Sounds of the Desert and Ocean

Monument Valley

As part of the collective project I will be assisting with sound design. 

A key part of sound design is pinpointing what you want a place to sound like. Monument Valley is home to a variety of wildlife, some of which make fairly recognizable desert sounds. I focused on a gathering few individual animals to begin. 

The American Tree Sparrow

Red Tailed Hawk

 Coyotes

I have been been pondering sounds of the desert, I also thought about sounds that could convey a sort of mysticism or abstract quality of the uncivilized landscape we have been studying. Air tone has a lot to do with that. I have a desert air tone that I think does I good job of portraying the ominous tone an open landscape can sometimes have. If you listen carefully there is a low, pulsing tone that comes from the reverberation qualities of where this was recorded. I believe that this particular tone colors the location with a more bleak feel. It could also be viewed as a threatening tone depending on how it is used. It also helps to characterize a place to make it more than scenery. I mixed this air tone with some of the animal sounds, more than you would normally here together but I wanted to concentrate this so there were examples of the animals within the ambience. 

** Blogger does not have an option to upload audio clips. I will look into this further soon to upload the sounds I have been collecting. My project doesn't really mean much without them. Until then they are available on a Google Drive I will link to here. **

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B60p-ODupFMZSF9jdi1Ial9YU0U&usp=sharing

Personal Project Update

I am still working on what some of this is going to be, but an element of it includes sound. Specifically the sounds that have some significance to me. For my first update, per Sharon's request, I am uploading some orca sounds I have collected. A very special animal to me, I find Orca's to be the most interesting source of vocalization. Orca's make very distinct sound based on what part of their head the noise is produced in. Each sound is used differently and the nature of the sound differs depending on the particular pod and where they came from. 

As a bit of an audio nerd, especially when it comes to whales, I have a lot of random knowledge about orca vocalization and hearing. Generally speaking northern whales tend to vocalize in much higher frequencies and employ the use of clicks more often then southern whales who have lower registers and tend to have the longer calls we are more familiar with. Orcas also posses one of the thinnest and most high frequency respondent basilar membranes, meaning they can hear very high frequencies. 

On the doc I have included a folder with examples of these different sounds. You can hear that the Northern whales have a distinct dialect that is much higher with nasally clicks where the southern whales have more of a whistle. I also dropped in a file with some research I complied that has more info about the science of it all, if you are interested. 

This is all a bit science-y, but I am working on incorporating it into something larger

Here is a cool picture of a spectrograph of a whale call.

Something very, very strange in these old woods

"There are many stories in Twin Peaks - some of them are sad, some funny. Some of them are stories of madness, of violence. Some are ordinary. Yet they all have about them a sense of mystery - the mystery of life. Sometimes, the mystery of death. The mystery of the woods. The woods surrounding Twin Peaks.

A poem as lovely as a tree: "As the night wind blows, the boughs move to and fro. / The rustling, the magic rustling that brings on the dark dream. / The dream of suffering and pain. / Pain for the victim, pain for the inflictor of pain. / A circle of pain, a circle of suffering. / Woe to the ones who behold the pale horse."

 - The Log Lady, Twin Peaks

I took these photos while I was home this weekend. I love this place so much, it's only a 30 minute drive from my house. It's a landscape featured in one of my favorite pieces of media, Twin Peaks. The setting is one of the reasons why I love this show so much, probably because it calls back to my home. I have a lot of very personal connections to Snoqualmie Falls that I don't totally know how to articulate. I'm still figuring that out. Here's some information from the Save Snoqualmie Falls movement happening now that I think is written in a format I'd like to follow while researching Monument Valley

SAVE SNOQUALMIE FALLS

Their Mission:

We believe it’s our responsibility to be good stewards of Pacific Northwest’s natural and cultural heritage. We must protect our clean water sources, our forest lands and our open spaces, and we must do so while respecting the lands deemed sacred by local Indian Tribes. While we support responsible economic development, we believe Snoqualmie Falls is for all people, for all time, and that developing the sacred land around it is irresponsible.

