Gordon Hempton

Silence just might be on the verge of extinction and acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton believes that even the most remote corners of the globe are impacted by noise pollution. In Sanctuaries of Silence, join Hempton on an immersive listening journey into Olympic National Park, one of the quietest places in North America.

Big Giant Wave is an ode to music, the invisible abstract and fleeting sequence of sounds that creates in the brain the same reaction as chocolate, sex, or drugs.

Where is the quietest place on earth? According to environmental sound and recording engineer Gordon Hempton, a self-described “Soundtracker” who travels the world searching for silence, that distinction belongs to the crater of the Haleakala volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Pure sound unaltered by human hands is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Gordon Hempton is an Emmy Award-winning sound recordist who has spent the last 30 years trying to find and record the vanishing sounds of nature in an attempt to capture a disappearing sensory experience. Filmmaker Nick Sherman observes Hempton in the wilderness for 30 days and uncovers an obsessive artist on a quest for perfection in this obscure medium. Hempton’s natural ability to locate and articulate himself through sound has a contagious energy and gives his work a transportive quality. Soundtracker is a fascinating meditation on the world’s changing landscape and the things we may be leaving behind in the service of progress.