*insert loon call here*

December 19, 2006 4:27 PM

The late Dan Gibson: Pioneering wildlife documentarian and sound archivist. Inventor of the Dan Gibson Parabolic Microphone. Musician. Order of Canada recipient. All-around good guy.
posted by The Card Cheat (6 comments total)

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posted by parki at 4:30 PM on December 19, 2006

That's a god-damned lie.

I invented the Dan Gibson Parabolic Microphone.
posted by Flunkie at 4:54 PM on December 19, 2006

+1 on the total good guy thing.

I had the pleasure of meeting him and dealing with him briefly in the early '90s, when I helped sell and support a digital audio editing system that he had bought for his company. He was unfailingly polite and pleasant , and still really enthusiastic about what he was doing.

His sound recordings of wildlife are the classics, still really clean and evocative. I wish I had the patience to pursue recording to his level.

I don't believe he was a musician himself (at least to the point of writing and playing music on his CDs). For the Solitudes series I believe he teamed up with musicians who provided the musical compositions. I have one Solitudes CD here ("Rocky Mountain Suite") and the composer/player is Hennie Bekker, using a Synclavier.

I actually have a real Dan Gibson parabolic mic rig. They work really well, though people freak out a bit if you use it in public. :)
posted by Artful Codger at 8:27 PM on December 19, 2006

Thanks, Codger!

Here's a friend's myspace page dedicated to Mr. Gibson, including a gorgeous sample of his work.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:58 PM on December 19, 2006

Thanks for the post, Card Cheat!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:55 AM on December 20, 2006

I have numerous CDs of his work, as well as "ancient" casette tapes of his early nature-sounds-only work that I loved. As a current city-dweller, they were always able to help me to reconnect to the nature-lover in me (minus the mosquitos).

He shall be sorely missed.

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posted by Jade Dragon at 12:12 PM on December 29, 2006