The Colockum Wildlife Area in Washington is apparently a popular hunting destination. Fortunately, at this time of the year there is no hunting to be had, so the whole area was quiet, mostly absent of humanity, including campers or hikers. In the three days I spent here I saw only one other face. I had plenty of non-human friends keeping me company, so I was alone, but not all alone.
Bernie Krause famously compared soundscape recordings to symphonic orchestrations. He’s right. In a healthy soundscape there’s a place for everyone. They fit together in pitch, rhythm, and volume. Zoom out in a soundscape in a spectral editor, such as Izotope’s RX, and what you see is a beautiful emergent composition. There’s an order without it being ordered. All the voices are competing for their own space, and the easiest way to win that space is to carve out a slice no one else has claimed. When that happens, the result is a complex tapestry of life. I only wish I could have been around here 500 years ago to know what it was like before European American settlers began cutting down the forests.
