Written by Thomas Rex Beverly. Images courtesy of Thomas Rex Beverly. Please share:

For his latest sound effects libraries, field recordist Thomas Rex Beverly went on a recording adventure to One Square Inch in Olympic National Park, Washington - a place hailed by renowned recordist and conservationist Gordon Hempton as 'the quietest place in the US'. Here, he shares the story behind the trip - and lets you hear some of the sounds from this special place:Written by Thomas Rex Beverly. Images courtesy of Thomas Rex Beverly.

Visiting One Square Inch

I’m an avid supporter of Gordon Hempton’s conservation work, so I was thrilled to make a field recording pilgrimage to One Square Inch in Olympic National Park in October 2017. Fortunately, you can still find long stretches of natural silence in this magical place. Hear a 35-minute soundscape from the One Square Inch here:

A percentage of all the Pacific Northwest libraries I sell will be donated to One Square Inch to help support soundscape preservation in Olympic National Park.



“One Square Inch of Silence is very possibly the quietest place in the United States.” – Gordon Hempton, onesquareinch.org

Wildlife

One of the most magical sounds I’ve ever experienced is Roosevelt Elk bugling in an old growth forest. Imagine walking down a trail, surrounded by 1000-year-old trees, and suddenly hearing a haunting trumpeting off in the distance. This sound stopped me dead in my tracks, and I was in complete awe. Hear elk bugling and trumpeting here:

Magical Dripping Tree

My favorite sound in the Hoh Rainforest was what I deemed “The Magical Dripping Tree.” Picture a rich tree canopy with coniferous trees towering over big leaf maple trees. During my visit, the maple leaves were stunning hues of gold and ranged from 8 to 12 inches wide. Moss covered these deciduous trees, and after a rainstorm or foggy night, I discovered the moss released the most beautiful plopping drips, rain-like, but less dense and with giant splats. The forest was so quiet that these drops made rich plopping transients, enlivening the space of the old-growth forest. Hear some of these magical drips starting at 1:30.





Storm Waves

A massive rain system swept through the area for about four days during my visit. This wind made for extreme storm waves that I recorded at Rialto Beach in between storm cells. The twenty-foot waves and frothing seafoam made for rich and powerful recordings. I love the violent slurping sound as water is sucked back after each massive wave.

Rialto Beach is a place where massive spruce stumps are still rooted in the beach, desperately holding to the earth as the soil is stripped from their roots. I pressed a contact mic to one of these stumps and could hear what Gordon Hempton calls the “heartbeat of the ocean”. The vibrations from crashing waves moving through the tree roots create stunning resonances in the wood!

Keeping Gear Dry

Tent Rain Cover: I made a useful rain cover by folding the body of my tent flat on the ground while leaving the rain cover up supported by tent poles. If the rain drops are plentiful, plopping on the plastic can be an issue, but when it is lightly misting all night, this type of cover works beautifully.

I made a useful rain cover by folding the body of my tent flat on the ground while leaving the rain cover up supported by tent poles. If the rain drops are plentiful, plopping on the plastic can be an issue, but when it is lightly misting all night, this type of cover works beautifully. Dew: I constantly checked the dew point to know whether or not dew would form on my microphone blimp overnight. Some nights I was only able to record for 3-4 hours before the moisture was so thick on the microphone blimp that I had to call it quits. While my tent rain cover helped minimize dew, I knew it wouldn’t stop it altogether. I am looking into a better waterproofing option with a Cinella blimp for my next trip. I’ll write a post to let you know how it goes!

I constantly checked the dew point to know whether or not dew would form on my microphone blimp overnight. Some nights I was only able to record for 3-4 hours before the moisture was so thick on the microphone blimp that I had to call it quits. While my tent rain cover helped minimize dew, I knew it wouldn’t stop it altogether. I am looking into a better waterproofing option with a Cinella blimp for my next trip. I’ll write a post to let you know how it goes! Hiking in the rain: When recording in wet conditions, I like to have all my gear wired before I leave my dry prepping area (usually my car). I start by wrapping all microphone cable connection points with electrical tape. (Thanks Andy Martin for this tip!) Then, I mount the Rycote blimp on my Manfrotto stand and drape a dry bag over the top. I keep my recorder in a bag strapped to my chest with a rain cover hung on top. If there is very heavy rain, I put a cheap plastic poncho over my entire body. If I am backcountry camping, I carry blocks of desiccants that I periodically place inside a large dry bag with all my recording gear to dry everything out.

Help from a Friend

I love the field recording community. It’s a small group, but I love how people help each other out. When I fried my main battery charger during some fun in a Pacific Northwest rainstorm, Andy Martin (a Seattle-based field recordist) let me borrow some extra batteries and charger during my trip! His generosity saved me from wasting several days trying to find a replacement in Seattle or having to overnight ship a replacement. I hope to be able to pay it forward in the future.

Military Flights

Navy Growlers were a constant problem over the Olympic Peninsula because the US Navy had been granted a permit to do training flights during my visit. For several hours each day, the Growlers, insanely loud, supersonic capable military jets, buzzed around the Hoh River Valley at low altitudes.

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