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Sound Ideas by Chuck Nichols |
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Sound Ideas by Chuck Nichols |
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In the Good Olde Days, when we wanted to keep the noise from our generators out of the neighbours' camps, we would simply dig a 3 foot-deep pit in the playa and drop the generator in. That worked pretty well, didn't take very long, and cost us exactly nothing.
But the pits didn't get filled in very well, and the BLM complained that we had left a "trace". So the project organizers asked us to please please please not dig holes in the playa. Suddenly, no one knew what to do with their generator noise.
If we understood why the pit worked, we might be better prepared to reduce the noise of our generators by other means. The basic principle involves acoustics, the physics of sound. Getting rid of sound energy is all about redirecting the energy to a place where it won't bother anyone. The pit worked by reflecting the energy somewhere that no one was trying to sleep, namely upward into the sky.
But why redirect the energy? Why not absorb it? That's a fair question. The answer is that any old rigid surface will redirect 98% of the energy, but absorbing 98% is difficult and expensive. If you have a free supply of funny foam (like your brother is tearing down a recording studio), go ahead and try it. But if you have to pay anything like market prices, the cost is ridiculous.
So, take my advice and redirect the energy. If there are people all around you, the sky is the only safe place to dump all that noise. (If you are out on the open playa, you just want to direct the noise away from your visitors, so they can hear the deafening garage rave tunes you're cranking. A simple wall will do.)
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