Speed of Sound: SOUNDTRACKER Plays Hot Docs

When director Nick Sherman first read about Gordon Hempton, he saw a chance to make a documentary that could evoke naturalists like Muir and Thoreau. In Hempton, he had a subject matter that felt a deep connection to the natural world, and a desire to preserve it. However, in documenting Hempton’s lifes work and passion, there would be a rather looming obstacle:

How would he make an interesting movie about sound?

Hempton is an award winning sound recordist. He uses a microphone the way Ansel Adams used a camera. For the last thirty years, he has been all over the world collecting audio specimens of the vanishing natural landscape. SOUNDTRACKER is a look at the man in action, and the results are a delicate video and audio love letter to the world as he sees it…and hears it.

Sherman faced a lot of challenges in creating this film, not the least of which was capturing visuals that would compliment the stunning audio Hempton records. His stylistic photography works well to accentuate, but not distract from the intricate recordings Hempton captures. The film finds a wonderful balance of sweeping wide shots, subtle detail photography…and even moments of letting the screen go black. It all comes together beautifully and gets the audience to start hearing the world the way that Hempton does.

One key detail to this is Hempton’s opinion of commercial airplanes. Nothing ruins his work faster than a plane flying overhead, since the engines are a man-made sound and disrupt the natural environment he is trying to capture. It might not make sense to read that, but seeing it in the film immediately helps the audience understand Hempton’s frustration. Indeed, as the film plays out, the airplane becomes a villain that would make Darth Vader and Lord Voldermort proud. “I’m fine with that,” said Sherman, when I mentioned the black hat he’d just handed a 747.

In filming Hempton’s expeditions, Sherman became somewhat of a wildlife documentarian. He tells me that following Hempton became like following a rare species of bird; one only wants to show them in their natural setting: only documenting, never disrupting. Part of this came from Hempton’s own proviso, that once he turned on his mic, Sherman and his cameraman Martin DiCicco had to freeze in place – whether they were ready for a shot or not. Seems fair, right?

Well the rule got put to the test, when our documentarians got caught unawares on a trail. Almost without warning, Hempton began recording the sound of a Blue Grouse. For Sherman, this would have been fine if he was shooting it, but he wasn’t even ready when Hempton flipped the switch. He had to wait patiently…for 45 minutes…before sun-up…holding equipment in the cold…with no gloves. In a moment of irony, it was a plane passing overhead that finally put an end to this test of endurance.

Interestingly, the only man-made noise Hempton gravitates towards is that of trains. He loves the sound of their whistles, since they are almost like the call of a wild animal, and the sound of them can define the space they are in. In the film’s final act, he goes on a quest for the song of the meadowlark juxtaposed against the passing of a train. It’s his white whale, and his quest for it fills the audience with a childlike enthusiasm.

Hempton’s work, and likewise Sherman’s documentary of his work, are a gentle yet alarming wake-up call on our affect on this planet. In the hurry-up society we find ourselves in, we often long for getting a bit of peace and quiet. Yet as SOUNDTRACKER points out, it’s astounding to see how rare true peace in the natural world has become.

Hempton claims that in America, it is impossible to find 20 minutes of uniterrupted quiet anywhere east of The Mississippi River. That’s a big part of the map. The goal of this film seems to be understanding the value of a mantra like the sounds of the natural world. It’s Hempton’s wish that we make all start listening to what Mother Earth wants to tell us, and to protect her from being overrun by calamity..one square inch at a time

SOUNDTRACKER plays tonight – 6:45pm at THE ROM, again on Tuesday May 4th – 4:30pm at Cumberland 2, and once more on Sunday May 9th – 4:00pm at Innis Town Hall.