Thank you Bernie, much appreciated. I read with interest your interview
with the Dark Mountain Project (
http://dark-mountain.net/repairing-the-silent-spring-a-conversation-with-be=
rnie-krause/)
this week. In particular your thoughts on what you describe as an atavistic
attraction to natural soundscapes. Here in the UK, a small crowded island,
we have very little wilderness.
Everything has been touched in some way by our hand. We have few pristine
old growth forests for instance. Our moorlands and heaths are the products
of grazing. Our farmed landscape a patchwork of fields and hedgerows that
although ancient are as man made as tower block. And it's been like this
since not long after the ice retreated. I wonder if this results in
differences about the soundscapes we are attracted to?
I wonder if here in Olde England, for some of us, our preferred soundscapes
would be more "rural" than wild. A conditioned wild that alongside bird
song and the crackle of leaves in the breeze, would also contain peel of
medieval church bells and the clip clopping of horse hooves (that's a crass
example, but you get what I mean). In other words, that in a land long
devoid of wild, I personally show a cultural bias to soundscapes that
reflect some romantic dream of a rural idyll.
But, here's the rub, - the bad news for those of us who's "natural" is
defined by Samuel Palmer and John Clare - that rural idyll doesn't exist.
Everywhere in the English countryside is noise. Last weekend I was trying
to record the interior of what I hoped would be a quiet, remote rural
church. You know the story, we all do. What I recorded was motorcross,
strimmers, tractors, cars and planes. I've been recording long enough to
know this would be the case ... but it still gets to me!
So, yes, I have an atavistic attraction to natural soundscapes ... but my
notion of "natural" is possibly very different to yours? But, ironically,
it amounts to the same, because neither exists, neither conforms to our
dreams. This is the tension of living in a noisy world.
Hope that makes some sort of sense?
Tony
On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 11:32 PM, Bernie Krause <>wr=
ote:
> **
>
>
> Thanks, Tony. Yes. I do know about your label and love what you're doing
> and how the subject is being approached. Keep up the fine work.
>
> Cheers,
> Bernie
>
>
> On Oct 18, 2013, at 3:21 PM, Tony Whitehead <=
>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Bernie and all
>
> Last year I started a label called Very Quiet Records to offer field
> recordists and sound artists the opportunity to share what they considere=
d
> quiet places or quiet situations. The definition I left open.
>
> The responses have been wonderful and you can if you wish hear and read
> about them here http://veryquietrecords.blogspot.co.uk/
>
> I also offered some thoughts on quiet for this blog on the British Librar=
y
> website
> http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/sound-and-vision/2013/10/recording-th=
e-sounds-of-nature-six-questions-with-tony-whitehead.html
>
> all the best
>
> Tony
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 6:33 PM, Bernie Krause <>
> wrote:
>
>> **
>>
>>
>> This came thru today from Barry Truax, at Simon Fraser Univ. and the
>> World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. http://i.sfu.ca/CDzFCm
>>
>> Bernie
>>
>>
>>
>> Wild Sanctuary
>> POB 536
>> Glen Ellen, CA 95442
>> 707-996-6677
>> http://www.wildsanctuary.com
>>
>> SKYPE: biophony
>> FaceBook:
>> http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatAnimalOrchestra
>> http://www.facebook.com/BernieKrauseAuthor
>> Twitter:
>> http://www.twitter.com/berniekrause
>> TED Global talk (12Jun13):
>> http://www.ted.com/talks/bernie_krause_the_voice_of_the_natural_world.ht=
ml
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> http://veryquietrecords.blogspot.co.uk/
> http://veryquietrecords.bandcamp.com/
>
>
>
>
> Wild Sanctuary
> POB 536
> Glen Ellen, CA 95442
> 707-996-6677
> http://www.wildsanctuary.com
>
> SKYPE: biophony
> FaceBook:
> http://www.facebook.com/TheGreatAnimalOrchestra
> http://www.facebook.com/BernieKrauseAuthor
> Twitter:
> http://www.twitter.com/berniekrause
> TED Global talk (12Jun13):
> http://www.ted.com/talks/bernie_krause_the_voice_of_the_natural_world.htm=
l
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
http://veryquietrecords.blogspot.co.uk/
http://veryquietrecords.bandcamp.com/
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