Treescapes : What Sounds Do Trees Make?
What sounds do we hear when listening to our giant friends...
“Trees have long been trying to reach us. But they speak on frequencies too low for people to hear.”
— Richard Powers : The Overstory
I picked up this book some time ago at my local bookshop. Drawn in by its bold cover, peeking out at me from the shelves. A couple of weeks later, I had read it front to back — a truly fine work of fiction writing that highlights the environmental weight of trees, their relation to us as a species and their irrefutable presence as precious co-inhabitants of this planet.
Something that stuck with me since reading this book was how it changed the way I would look at the trees I passed everyday. Studying them now with a newfound curiosity, a boyish wonder — something I have tried to explore further with field recording.
When we think of the sounds of trees, or the sounds produced by trees - we think often of rustling leaves, creaking branches, bristling and bustling firs and pines… perhaps even the rare, bellowing sound of falling trees.
The latter is something that I have actually explored in detail. Take a listen to this intro to an episode of BBC’s CrowdScience program :
If a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound?
Take another listen to that falling tree… are you sure you are hearing correctly?
This is actually a trompe-l'œil or a trompe-l’oreille even! What you are actually hearing is a soundscape made up of various recordings of - drum roll - vegetables from my kitchen! Squished, crunched, sliced, stretched and manipulated to re-create the sound of a falling tree!!
This playful exercise demonstrates the true auditory power of good sound design influences our perceptions of events across many different kinds of media, from film to documentaries, adverts, podcasts… etc. But recording the actual sounds of trees has challenged many sound recordists for years.
Who better to demonstrate those efforts better than the legendary Sir David Attenborough — sharing with us here a particular technique employed by BBC Earth’s team during filming of The Green Planet series…
“A tree trunk is an extraordinary piece of biological engineering. It’s packed tight with hundreds of meters of very thin tubing called xylem. It’s filled with water…”
Sir David Attenborough
I’ve been fascinated too by the French sound recordist - Charles Rose - who produces wonderfully expressive sounds delving into the micro-sounds of nature. His video - N'ignorez pas ce BRUIT, il est VITAL.. highlights his discoveries of the unique sounds hidden inside trees.
“Far from the familiar sounds of wildlife or the wind in the leaves, these are deeper sounds, almost imperceptible, but absolutely vital…”
Charles Rose
We perceive trees as stationary beings. Acknowledging them as living entities, yet seldom considering them as interactive, conscious entities and as a result we tend to, well, not take much notice of them in our day to day lives. Much of the sounds that we associate with trees are often produced as a result of other forces acting upon them. Take rustling leaves for example - we can only hear leaves rustling as a result of a passing breeze. Creaking branches follow the same principle…. take a walk in a park and point a microphone at a tree and you will probably hear everything else that is happening around you, the surrounding soundscape, but to a actually focus on the sounds produced by trees we need to dig a little deeper, and in doing so we can reveal some wonderful soundscapes…
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The above sound was made by layering various recordings made using the Geofón microphone from LOM Instruments. Geofón is a sensitive omnidirectional geophone adjusted for field recording purposes. Originally designed for seismic measurements, it can be used with field recording equipment to capture very faint vibrations in various organic and synthetic materials, allowing us to hear sounds that exist beneath and within the Earth’s surface. By gently placing this microphone in the small hollows of trees, by digging burrow holes in the ground, and burying the microphone beneath the exposed roots of larger trees I was able to pick up sensitive vibrations that I could amplify and further examine in the studio, which we can hear clearly in this recording.
…it is here in this invisible, inaudible realm where often lies the true mysteries of nature.
When we talk take a further look at the sounds of nature, it’s obvious to think of that of birdsong, or ocean waves as these sit comfortably within the range of our human hearing. These sounds are also often associated with being pleasant and calming as they feature a melodic character that is pleasing to our ears. The reality of frequency is that it exists a long way beyond what we can hear and interpret as humans — it is here in this invisible, inaudible realm where often lies the true mysteries of nature. That’s the case here. Many of these recordings have had their pitch/speed altered to reveal hidden detail and information that would not usually be available to us to hear.
Just check out this amazing clip of a recording of crickets chirping that has been slowed down to reveal a quite remarkable sound…
“We start from the premise that understanding man requires understanding nature, not as it is, but rather as we are. By remaining attentive and observant, we can perceive both, for we are both witnesses and the object of observation.”
Albarrán Cabrera - À L’Écoute des Arbres
It’s a rare and wonderful thing when creative imagination and objective reality overlap.
Working with field recordings as a medium for creating soundscapes is a fascinating challenge. The terrain is wide open. It’s a unique way of telling a story, sharing an experience that is crafted from one’s own interpretation and connection with a place.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be setting off across Europe with my family, my microphones and my van to record in various forests, parks and woodlands as we head towards the Swiss-Italian Alps for some much needed time and exposure in nature.
I’ll be sure to write and share some thoughts and recordings here from along the way!
If any of you have your own recordings you’d like to share, as always, I’m very open to listening to them! Get in touch via the comments or please feel free to message me directly ;)
“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself. As a man is, so he sees.”
William Blake from his communications with the Reverend John Trustler, 1799
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Mat
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Mat, I share your appreciation of The Overstory and how it changes our perception of trees. I really enjoyed your newsletter and look forward to hearing the recordings of forests you make on your family trip. I’m a composer working on an album of music inspired by trees. I’ve been thinking about incorporating the sound of forests, so discovering your newsletter is very timely. Here’s mine if you’re interested. https://open.substack.com/pub/glynsmusic?r=3w1kec&utm_medium=ios
Love that Geofón recording!