Chris Watson tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4 2013-05-15T09:37:24Z Chris Watson is a sound recordist specialising in natural history. His work as a wildlife sound recordist includes both work for film and television documentaries, and experimental musical projects. Movable Type 3.35 In St Cuthbert’s Time – The Sounds of Lindisfarne and the Gospels tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3935 2013-05-15T09:35:50Z 2013-05-15T09:37:24Z 6th July 2013 – 30 September 10am – 4pm daily, Holy Cross Chapel, Durham Cathedral Throughout human history artists have been influenced by their surroundings and the sounds of the landscape they inhabit. When Eadfrith, the Bishop of Lindisfarne, was writing and illustrating the Lindisfarne Gospels on that island during the late 7thCentury and early 8thCentury he would have been immersed in the seasonal sounds around the island. For ‘In St Cuthbert’s Time’, a collaboration with Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study, and other Durham-based researchers, artist Chris Watson has created a sound installation that reflects the acoustic landscape of that island during the time that the Lindisfarne Gospels were being considered, written and illustrated. Durham Cathedral’s Holy Cross Chapel provides an inspiring location for quiet reflection and meditation on the sounds St Cuthbert and the other monks would have experienced for themselves. The installation will run continuously on a loop lasting around forty to fifty minutes and reflect the seasonal changes of a year out on the island. It will be played at a very discrete level as the intention is to create an atmosphere within the Chapel as if the Chapel was on the island and the natural sounds of that place were percolating inside through the two large unglazed windows. The replay level and spatial representation of the work is key to its success. Visitors will be able to engage in conversation without having to raise their... Field www.field.nu Touch to coincide with this event. More information on the CD & download release to follow in due course...]]> Inside the Circle of Fire: A Sheffield Sound Map tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3933 2013-05-14T13:58:30Z 2013-05-21T09:14:22Z Thursday 12 September 2013 - Sunday 23 February 2014 From making childhood recordings of birdsong in his garden, to co-founding electronic pioneers Cabaret Voltaire, and his work as one of the UK’s pre-eminent sound recordists, Sheffield-born Chris Watson has had an enduring fascination with sound. In this ambitious new exhibition, Chris will transform the Millennium Gallery into an immersive ‘sound map’ of Sheffield, charting its boundaries on the edge of the Peak and travelling its waterways to the bustling heart of the city. By truly hearing the sounds of the city, perhaps for the first time, we hope that visitors will gain a new perspective on Sheffield in 2013. You can read a feature on Chris & Inside the Circle of Fire in today’s Yorkshire Post here.... Field www.field.nu Millennium Gallery into an immersive ‘sound map’ of Sheffield, charting its boundaries on the edge of the Peak and travelling its waterways to the bustling heart of the city. By truly hearing the sounds of the city, perhaps for the first time, we hope that visitors will gain a new perspective on Sheffield in 2013. You can read a feature on Chris & Inside the Circle of Fire in today’s Yorkshire Post here.]]> Sound exhibition at The Hole Gallery, Prague | May 2013 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3923 2013-05-03T09:29:08Z 2013-05-03T09:30:42Z More info can be found here May 6-20, 2013 Chris Watson: Monte Bondone, Settembre 2013, 2 min 28 sec Opening: May 6, 6pm Galerie Díra / The Hole Gallery, Školská 28, Prague 1 Galerie Díra is sound art and site specific gallery in the backyard of no. 28 of Školská street, Prague. http://galeriedira.cz... Field www.field.nu here May 6-20, 2013 Chris Watson: Monte Bondone, Settembre 2013, 2 min 28 sec Opening: May 6, 6pm Galerie Díra / The Hole Gallery, Školská 28, Prague 1 Galerie Díra is sound art and site specific gallery in the backyard of no. 28 of Školská street, Prague. http://galeriedira.cz]]> David Attenborough to launch Tweet Of The Day on Radio 4 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3906 2013-04-24T11:25:32Z 2013-04-24T13:53:55Z On 6 May David Attenborough will launch Tweet Of The Day, Radio 4’s new year-long celebration of the wonder and poetry of birdsong. Just before the Today programme, early risers will be treated to a different call or song of a British species, followed by a fascinating story of ornithology specific to the tweet in question. In Britain there are now 596 species on the official bird list, of which 286 are recorded as rare. The BBC will be collaborating with brilliant wildlife sound recordists such as Chris Watson, Geoff Sample and Gary Moore to track down the songs of some of these much-loved birds, from the nightingale to the swift, the greenfinch to the garden warbler. The series will begin with the cuckoo – the song of the male is familiar to many, but how many of us can say that we have seen the bird itself? www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre and www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/... Field www.field.nu www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre and www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/ ]]> Viv Albertine (The Slits) on El Tren Fantasma tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3900 2013-04-19T16:56:32Z 2013-04-19T17:00:49Z "Technically it's so