I went to Yellowstone last summer. A truly magical place! After
experiencing that, I felt like I finally had a reference point for a
rich, diverse, non-human soundscape. I went during probably the busiest
time of the year, late July, with an intent on recording the steam vents
and geysers. Trucks and cars roared through the park all day long, so I
took to sleeping during the day and exploring the park at night. I
cannot express how incredible it was to be standing under this glorious
canopy of stars with steam rising from the earth listening to the
nightlife creatures. One night I was walking through a field in the
dark. As the sun rose, I set up my recorder only to find myself
surrounded by the snorts of buffaloes, the calls of elks, ducks, birds,
etc. I love symphonic music for its density and harmonic beauty, but can
honestly say that this wild symphony moved me more than Mozart had ever
done :)
This was my first nature field recording expedition, and it turned out
that my equipment was too noisy to capture the animal sounds. The mud
pots and steam vents are pretty loud, so I got some pretty good
recordings of them. They served as the beginnings of the Earth for my
on-going morphological soundscape composition I call the Hudson Mohawk
Sound Gate in which I tracked one geographic location throughout
pre/history into the present. I posted a 12 minute version online
recently at:
http://hudsonmohawk soundgate. org/Media. html
Yellowstone is indeed amazing, but the tourist can be annoying. That is
those who find their car to be the best place to experience nature. So
avoid the busiest time of the year.
Thanks for posting the BBC documentaries I'll bet there are great sounds
in them, and will have to look for them.
best,
charles
----
http://charlesvease y.com
http://hudsonmohawk soundgate. org
*sorry if this goes through more than once. I changed my email, and
trying to sort it out.
Kevin Colver wrote:
>
> Phil,
> A few years ago I recorded as many of the geysers, hot pots, and
> fumaroles as I could over a couple of days. It was amazing to hear
> the different sounds of bubbling, boiling, steaming, and rolling
> waters and mud. There is drama and there is subtlety. Each feature
> had it's own signature sound. I hope you can come and visit the park
> some day. As a recordist, I'm sure you will spend more time with each
> feature than the average tourist and savor the auditory banquet.
> Also, by the end of September the elk are bugling in full glory,
> sometimes right there with the tourists at the geysers.
>
> Kevin
>
> On Mar 29, 2009, at 3:18 PM, Philip Tyler wrote:
>
> > The BBC have been running a 3 part series on Yellowstone which
> > finished tonight here in the UK, I have been catching up on it by
> > watching recordings.
> >
> > What a fantastic place! We have just got to the end of summer and
> > the start of autumn which is where part 3 will continue from.
> >
> > It seems a truly amazing place with some wonderful wildlife.
> >
> > The second episode ended with a look at "geyser gazers" I can
> > understand why some of them do it as when they do blow it is quite
> > amazing and quite a sight.
> >
> > I know this e-mail is not strictly about nature recording but I know
> > some of the group do record in Yellowstone and I just wanted to say
> > I am really envious!
> >
> > Phil
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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