Episode 079 - Matt Mikkelsen | Documentary filmmaker, Sound recordist, & Executive Director of Wilderness Quiet Parks at Quiet Parks International

Get Out

Matthew Mikkelsen is an audio engineer, documentary filmmaker, and a sound recordist. He's the co-founder of Spruce Tone Films, and is the Executive Director of Wilderness Quiet Parks at Quiet Parks International. Listen to his journey from growing up in New Jersey and studying the world of sounds, to now sharing impactful stories, and saving quiet. One Square Inch of Silence is an independent research project by Gordon Hempton. Located off the Hoh River Trail in the Hoh Rain Forest of Olympic National Park, it's marked by a small red stone. See the website Like their Facebook page N 48.12885°, W 123.68234° 303 feet ASL This pristine and diverse environment is possibly the most naturally quiet place in the United States. Quiet Parks International is a private organization that aims to conserve quiet and natural spaces across the world. See their website Follow them on Instagram Like their Facebook page Chat with them on Twitter Watch their YouTube channel Spruce Tone Films is a full suite production company founded by Matt Mikkelsen and Palmer Morse. They share compelling stories of socially and environmentally conscious initiatives, and the outdoors. See the website Follow them on Instagram Like their Facebook page Watch their Vimeo channel Also, mentioned on this podcast Alan Levinovitz - Amazon Rainforest - Anechoic chamber - Anthrophony - Arctic Circle - Arctic Circle air traffic - Atlas Obscura - Atlas Obscura: Soundscapes of Cities Transformed - Austria - Being Hear - Bernie Krause - Biophony - Boudhanath - Cities and Memory - Cofan Tribe, Amazon - Denmark - Elon Musk - Geophony - Gordon Hempton - Gordon Hempton TED talk - Grand Canyon helicopter tours - Grand Teton National Park - Great Big Story - Hoh Rain Forest - Hunting in North America - Ithaca College, NY - Jackson, WY - Joe Rogan podcast with Alan Levinovitz - Lesotho - Mary - Mid-west farming and agriculture - Monument Valley Tribal Park - Navajo Nation - Noise-free interval - NPR The Wild - Olympic National Park - Orfield Laboratories, Minneapolis - Palmer Morse - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Microsoft headquarters, Washington - Pebble Mine, Alaska - Prathima Muniyappa - Seattle - Share Your Quiet - Sounds Of - Spain - Transformational Travel Council - Twenty Thousand Hertz - United Kingdom - Valley of the Gods - Venture Out - Water Flows Together - Wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone - Wyoming - Yangmingsham Quiet Park - Yellowstone National Park - Zabalo River Timestamps for reference 02:21 Why Wyoming? 07:57 What does silence mean to Matt? 09:02 Human-made noise and human interaction with nature 10:11 Treating our natural spaces better 12:21 Priority of conserving quiet by understanding natural sounds 15:02 Are tribal and folk songs natural sounds? 20:43 Psychedelics and sounds 21:43 Talking about quiet in an anechoic chamber 25:02 What is nature, and what is natural? 33:48 A bit about Bernie Krause 34:53 How did Matt meet Gordon? 43:43 The kinds of sounds that Matt and Gordon record 48:17 Leading to QPI from the first meeting with Gordon 50:40 Who is Gordon Hempton, and what is an acoustic ecologist? 54:40 What is Gordon upto these days? 55:45 What is One Square Inch of Silence? 57:29 Origin of Quiet Parks International 59:42 What does One Square Inch of Silence represent? 01:02:15 Why protecting soundscapes is important from a conservation perspective? 01:03:43 Why protecting naturally quiet spaces spills over to other forms of conservation too? 01:05:30 Awarding the world's first Wilderness Quiet Park and Urban Quiet Park 01:07:58 Managing a Quiet Parks International award/certification 01:13:11 Was it easier to award a Wilderness Quiet Park or an Urban Quiet Park? 01:13:49 Standards of awarding quiet parks 01:18:33 Other quiet experiences courtesy of Quiet Parks International 01:19:58 Identifying Marine Quiet Parks 01:22:50 Challenges in awarding quiet destinations 01:25:32 Hunting and Quiet Parks in the US 01:28:59 Farming and agriculture vs quiet spaces 01:30:52 How population density affects quiet spaces 01:32:20 Initiations for awarding quiet areas 01:33:21 Upcoming quiet destinations across the world through 2020-2021 01:34:30 Introducing Vikram Chauhan, President of QPI 01:36:30 How can a layman contribute to conserving quiet spaces? 01:38:29 Matt as a filmmaker, and co-founding Spruce Tone Films 01:42:23 Adventure sports and the outdoors in conserving quiet spaces 01:44:23 Recording other soundscapes apart from nature sounds 01:46:58 Upcoming projects personally, and with QPI 01:48:58 What's the team of QPI like? ******* Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8 Music by Nordgroove from Fugue Episode background tunes courtesy of YouTube Audio Library Alone by Emmit Fenn First Class by DJ Williams One Square Inch by Gordon Hempton Orbit by Corbyn Kites Whispering Stream by E's Jammy Jams Untitled 079 by Nikhil Shankar All photographs by Matt Mikkelsen, Quiet Parks International, & Spruce Tone Films, unless otherwise stated