beautiful; it's beautifully recorded. I think he does what an artist should do, which is take something every day and make you hear it or see it differently. I could listen to this anytime of day or night, I could listen to it heartbroken or grieving... so beautiful, so inspiring. It paints pictures in your head and yet it's barely music. This record can make you see beauty in the everyday." Read the full article here and you can buy the CD and vinyl EP in a discounted bundle here or individually: CD EP The Signal Man's Mix... Field www.field.nu Read the full article here and you can buy the CD and vinyl EP in a discounted bundle here or individually: CD EP The Signal Man's Mix]]> The Egg Show | Channel 4 31st March - 1st April 2013 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3886 2013-03-28T13:49:01Z 2013-03-28T13:52:04Z Chris is working on... Easter Eggs Live 60 mins Sunday 31 March Channel 4 The first of the two main programmes as Mark Evans explores the weird, wonderful world of eggs. The eggs are due to hatch. Jimmy Doherty examines bugs, and Lucy Cooke investigates frogs. Easter Eggs Live 60 mins Monday 1 April The second of the two main programmes exploring the wonderful and often weird world of eggs, from clown fish to emus. Mark Evans updates viewers on the animals that have hatched overnight.... Field www.field.nu Easter Eggs Live 60 mins Sunday 31 March Channel 4 The first of the two main programmes as Mark Evans explores the weird, wonderful world of eggs. The eggs are due to hatch. Jimmy Doherty examines bugs, and Lucy Cooke investigates frogs.
Easter Eggs Live 60 mins Monday 1 April The second of the two main programmes exploring the wonderful and often weird world of eggs, from clown fish to emus. Mark Evans updates viewers on the animals that have hatched overnight.]]> The sound of one ant walking | The Radio Times tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3854 2013-02-20T09:11:51Z 2013-02-20T09:12:32Z "The sound of one ant walking – inside the world of a wildlife audio expert" View the article here... Field www.field.nu View the article here]]> The Listeners | BBC Radio 4 February 2013 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3837 2013-02-07T17:07:07Z 2013-02-12T09:48:01Z Field www.field.nu BBC Radio 4, Tue 19 & 26 Feb at 11.02am (repeated Thur 21 and 28 at 21.02) Presenter Patrick Ayree Producer Sarah Blunt “I suppose for me listening is the most important thing I can do,” says acoustic biologist Katy Payne in this series. “ I just wish we were as good listeners as elephants are”. In this two-part series, we discover that listening is about much more than just hearing.as we meet individuals whose professional lives are spent listening and interpreting the sounds they hear. The first programme focuses on sounds within the human hearing range and the second programme, explores ultrasound and infrasound; sounds above and below the human hearing range. In the first programme we hear from Julie Ryan a volunteer with the International Rescue Corps, an organisation which specialises in urban search and rescue, Cardiac surgeon Jonathan Pitts Crick, piano tuner Davis Powell, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson and acoustic biologist Katy Payne In the second programme we hear from acoustic biologist Katy Payne, Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, astrophysicist Tim O’Brien, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson and bat ecologist John Altringham. ]]> The echoes of Benjamin Britten's 'composing walks' tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3831 2013-01-31T17:52:50Z 2013-02-06T08:23:58Z Aldeburgh Music’s PLACE weekend Chris retraces the steps of Benjamin Britten and tunes into the Suffolk countryside which inspired the composer. Chris Watson talks to Pascal Wyse, The Guardian 31st January 2013: The echoes of Benjamin Britten's 'composing walks' In Port Magazine, the wildlife specialist shares anecdotes from his career, and his latest commission in Suffolk (see above). And in The Financial Times: A walk with the FT: In Britten’s footsteps And BBC news The Liminal write about "Chris Watson – In Britten’s Footsteps" installation The Guardian reviewed the piece on 5th February: Gamophone Magazine review can be read here... Aldeburgh Music’s PLACE weekend Chris retraces the steps of Benjamin Britten and tunes into the Suffolk countryside which inspired the composer. Chris Watson talks to Pascal Wyse, The Guardian 31st January 2013: The echoes of Benjamin Britten's 'composing walks' In Port Magazine, the wildlife specialist shares anecdotes from his career, and his latest commission in Suffolk (see above). And in The Financial Times: A walk with the FT: In Britten’s footsteps And BBC news The Liminal write about "Chris Watson – In Britten’s Footsteps" installation The Guardian reviewed the piece on 5th February: Gamophone Magazine review can be read here]]> Recordings of a Desert Waterhole | Namibia December 2012 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3830 2013-01-31T17:49:47Z 2013-01-31T17:52:01Z "At 1800h local time I fixed a Sennheiser MKH 8040/30 middle and side rig against a sun bleached log by the edge of a small muddy pool. This was the only surface water I could find on the floor of a steep sided valley formed by the ephemeral river Kuiseb on the western fringe of the Namib desert in Namibia, southwest Africa." Listen on the Wildlife Sound Recording Society blog... Listen on the Wildlife Sound Recording Society blog ]]> Chris Watson featured in new book about field recording tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3822 