You know, Tony, you might try to connect with Chris Watson, the BBC recordist,
who once told me of finding some rare sites in the UK in Northumberland along
the English/Scottish border. In my new book, The Great Animal Orchestra, I
write of an account told to me by Chris of a region once terrorized by a group
called the Border Reivers about 400 years ago (and from which the word, for
obvious reasons, "bereaved" is derived). It's a region long since abandoned by
that group and, according to Watson, has pretty much reverted to a more or less
natural state.
I once went out with Chris one evening to record in E. Anglia. Not to easy to
capture much of anything without anthrophony of some kind.
Bernie
On Oct 19, 2013, at 12:46 AM, Tony Whitehead <>
wrote:
>
>
> 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-bernie-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 <>
> wrote:
>
> 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 considered
>> 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 Library
>> website
>> http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/sound-and-vision/2013/10/recording-the-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.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> 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.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> 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.html
|