Lou,
Something important to remember, and very true in general. In fact aside
from a couple of coastal lagoons the only sizable lakes within 100 miles of
here (Dawlish, in the south-western UK) are man-made, the biggest natural
ones being no more than ponds. Some are reservoirs, some are artificial
lakes in the grounds of country houses, and the remainder are flooded clay,
gravel or sand workings. The most remote of these are the upland reservoirs
within the Dartmoor National Park, especially early in the morning. During =
a
holiday in early May I'm hoping to spend at least one dawn on the shores of
one of these.
Having spent a little time in the SF Bay area I would imagine that although
there's plenty of wonderful landscapes very close to the city, to get far
enough from the urban areas and their associated freeways and airports to
find an environment free from human noise must involve quite a journey!
The closest I've come to a truly natural soundscape is the pine forests of
central Sweden - the dense conifers are very good at absorbing sound, so
it's possible to walk no more than a mile into the forest and hear nothing
but the finches in the trees and a diver (of the feathered kind of course)
on a nearby lake. A wonderful experience and one I'd really like to revisit
with my recording equipment one day.
Cheers,
Tom W.
2009/2/24 Lou Judson <>
> Mental shift: The lakes were there first, thus the roads and urban
> areas are near the lakes, not the other way round. Too bad, same
> result, machines dominate the soundscape... way too prevalent in this
> overcowded world!
>
> Like Matryn's experience in Costa Rica, more people are the main
> thing that threatens the natural soundscape... Same thing here in the
> Bay Area.
>
> <L>
>
> On Feb 24, 2009, at 2:00 AM, Tom Williams wrote:
>
> Great recordings - I love the sense of space that comes from recording
> across open water. Sadly most of the lakes around here are either
> near urban
> centres or major roads which rather ruins the effect!
>
>
>
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