Recording the Soundtrack of Nature

 

 

Gordon Hempton records nature sounds; "Soundtracker" is a DVD that shows him in action.Gordon's nature CDs are some of the best around (I'm a sound effects dweeb), along with the "Solitudes" series and some of the "Nature Recordings" series distributed by World Disc Productions out of Friday Harbor. Good luck finding any of these, I'm sure they're long out of print. And a WARNING: avoid at all costs any of the CDs that combine nature sounds with Mozart or tinkly piano -- you get the idea. It's not good for the nature and it's not good for the music.

Like I said, "Soundtracker" follows Gordon as he attempts to record nature sounds before they disappear. He travels -- a lot -- and the conversations with his college-age kids (and none with his ex-wife) reveal the price paid for his single-minded devotion to his craft. Plus there's the increasing frustration with the sounds of civilization encroaching more and more into previously remote locations. Gordon will set up his microphones, wait patiently for whatever bird or animal he's been tracking -- and then a plane flies overhead and ruins the take, a plane that hadn't registered its flight path.

There's a great sequence near the end where Gordon tries to set up a "sound event" by recording a particular bird singing during the approach of a train. Yes, he could just record them separately and layer them, but he's adamant about recording real events in real time.

And now I'm gonna have to track down some train recordings -- is that a geezer move or what?