipestonecanyon wrote:
> 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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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