Hi Gordon and all,
I agree with much you say. Anthrophony can actually be important in a
soundscape recording for various reasons. As an example a recording
that was significant for me in becoming interested in soundscape
recording in the first place was a BBC recording of Nightingales in
England in 1942, interrupted by bombers flying to Germany on a raid.
The original BBC Recording is at:
http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/09/nightingales-and-bombers/
The information at this site mentions that the recording is actually
of a live BBC broadcast of the Nightingales at a particular location
that they did every year back in those days(!!).
I first heard it on the Nightingales and Bombers album by Manfred Mann
Earth band back in the day, so it actually ends up in created art
object context.
The whole topic is very interesting and I think it's clear that there
are many types and purposes of nature and soundscape recording and
presentation contexts that all have a place. Personally I am
interested in them all and I'm more than a bit wary of defining human
activity as outside of nature, but I understand it's a special case
that needs it own category in the biophony terminology.
Perhaps some categorisation and terminology development for the
selectivity criteria and sound processing used in recordings would be
useful, so that appropriate labeling of published sounds/recordings/
art could provide more clarity about what we are hearing.
Ray.
On 30/07/2011, at 3:04 AM, Gordon Hempton wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> This is an interesting topic of which has parallels with
> photography. Is it
> OK to Photoshop a nature photo from different pictures and combine
> them
> together? Yes, for sure but it is distinctly a creation of
> technology and
> artistry and not of nature-and should be clearly labeled (although
> it rarely
> is) as such. There are plenty of beautiful nature sound recordings
> that
> include background human noise, particularly when that includes hand
> farming, agriculture, and ranch animals in third world countries.
> Or when
> the deep rumble of oil consumption accentuates the precariousness of a
> songbird delivering a passionate solo. I also love train sounds
> balanced
> with the natural environment. However, I think the most awakening
> sound
> portraits are from pure nature without any kind of human presence-a
> increasingly rare opportunity. There is something deep about it
> that I
> cannot describe. Soul changing. If a nature sound recording is
> edited,
> EQ'd, or mixed from different times and sometimes places, it should be
> clearly marked as such, otherwise the listener will wrongfully
> assume that
> they could achieve this experience just by going to that national
> park or
> wilderness area and listening. Back to photography, if I saw a
> beautiful
> frog on a leaf and later learned that the frog was placed there in
> Photoshop
> I would feel deceived. I was surprised to learn for example that
> Ansel
> Adams added a full moon to night photographs-I felt deceived, why
> did he not
> mention it? Perhaps he felt differently than I do. My style is to =
> seek
> out the purist places that I can find and then record. To go even
> further, I
> use binaural microphones primarily, because I want my audience to
> know that
> if they like my sound portraits they will love the live concert and
> it is
> worth seeking. We live on a beautiful planet-that is the message-
> and Earth
> is worth saving. I want the audience to fall back in love with
> Earth, not
> technology. An edited recording, in my opinion, delivers a different
> message. Unedited and noise-free nature sound portraiture is worth
> the hunt
> and the wait.
>
> Best,
> Gordon
>
> Gordon Hempton
> The Sound Tracker
> POB 550 Port Angeles WA 98362
> mobile: 360-477-9588
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie
> Krause.
>
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