Music, sounds and sound effects are very important tools for a filmmaker. They are a big part in shaping the emotions of a viewer. Foley artists create the sounds with whatever props they can, but that is something which is not always possible or wanted. Gordon Hempton is a man who lives for sounds and has specialized in sounds of nature. It is a job which has earned him an Emmy, but which also has meant that other aspects in his life weren’t as succesfull. In this documentary director Nick Sherman follows him during one of his long trips, where Hempton searches for the perfect sounds.
Hempton is a man who is obsessed by sound and who considers his ears his most important equipment. Recording nature sounds has become more and more difficult as there are less places available where the sound isn’t polluted. It is something which he visibly struggles with and talks about in length. When he sees how ancient trees have been cut down he breaks down. He lives nature and sometimes is away for months, just on his own hunting down whatever he becomes obsessed with at that moment.
During filming he wants to have the perfect combination of a bird singing and a passing train sounding its horn. He spends long periods of time finding the perfect spot, with no other sounds messing it all up and even when he manages to capture it he is not content and continues his search. It is interesting to see this man striving for perfection and driving around hunting on finding those sounds, but as a documentary I felt too much time was spent on him finding that combination of bird and train. With a shorter running time this would have been a more compelling watch as repeatedly seeing him do the same thing starts to become boring. What the documentary also does not show much of is how his work is being used and what others think about his work. That single focus might be enough for some, but I was left with wanting some more information which was not provided.
