Bernie Krause

Since 1968, Bernie Krause, Ph.D. has traveled the globe to record the natural sounds of environments large and small. Working at the research sites of Jane Goodall (Gombe, Tanzania), Biruté Galdikas (Camp Leakey, Borneo), and Dian Fossey (Karisoke, Rwanda), he identified the concept of biophony based on the relationships of individual creatures to the total biological soundscape within a given habitat. Dr. Krause is also known for being Scientific Director of the operation that rescued Humphrey the humpback whale from the Sacramento Delta using processed feeding sounds of the same species to lure him to the ocean. Through his company, Wild Sanctuary, he has recorded over 15,000 species in their natural environment, released over 50 CDs, and created an interactive map that hosts recordings of soundscapes from around the world.

 

Prior to his celebrated work as bioacoustician, Dr. Krause had an equally luminous career in music. Noted for his pioneering work with early synthesizers like the Moog, he soon found himself playing with musical greats like George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, and the Doors, as well as doing the music for movies including Rosemary’s Baby and Apocalypse Now and TV shows like Mission Impossible and The Twilight Zone. 

 

To learn more about Bernie Krause, visit www.wildsanctuary.com

 

Published work

The Great Animal Orchestra: How Animals Taught Us to Dance and Sing (Forthcoming from Little, Brown and Company); Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World, (Wilderness Press, May 2002); Into A Wild Sanctuary: A Life in Music & Natural Sound (Heyday, September 1998); Notes from the Wild: The Nature Recording Expeditions of Bernie Krause (Ellipsis Arts, 1996)