Backwoods Bend

Winter Forest Floor on Walden Ridge

I don't strive to get every man-made sound out of a recording.  Honestly, I don't have the money to travel to far-flung places for those recordings.  I do try to find the quietest places I can that allow one to truly listen to the landscape and by doing so to help others understand the impact we have on our environment acoustically.  Walden Ridge in Anderson County makes you feel as if you are pretty far away from the world below.  A gravel and dirt road leads up a series of switchback curves to a rocky outcrop at the top.  Today, it had just began snowing while we were there but with the rain the last few days, you can hear dripping of recent water off of nearby rocks.  Every now and then people take the route over the ridge rather than around it. 

Front Porch Rain

You never truly realize how loud things are in the house till you try to record something outside your own house.  I sent the two older children downstairs to play games and the littlest one was ready for her naptime anyway.  I managed to get one full hour of relative quiet at least from inside the house to record the rain.  It's been raining nonstop lately it seems here in East Tennessee.  I placed the binaural microphone on a tripod on top of my car in the carport and ran a line inside to the front room where I could monitor while I kept an eye on the kids.  

Backwoods Bend

I parked my Saab just off the bend.  Luckily it was a warm for January and the sun poured through the windows warming me and my youngest daughter as she played a game in the front seat quietly on my phone. I placed my binaural microphone about 20 feet from the car and ran a line to my field recorder on the dash of the car. To keep suspicions at bay, I tasked my 4 year old with waving enthusiastically albeit quietly to each of the cars that passed us.  Most waved back grinning at the messy-haired smiling child trying to get their attention as they went around the bend.  Some did not. I monitored the audio throughout and while I listened, I read a book I've been putting off for far too long.  

36.2204,-84.0950 | 100001112019

I've been struggling with a good naming scheme for recordings.  There is certainly an aspect of Acoustic Ecology that is associated with the recordings and I certainly want to document these because I intend to revisit locations at different times of the day, month and even temperature.  Each one of these elements plays an integral part in how the soundscape changes and even what animals might be vocal. The things that I feel should be included are location, date and approximate time of recording. I am currently compiling recordings into a release into iTunes, Spotify, and other streaming services as well.  I am not sure how the naming scheme would work in these marketplaces. Title:36.2204,-84.0950 | 100001112019 It's not very memorable either is it?