Season 2 / Week 2 / Day 7 Tuesday: Visiting Mount St. Helens

Hello good morning dear early birds!

(This is the moment when one specific member of our crew will start to talk about coffee again, but this time, we skip it ;-) ;-) )

(Image by @unsplash)

Were you able to observe a difference in the sounds you collected, compared with the materials from last week?

Like Patricia Wolf, our artist of the week, we are eager to continue our research on how time changes and influences our soundscapes.

Time is an important factor to many processes both in natural life, and in human minds ...

(image courtesy of Patricia Wolf)

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy once noticed that:

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”

Today, Patricia takes us along to Mount St. Helens, the impressive volcano that erupted on May 18, 1980. There is some impressive footage from that eruption that makes me hold my breath. Still, the scars of the eruption are visible, but over 40 years after the eruption, the destructive power of the volcano also gave way to so much new life and a very rich biodiversity. Satellite images show how life reclaimed the apparently lifeless zone.

Patricia went with her equipement to trace the sounds of the life reemerging on the slopes of Mount St. Helens. Her work resulted in the album called “Live On Smoking Mountain” The first tracks on the album consist of the wonderous recordings of wildlife at dawn….

In our Ambient Radio Podcast, Patricia Wolf tells more about this fascinating work!

Even though we started our field trip very early in the morning today, by the time we arrived at Mount St. Helens, it's already afternoon….

And we think you might guess the task of the day, isn’t it?

Go back to one of your last weeks soundscapes and record the sounds of midday or noon. How did your chosen soundscape change from your last visit? What noises did you not hear before? What is there now? Do you get closer to understanding what your place is about through what you heard?

Maybe you can record a collection of individual noise and sounds you hear. You can superimpose them with each other, mix them… Now, you are also allowed to let your technical skills float freely. But also simply documenting is very satisfying - up to you how you like to work! Just try to capture the midday mood of your place.

Once you are happy with the result of your explorations - please do share it with us!

Please share your sound and an image with us:

• Post a film / recording (around 1 minute in length) with an image on Instagram using the #positionfromthesun #ambientradio (like this, we find your work!) or:

• Also please upload your sounds on Google drive. Please give your track the following title: positionfromthesun_yourname_yourplace2. Like this we find your work for the weekly remix! or

• Alternatively, drop an audiofile into our Telegram chat!

We wish you a very lovely hike at your very own personal Mount St. Helens today!

We are looking forward to receiving your sonic postcards from all over the world soon!

Love and kisses, Pan, Delia and the Ambient Radio Crew.