The History:

The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe has considered Snoqualmie Falls sacred—its a birthplace of creation. Mists from the thundering 268-foot waterfall carry prayers to the ancestors, and the Falls provide the gifts of food, water, life, health and healing. Today, the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe warmly welcomes all visitors to this sacred site to experience its power in their own way. The forest lands surrounding the Falls are also sacred. They are ancient burial grounds where the remains of generations of our people are forever resting. Modern times are taking a toll on this sacred site. In 1898, developers blasted away part of the Falls to install a hydroelectric facility inside the waterfall, diverting water to nearby turbines to generate electricity. The water flowing over the Falls is far less than what it was before the power plant came in. The hydroelectric facility is still a major detriment to the sacred waterfall, though it only accounts for one- percent of Puget Sound Energy’s electricity portfolio. In 1919, more developers built what is now the Salish Lodge (The establishing shot of "The Great Northern Hotel" of Twin Peaks) on the brink of Snoqualmie Falls. Ever since, it has been difficult to take a picture of the Falls without this enormous hotel. The hotel may provide spectacular views for the people who stay there. But for many others, it is an eyesore built upon the sacred source of all creation.

Now there are plans to develop the forest land just across the highway from Snoqualmie Falls. These burial grounds are slated to be bulldozed, paved over and developed into another subdivision with nearly 200 homes and other development. This controversial project has already begun with the construction of a new roundabout at the intersection of Tokul Road and Mill Pond Road. For years, the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe has opposed efforts to build the roundabout over this sacred area. Despite these efforts, heavy equipment moved in July of 2015 to uproot trees and pave the way for construction. The Snoqualmie Tribe supports responsible development and is a proud part of the local economy. But irresponsible development is another story. Developing sacred ground is irresponsible, and we will continue to fight it.

Save Snoqualmie Falls

For our Monument Valley project I'll be doing a similar thing as above. I'll be researching the histories associated with the land, especially the histories of indigenous people - the sacred, the spiritual, the mythology, etc. Land casts allegorical and historical shadows that are larger than the people that inhabit it. I feel like landscapes can be physical manifestations of the sacred, and the history of Monument Valley is so rich and vast that it will be worth knowing the things that make it up.

Plants ~ Starlight stills

Stills from Blackfoot, ID 

You can kind of see the milky way. 

Orange coming from a faint light from a house far away.

Caught either a shooting star, or a satellite.

Hope to capture a picture like this one. 

Monument Valley Plants

Monument Valley is home to very few but beautiful plant life. Because of the sparsity of the desert there is not much vegetation. The few plants that are able to survive in this dry environment are the Purple Sage, the Cliffrose, the Rabbitbush, the Mojave Yucca, and the Brittlebush.

Purple Sage

The purple sage thrives in the desert environment because of its lack of need of water. Also, for it to grow it has to endure full sunlight which Monument valley is known for. The purple sage was able to adapt to the harsh conditions of Monument Valley due to its size and thin layer of wax on the leaves.  Also, the little hairs on the leaves allow the purple sage to reflect sunlight and reduce the movement of air on its surface. This leads to less transpiration.

The Rabbitbush

The flowers are umbrella shaped and leaves look like sharp blades. It has narrow, yellow-green leaves and flexible twigs which are covered with felt-like hairs. The hairs on the twigs helped the plant adapt to the environment because it reduces transpiration and water loss.  Rabbitbrush is great for this environment because it favors the sun and does not need a lot of moisture to stay alive. 

Mojave Yucca

The flowers on it are a purplish-white and are bell shaped. They bloom mostly in the springtime while the other plants bloom most of the year. The Mojave Yucca was able to adapt to Monument valley because of its wax coating, heat reflectors, and its drought resisters.  The plant has a wax coating to trap moisture and reducing water loss so the plant can live longer. The Mojave Yucca has fine hairs all over it to also trap moisture but also reflects sunlight which helps the plant not dry out. Finally, when it does rain in the desert the plant soaks up the water and uses it over time to survive. 

(looks like Joshua Trees, can be found in Nevada, California)

Brittlebush

 It has long oval silver-grey leaves that are somewhat fuzzy. In late winter and early spring little yellow flowers appear on the Brittlebush's long stalks.It is able to survive in this environment because it has little hairs all over it and the plant is able to store water. The little hairs serves as a blanket to protect the Brittlebush from the heat and cold because it is very sensitive to the cold. Also ,the little hairs are sharp which prevent predators from eating the bush.