{"id":383,"date":"2012-01-22T03:05:20","date_gmt":"2012-01-22T03:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaffematthews.net\/Yird_Muin_Starn\/?page_id=383"},"modified":"2023-03-07T15:55:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T15:55:05","slug":"4-in-which-they-pinpoint-the-site-and-matthews-remains-for-audio-solitariness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kaffematthews.net\/Yird_Muin_Starn\/4-in-which-they-pinpoint-the-site-and-matthews-remains-for-audio-solitariness\/","title":{"rendered":"4. In which they pinpoint the site and Matthews remains for some audio solitariness"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sunday 13th March 2011.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the spot in front of Culsharg bothy on which they today determined to realise the star gazing shelter.<\/p>\n

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They are back in the forest to determine the Yird’s build size, materials, distance from running water (potential hydro-electric powering), desire path possibilities and engage further with the locals. It’s a Sunday so there’s a gently passing stream of them. Today the random encounter is Granny Mave<\/a> and family,\u00a0 who are on sleet retreat recuperating in the bothy on their way up the Merrick. Matthews and McIntosh are delighted to receive more positive encouragement for a shelter here. Matthews proposes the need for a Bench<\/em> inside it which would face due south.\u00a0 Unanimously agreed that a sitting option is paramount.<\/p>\n

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Monday 14th March<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Matthews is alone in the forest. It is clear and sunny and very cold. She decides this is the moment to climb the Merrick.<\/a> To be up high and see planet Earth, not to get to the top of a mountain.\u00a0 She is alone and it\u2019s almost silent as the earth spins and heaves.<\/p>\n

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Hours later she is finding weird and delicious sounds down in the sunny Buchan burn and forest beside. Later, the random encounter is forester Shaun Mochan of\u00a0 Timber Sonics<\/a>. They talk of trees and their sounds. She tells him she is here to record the schwwh schwwh schweeeeh<\/em> of the sitka spruce in a breeze. It’s been totally still today and the trees are silent, any vibrations drowned out by\u00a0 the consistently moving water wherever she went. He tells her of a new system to assess the quality of wood by measuring the speed of travel of a sine tone passing through a piece to assess its stiffness and therefore strength.\u00a0 Surprisingly, up until now, the quality of a tree is not known before it is cut and sold, only its species and volume. This often means wastage due to deliveries of incorrectly assigned wood. The other guy by the fire has developed software that enables a 9\u2033 scanner to detail the content of a forest down to each individual tree,\u00a0 and in 3D.\u00a0 Again more detail, more efficiency, less wastage. ‘Need to let the trees grow longer so they can get stronger,’<\/em> they intone. Then decide to sample the Banloch.<\/p>\n