Bioacoustic Soundscapes of Nature and the Animal Orchestra
Reality is filled with natural sounds, much from a causal nature like wind, leaves, waves etc. Animals create their own sound and bring more beauty to the bristle of leaves and the wind.
Bernie Krause used to work in the Hollywood music business. After going into the wild of nature to record some natural sounds for the movie Apocalypse Now, he was amazed at the bioacoustics when there were no human sounds. Eventually Bernie quit his Hollywood job.
Some of the sounds he has captured are the:
"humpback whales-whose voices, if unimpeded, could circle the earth in hours-to cracking glaciers, bubbling streams, and the roar of intense storms; from melody-singing birds to the organlike drone of wind blowing over reeds, the sounds Krause has experienced and describes are like no others. And from recording jaguars at night in the Amazon rain forest to encountering mountain gorillas in Africa's Virunga Mountains, Krause offers an intense and intensely personal narrative of the planet's deep and connected natural sounds and rhythm."
He has released a work called The Great Animal Orchestra. Listen to some sounds below:
This new world of sounds from nature led him to glimpse the world of nonhuman animal communication.
Animals living in common spaces evolved acoustic tones and interval changes to tailor to their specific niches and areas of the natural habitat. Instead of capturing sounds of individual animals alone or with another of it's species, he captured all of the natural orchestra being played.
At Fondation Cartier, where the the Animal Orchestra is displayed, there is a spectrograph with the name of the animal that appears on the walls as you hear the sounds.
The wall changes with the sound, adding images, light and filling our experience with many sensations.
Krause has been collecting this sound data since 1968, and has amassed over 5000 hours of audio. Many sounds were recorded from areas that have become almost mute from human intervention in the natural biodiversity. The sounds in an environment can help study and measure the health of an ecosystem.
Some animals broadcast their sound to reach as many receivers of their message as possible, while some do the opposite and listen silently for warnings or opportunities. To match the soundscape orchestra to the reality of their lives, there is a real opera with plots and a story of life taking place.
Krause hopes to open up the perspective of the natural sound and animal world to the audience at the Catier, and those who read his book The Great Animal Orchestra.
You can also watch/listen to Krause's TED talk here:
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