Paul Weissfellner

Prof. Fenn

INTD 105-19: Science Writing

October 31, 2016

Whisper of the Wild Response

In her article “Whisper of the Wild,” Kim Tingley describes an expedition in Denali national park that she took part in to record the soundscapes of nature with no human intervention, and the scientific background for such an experiment. She recounts some of the findings from the newly christened field of “soundscape ecology”: that the noise that is constantly emitted by humans and human activities can change the course of natural selection and reduce reproductive fitness, in some cases. Regardless of where one is, sound follows; even in rooms specifically designed to be silent, you would be able to hear blood moving inside your body.

As a musician, this emphasis on the ubiquity of sound resonates with me. When setting up my recording equipment for the first time, I noticed that, even when the room is silent, there is sound being picked up by the microphone. Originally this annoyed me; I wanted each take to be as clean as possible. However, as I recorded in more places, I realized that each location had it’s own unique background sound, the presence of which was a kind of intangible watermark, framing the music I make in the context in which I made it.