The God of Silence Speaks Up
afar.com
afar.com
After being driven from no less than three apartments by jackhammers and construction, American arguments against noise regulation fall flat to me.
I always notice this when I go camping in the wilderness and take the headphones along. I listen to classical music and ECM jazz with huge dynamic range, and you need total silence in order to hear the pianissimo passages (it's not unusual for modern repertoire to have dynamic markings down to ppppp). But that total silence is really hard to find in nature where waves lap on rivers, birds chirp, the wind blows, etc. The man described in the linked article appreciates those natural sounds, but when I’m in the tent I would prefer to hear my music instead, and I miss my own home where I installed soundproofing and anti-reverb foam.
Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. For myself, I'd prefer the natural sounds... even the intrusive ones (like invasive squirrel species screaming at each other).
> It is not irritating to be where one is, it is only irritating to think one would like to be somewhere else.
> Whether I make them or not, there are always sounds to be heard and all of them are excellent.
What you point out is completely true... but it might be more in the spirit of camping to leave your headphones at home, rather than put yourself in the beauty of nature and then feel annoyed because you are not in a concert hall. Or if you like, to be in a concert hall, but annoyed because the performance interferes with your headphones!
If I have been trekking or cycling through nature all day by the time I put up the tent, is that not enough immersion for you? It is possible to enjoy both nature and art. It would be silly to claim that listening to a couple of hours of music at day’s end is somehow ignoring what one came out into the wilderness for.
Natural wind or wave noises were introduced into modem horror movies by Kurosawa Kyioshi in the late 80ies, and had significant impact since, whilst Hollywood and elsewhere still use unnatural noises like screeches, cracks or the neverending Ridley Scott sirene from Aliens. Still in fashion, even if worn-out long time ago. Tenet had some new reverse sound effects, but still very noisy.
A Kurosawa horror movie is much more silent, but the ambient noise, used as enhanced athmo, is much more thrilling and horrific than the much louder screeches.
Natural silence can be horrific.