Hogs Back Falls - July 13, 2000

Hogs Back Falls - July 13, 2000

This is not my first soundwalk at Hogs Back Falls, but it is perhaps the first time when I have consciously listened. How often are we physically present to a place, but psychologically are lost in thought, hundreds of miles away in some other space and time? In the past, my visits to Hogs Back have been of an inward kind of meditation. Conscious listening is a different experience.

Soundwalking is about being totally present in one particular space, in one particular time. It is about listening to the nuances of the space and place around us. It is about listening for rhythms, patterns and the interaction of the sounds in relationship to each other. It is about listening between the sounds.

I find it surprising that the Hogs Back Journal was the last part of Capital Resoundings to be started. Maybe it's because this is the location of all the ones I've chosen that I know the best. I have walked this space dozens of times since I first moved to Ottawa in 1998. I know it well - perhaps this familiarity is why I have never felt the need to document the experience. I have walked it in all climates - freezing snow of winter, torrential waters of spring, the quiet pleasantness and bustle of summer's social season in the park. The chirping of crickets and buzzing of cicadas as the fall gives way to the cold silence of winter.

At any time of year, Hogs Back is a very dense soundscape. It will be a challenge to record.

Many strong sounds collide here. The most obvious is the falls. On first impression, the roar of the falls is all that meets the ear. Or so it would seem. But the falls is only part of it. Depending on your acoustic vantage point, the roar and hiss of the falls mix with the rumble of the traffic. From two directions - on Hogs Back (the road) to the south; and Colonel By Drive to the west, traffic is a constant.

All this combined with frequent airplane sounds. The falls are not directly under the flight path of the Ottawa Airport, but close enough to the airport that planes can frequently be heard overhead. Mostly small planes - I think the 737s must take a different route than the Cessnas and Beavers.

All of this adds up to a very dense ground bass which is the dominant sound in this particular soundscape.

As a result, subtle sounds are buried in the bass rumble. Hog's Back Park is a social space, but the voices tend to get lost unless you are very close to them. Voices fade in very quickly as people approach, and fade out just as quickly when they pass by. It will be a challenge to capture enough voice sounds to bring out this essence of Hog's Back.

I am also planning to record the essence of single waterfalls (Hogs Back is not one waterfall - it is a series. There are several large ones and many smaller. Capturing the sounds of the individual falls, especially the gentler ones, is going to be tricky. Of course, the ever-present sound of the big falls will always be there, but I hope I can get a few close-ups).

Of course, the concept of recording individual streams is something that can happen only in summer. When the water is high, there are only 3 or 4 very big individual streams. I recorded the falls on April 18 as well, when the water was roaring down the gorge in a massive torrent. I was one big, massive roar.

Now in summer, it still roars. But it is a different kind of roar -- the big change is that the sound of individual falls can be heard if you are close enough. Distinct streams blending with the overall ever-present white noise of rushing waters.

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