If you have seen a mysterious figure in trademark fedora hat on the beach at dawn recently, it was Mr Mackie conducting his sound-wave – or should that be wave-sound – experiments.

He said that he fed the sounds directly into a hand-held computer with its own built-in tuner to guarantee the accuracy of the results.

Mr Mackie also enlisted the help of a companion to sing to the sea as part of the experiment.

He also claims to have found the loudest spot for hearing the sea – at the angle of the seawall on Deveronside, opposite the police station.

He added: "I'm obsessed with the bay. I recorded lots of ambient sound; the dominant key of incoming waves is 'A' or 'A' minor.

"I got up every day for a week to photograph the sunrise."

He was able to see it under various conditions.

He describes the corner at Deveronside as the amplification point of the bay: "The sound is purest there. Everything meets there – like a bass bin, collecting sound. All the energy is collected there and translated upwards into vibrating air.

His singing companion, Irma Rewcastle from Kilmarnock, who was brought up in Portsoy , went onto the beach to improvise in the key of A, and harmonise with the sea.

He said that she has commissioned him to write about the rocks of Portsoy, and a verse piece about her life in there.

Mr Mackie admitted: "People are going to think I'm crazy, but I'm not the first.

John Mackie from Banff listens to the voices of the sea.

"Mendelssohn with Fingal's Cave, Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony, and John Tavener's the Whale, have all done it."

Using photographs, sound recordings and a verse sequence he has written, he hopes to bring out a CD of the project.

He is hoping that musicians will add backing tracks to the sea recordings.

He is also planning to write another sea-themed piece, called 'Goodbye Hannah, thanks for all the fish.'

It will mark the departure of Hannah Bird from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society centre at Spey Bay. The title, is of course, a borrow from the 'Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.'

In the meantime, he issues a challenge to musicians to go down themselves to the sea and see what key they think it is in.

A or D?

John does not know why the two Moray Firth bays are in different keys.

But he notes that there is more shingle at Spey Bay, the bay is a different shape and size, and the river enters the sea more centrally at Spey Bay.

Banff Bay Dawn Between the star glazed opacity of night And the dazzling drift of a deep blue day The sea and sun embrace In lover's fluent langour In not long now This seed will burst To flower Today.

Dawn at Banff Bay: 4.17am precisely.

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