Recording in the basement

     The tape recording I attempted in the basement only adds to the confusion. Not a lot of tape was used in the basement expriment which indicates the basement is pretty much soundproof. Not even my dogs loud yapping is registered on the tape. You can clearly hear me setting up the recorder in the approximate center of the cellar. You can hear my footsteps as I climb the old rickety wood stairs to the first floor. Then there is a period of silent tape, which makes no sense because the recorder is only on when noises activate it. This is followed by footsteps in close proximity of the recorder; which I at first assumed were made by me retreving the recorder; except there again follows a silent period of tape and then the sound of the cellar door, followed by steps coming down the stairs and toward the recorder, which really was me retreving it. So what were the footsteps that sounded between my going upstairs and then coming back downstairs? Why was so much tape silent on a sound activated recorder. There were no silent areas of tape on the attic recording that featured so much sound. Instead of solving any mysteries, I'm only compounding them.