naturerecordists
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: the frustrations of engine noise

Subject: Re: the frustrations of engine noise
From: "Drew Panko" Drew_Panko
Date: Tue Jul 3, 2012 11:34 pm ((PDT))
Gregory's comments are well taken.

Interesting enough these loud motorcycles are illegal
in most states in the US.  It is my understanding that
they are sold with good mufflers that the owners
replace with after market ones with little or no sound
suppression and exceed noise ordinances.

However police claim that recording noise is too
technical and beyond them.  I have even been
unable to convince park police in national parks
to warn or ticket offenders.  Though I've had
a ranger or two sympathize.

Motorcyclists defend the practice as a safety measure!
You can hear them can hear them coming even if their
small size makes them hard to see.  They make this claim
even as they campaign to have helmet laws repealed.
Almost half the states that had helmet laws in 1990,
have repealed them since.  Motorcyclists have a lobby
and it has been effective and would not only block
quiet times/days but also enforcement of existing
noise requirements if they were a move to have them
enforced.

In spite of all this I believe that illegal after market altering
of noise emissions is the place to start a campaign and
the national parks are the place to start it.  The Great
Smokey Mountain park would be an ideal park to use
as an example - though many others would serve as well.

Drew


At 05:51 PM 7/2/2012 -0700, Gregory wrote:
>Peter:
>
>
>Perhaps we should have a "National No Machines Day" or better yet, a week!=

>But
>expect to get some flack from hard core urban noise addicts about that one=
. I
>find that most motorcycles, especially Harleys, are the worst offenders.
>Even if
>fuel was $20.00 a gallon, you'd have plenty of motorcycles out & about. To=
o
>bad.
>
>Oh, and don't forget about the insane people that 'boom the hood' with the=
ir
>multi-kilowatt bass amps and twenty subwoofers in their vehicle. I had one=
 of
>those sadists pull up behind me yesterday at a traffic light and it was
>intensely painful. Bass of that level can travel for miles.
>
>What we really need to do is to cultivate a true appreciation for silence =
and
>become less complacent if we are to reverse this onslaught of machine
>harassment. Gordon Hempton's idea of 'One Square Inch' is a good start, bu=
t
>that's just the tip of the iceberg. We need quiet (or no) machines, and th=
ey
>need to be kept within certain boundaries.
>
>We also need to educate people to listen to the natural environment. I
>have been
>involved in several nature soundwalks in the woods and have presented
>concerts
>of nature sound recordings. This was done here at the Dunes National
>Lakeshore
>in conjunction with Chicago Phonography and the The World Forum for Acoust=
ic
>Ecology midwest chapter. We are making some inroads, but progress is slow.=

>The
>people who have participated have really enjoyed these activities and thei=
r
>consciousness has been heightened as a result.
>
>So perhaps your comment about leaving the noise in the recordings to educa=
te
>people about the noise has great merit. In fact, we should have a
>moratorium on
>the sale and distribution of pristine nature recordings and only sell or
>propagate 'flawed' recordings with the info attached describing the
>offenders.
>That way people will be forced to take care of the problem since, until
>they do
>rectify the noise situation, they will not get any more pristine
>recordings to
>reflect their efforts.
>
>Expect to get a great deal of opposition to this idea, however, from the
>folks
>on this list that profit from the sale of such pristine recordings. There=

>will
>be many arguments and counter-arguments about this philosphcal position an=
d I
>may be burned at the stake for being a heretic. But life is short. Let's
>get on
>with it.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Greg
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Peter Shute <>
>To: "" <>
>Sent: Mon, July 2, 2012 6:38:36 PM
>Subject: RE: [Nature Recordists] the frustrations of engine noise
>
>
>Would it be helpful when trying to remove such noise to have a purer
>sample of
>it, say recorded simultaneously with a shotgun mic?
>
>And is it a good thing to totally avoid noisy recordings? How are the publ=
ic
>going to become aware of the problem if all we ever produce are noise free
>recordings? Obviously for some purposes noise is unacceptable, but the
>stuff we
>put on Soundcloud, etc, should be ok.
>
>Peter Shute
>
>From: 
>
>On Behalf Of vickipowys
>Sent: Tuesday, 3 July 2012 9:04 AM
>To: 
>Subject: Re: [Nature Recordists] the frustrations of engine noise
>
>Hi John,
>
>For jet plane noise, if they are high flying, you can try a low pass
>filter EQ (a simple procedure). Or to completely remove the jet
>noise you can try a brick wall filtering approach, i.e. completely
>remove all frequencies below, say, 1000 Hz, and replace that section
>with audio from a quiet location, just the section below 1000 Hz.
>For chainsaws and motorbikes their noise is worse because it goes up
>and down in pitch. Maybe the newer version of Izotope may be able to
>track the noise and remove it? I only have the older version of RX.
>
>Don't give up recording! Perhaps take your next holidays at a remote
>location :-)
>
>cheers,
>
>Vicki
>
>On 02/07/2012, at 10:57 PM, John Crockett wrote:
>
> > Greetings all,
> >
> > Trying to record soundscapes around southern Vermont has become a
> > very frustrating experience. I have hours of recordings, and only a
> > few minutes without some kind of engine noise: mostly jets, but
> > also prop planes, chainsaws, atvs, cars and trucks and motorcycles,
> > skidders, and who knows what else. It appears that we are in a
> > direct flight path for Logan airport in Boston, so that accounts
> > for a lot of it. These are sounds I have effectively screened out
> > in a lifetime of living here. I have always thought of this place
> > as quiet. But turn on the recorder and suddenly all that engine
> > noise comes to the fore. Not quiet at all.
> >
> > It makes no sense to me to get in my own noisy car and drive all
> > over the countryside trying to find quiet places. How contradictory
> > is that! I'm not having any luck finding quiet places anyway. This
> > noise has become such a frustration that I am sorely tempted to
> > give up recording altogether, having only barely begun.
> >
> > How have others dealt with this frustration? How have you worked
> > around it? Anybody have an airplane noise canceling microphone?!
> > Should we be hoping the price of oil goes through the roof?
> >
> > best wishes,
> >
> > John
> >
> > John Crockett
> > Westminster, VT
> >
> > Let us live in harmony with the Earth
> > And all creatures
> > That our lives may be a blessing
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------
>
>"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
>sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause.
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>






<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the naturerecordists mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU