Why does it sound so quiet after a fresh snowfall? 

Ever notice how calm and peaceful it seems right after a fresh blanket of snow is dumped on the city?

It’s like a magical moment, when everything around you is pure and pristine. The hustle and bustle of the city seems to be nothing but a distant hum — well, up until the snow plough comes barreling down the street scraping the heck out of the road and tossing heaps of snow against your parked car — but I digress.

Why does there seem to be less noise outside after a snowfall? Why is it so quiet, almost serene? Well if you are like me and go home and scream into your pillow for a few hours each night, you probably have the basic understanding of the principles at work. Snow makes for an excellent sound absorber and displacer just like the batting or feathers in the pillows.

The science behind snow and sound

Sound travels in waves and bounces off hard objects.

Trust me, I am not trying to waste your time here with these elementary concepts, but we should cover some of the basics before we move forward.

Just think of every echo scene in a movie, in a cave or even the Grand Canyon. Smooth and hard surfaces do an excellent job of bouncing sound around and keeping it live.

But snow has a bit of the opposite effect. It doesn’t bounce sound when the snow is fresh and has some air pockets in it. In fact, the six-sided shape of a snowflake and all the tiny barbs sticking off of it actually break those sound waves into smaller bits and dampen the sound’s ability to travel.

Here is a close up look at snowflake, so you can see how it might break up a sound wave. Also, the smaller air pockets between them as they are piled up on the ground is an excellent insulator and diffuser, very similar to acoustics foam.

As the snow begins to melt, it begins to compact and turns into a dirty old pile of slush on the ground. Its sound catching properties are lost and it goes right back to bouncing sound waves around, because the snowflakes are losing their shapes and the air pockets are being eliminated.

So if you want to record some outdoor voiceovers, do it with a fresh blanket of snow on the ground.