TRAVELING WITH SOUND

9 Feb

I’m actually back home on a gig in Seattle and just being in this environment reminded me of why I was so enthusiastic about the opportunity to join this adventure. I’ve always been a backpacker and had heard of the JMT, though only knew the absolute barest details. Doing a month long thru hike with this crew was an easy sell when they proposed the journey. Who wouldn’t want to escape into some of America’s most beautiful landscapes with a group of good friends?!

I brought along my audio gear, as I generally do, because as the cities continue to grow at an ever increasing rate, encroaching on what little protected land we have left, noise pollution has become impossible to ignore. My goal was, and always is, to capture sounds from undeveloped areas that might soon become nonexistent. Even in the most remote areas of the Sierra’s you cannot escape noise pollution from air traffic. Keeping that in mind I try to catch moments along the trail, such as stopping for a quick break, when you hear things like frogs having a conversation with each other (happened to be a particular frog that I have never heard before) or resting in a grove of aspens with a light breeze rolling through. These are the sort of moments I truly enjoy reliving when I’m sitting at home and cannot escape the incessant drone of leaf blowers.

One last note, and apologies for the rant, but I remember years ago after my first backpacking trip with PB along the Lost Coast in NorCal, and I walked into PB’s studio weeks later. He was sitting in the dark with his head down and eyes closed listening to a recording of waves crashing on a pebbled beach. I was pretty stoked at that moment to have been able to bring back some of that experience and be able to share it with others.

I’m hopeful that the Muir Project will be able to accomplish the same feat with both visuals and sound bringing the experience to a much larger audience.