I saw Werner Herzog’s documentary about Antarctica, Encounters at the End of the World, over the weekend, which is currently playing at Cinema 21. (And oh my god, go see it. It’s incredible.) Herzog uses an eclectic selection of music to soundtrack the movie, including Bulgarian choirs and the unearthly underwater calls of Weddell seals (which sound like early Moog synth noises):

Towards the end of the film, Herzog uses a piece of choral music that features a Russian basso profundo voice. The vocal is deeper and lower than anything I’ve ever heard. Check out this YouTube clip which features an example of this type of singing:

Now that’s low.

Ned Lannamann is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. He writes about film, music, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, and other things.

2 replies on “Seal Noises and the Lowest Voice Ever”

  2. Speaking of music and Encounters, I saw the movie this weekend too…and I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could never spend time in Antarctica because not only because it’s so cold, but because it seems to be inhabited mostly with hippies with acoustic guitars, which might be in my least favorite combination of things ever.

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