Dan Gibson

Just found out that Dan Gibson passed away this morning. :-(



Dan was a longtime friend of the family's and a close friend of Jeff's father. My interactions with Dan were always at the cottage; I found him to be an incredibly positive and cheerful individual, full of energy and good humour. He encouraged me to bring my flute over to his cottage so we could jam together.

I was aware Dan's recording and film work were fairly well-known in Canada, but his international influence only really hit me when Jeff and I were in Tokyo and saw a Solitudes display in the lobby shop, along with a bio and photo of Dan, all in Japanese.



Dan Gibson's career in nature sounds, film and TV started in 1946 when he started Dan Gibson Productions Ltd. His method of synchronizing nature sounds (that he recorded himself) with visual content was groundbreaking and earned him two Canadian Film Awards (now called Genies) for best movie soundtracks. Dan also invented a type of parabolic microphone that is still used today.

In 1981, Dan founded the Solitudes line, named after his favorite song by Duke Ellington, "In My Solitude". In April 1994, Dan was named to the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada. The distinguished civilian honor was presented to Dan for his work in "filming and recording nature and for his role in creating public awareness of conservation, wildlife and our natural heritage." At the 1997 Juno awards, Dan was awarded the Walt Grealis Lifetime Achievement Award.

My strongest memory of Dan was from early one morning at the cottage: seeing him in a boat drifting slowly across the lake through the mist, holding up a parabolic microphone to record a loon call.

Dan, you will be sorely missed.

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