I must be very strange, because I enjoy silence. Actually, to be more accurate, I enjoy the natural and everyday sounds of life, since you really can’t have complete silence in this world.
When I was working in sound for film and television, I could walk into my studio, stand still, and there would be complete silence. The test was, if you snapped your finger, the sound would be flat, and very quickly disappear. Even in a very quiet environment, without any extraneous sounds that you can perceive, every room has its own sound. When you’re shooting a film in an actual room and not on a sound stage, when the scene is finished, you close the room, put the tape recorder in the room on, to capture the sound, what we call room tone to be used later in the final edit and mix.
What I see now is people cutting out those everyday sounds by plugging into heads, different sounds. It’s either music, or talk radio, audio books, or I don’t know what. I know people who can’t be alone in a house or apartment, without having the radio, television, or music on to keep them company. I see people working out in gyms, with headsets on, working in jobs that doesn’t need human contact, all wired up, listening to something.
When I’m working out in a gym, or taking my long walks around my housing complex, I enjoy just the sounds around me, it gives me time to think, whether it’s about a design problem I’m trying to solve, a personal problem, or just to reflect on my life. When I write, or even read, I can’t have other sounds, like the television, or even music, it blocks my thoughts.
I remember when I lived in New York City, my favorite daily exercise was to swim laps at the YMCA uptown. Talk about being in your own thoughts, zoning out, until someone swimming in my lane with me, bought a miniature waterproof radio and headphones, so he could always have sound in his head. At least I didn’t hear it.
I lived downtown and worked out of my apartment. Consequently, I spent a good part of my day walking throughout the city, seeing clients, or just photographing the constant movement of the city. Part of living there, and experiencing the wonderful fabric that makes up New York City, is the constant sound. Yes, it’s noisy, and yes sometimes it’s very noisy, but it all fits together very well. Every time I walked through the city, it was always different, sights and sounds, even though I was walking through the same streets every day. I found out that I had something in common with John Lennon, although I didn’t know that when I would meet him casually. Lennon was interviewed, when he was living in New York City. One of the questions was, “What music do you listen to, when you walk about the city.” His reply was, “None, I just listen to the sounds of the city.”
My favorite recreation is scuba diving. I am a dive master, and have been diving since 1970. A friend once said me, “It must be very calming and absolutely quiet being underwater.” Yes, I said, it’s very calming, being suspended in a column of water, no up no down, just stationary, but as to being absolutely quiet, no, there are a variety sounds down there besides the sound of your regulator as you breathe. Sounds made by different marine animals, sounds of the waves, and a rain storm, if you’re close to the surface, but these sounds are very calming to me.
So, I’ll try to enjoy as much silence as possible, and wish that those who can’t live with that constant bombardment of sound, could also.