2013-01-24T08:50:08Z 2013-01-24T08:51:33Z Alexander Galand FIELD RECORDING The use of sound world in 100 albums (Belgium, 2012) http://atheles.org/lemotetlereste/formes/fieldrecording/index.html EXTRAIT: Le field recording, ou enregistrement de terrain, est une pratique apparue logiquement à la fin du xixe siècle avec l’invention de systèmes d’enregistrement, de plus en plus portables. Peu à peu, le studio perd de sa fatalité et l’homme peut partir par les chemins pour capter quantité de musiques et de sons. Les premiers à se lancer sont les ethnomusicologues et les audio-naturalistes. Les uns sont en quête des musiques de divers peuples de la terre, vivant souvent loin des grandes villes et de leurs facilités logistiques. Les autres souhaitent quant à eux conserver la trace des sons de la nature.... http://atheles.org/lemotetlereste/formes/fieldrecording/index.html EXTRAIT: Le field recording, ou enregistrement de terrain, est une pratique apparue logiquement à la fin du xixe siècle avec l’invention de systèmes d’enregistrement, de plus en plus portables. Peu à peu, le studio perd de sa fatalité et l’homme peut partir par les chemins pour capter quantité de musiques et de sons. Les premiers à se lancer sont les ethnomusicologues et les audio-naturalistes. Les uns sont en quête des musiques de divers peuples de la terre, vivant souvent loin des grandes villes et de leurs facilités logistiques. Les autres souhaitent quant à eux conserver la trace des sons de la nature.]]> Chris Watson in Aldeburgh | 1st February 2013 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3821 2013-01-23T15:51:05Z 2013-01-24T14:04:52Z PLACE WEEKEND: Roots - Journeying Home The third edition of our annual winter weekend exploration into the culture and meanings of place looks at the nature and resonance of home. It draws its inspiration from the life and travels of Benjamin Britten, and its title from an astute observation he made in 1951 about the importance of Suffolk to his life and creativity. Over the weekend (see below), in the company of award-winning writers, thinkers, artists, musicians and film-makers, Roots will explore what home means in an age of globalization, from considerations of domestic architecture to the psychology of unsettlement, and from the lure of the local to our place in the cosmos. As always, the approaches will be various – readings, screenings, music, performance, discussion, walks and installation – and we’re especially pleased to announce a new commission by internationally acclaimed sound artist Chris Watson, In Britten’s Footsteps, responding directly to the Aldeburgh landscape, and a presentation by conductor and writer Paul Kildea, the author of an important new Britten biography. PLACE is curated by Gareth Evans in association with Aldeburgh Music. Join us next week at Aldeburgh Music’s cross-arts PLACE weekend. More info and tickets here, hope to see you there http://www.brittenaldeburgh.co.uk/whats-on/event/place-weekend-roots-journeying-home Twitter: Join us at @aldeburghmusic next week for the cross-arts PLACE weekend. http://www.brittenaldeburgh.co.uk/whats-on/event/place-weekend-roots-journeying-home #BrittenLivesHere and you can read a feature in The Quietus here... read a feature in The Quietus here]]> Live in Geneva | 11th January 2013 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2013://4.3803 2013-01-07T09:43:29Z 2013-01-07T09:46:38Z http://presenceselectroniques.ch Il présentera à Genève en première mondiale Blue Notes, une création unique inspirée de l’océan, qui en traduira le rythme et la musique avec des sons enregistrés pour la plupart en milieu subaquatique. Tout un art ! He will present in Geneva the world premiere of Blue Notes, a unique design inspired by the ocean, which results in the rhythm and music with sounds recorded mostly in an underwater environment.... http://presenceselectroniques.ch Il présentera à Genève en première mondiale Blue Notes, une création unique inspirée de l’océan, qui en traduira le rythme et la musique avec des sons enregistrés pour la plupart en milieu subaquatique. Tout un art ! He will present in Geneva the world premiere of Blue Notes, a unique design inspired by the ocean, which results in the rhythm and music with sounds recorded mostly in an underwater environment. ]]> Interview on SNYKradio tag:www.chriswatson.net,2012://4.3762 2012-12-21T17:36:33Z 2012-12-21T17:37:43Z SNYKradio is a podcasting service based in Copenhagen. They cover contemporary music and soundart. Last weekend Chris Watson performed at The Copenhagen Field Recording Festival, they met up with him and talk to him about the art of listening. You can listen to the interview here.... You can listen to the interview here.]]> A Guide to Mountain and Moorland Birds | 7th-11th January 2013 tag:www.chriswatson.net,2012://4.3728 2012-12-10T20:37:19Z 2012-12-30T11:08:19Z BBC Radio 4, Mon – Fri, 7-11 January, 13.45-14.00 Brett Westwood in conversation with Stephen Moss Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt Which bird sounds like a coffee percolator and moves like a clockwork mouse? Well, the answer can be found in the first of a new series of Radio Guides to our commonest upland birds. Surrounded by the go-back-back-back calls of Red Grouse, Brett Westwood joins keen bird watcher Stephen Moss on the magnificent rolling hills of the Long Mynd in Shropshire. With the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the birds which you’re most likely to see and hear on heather moors in Upland Britain. This series complements five previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds, A Guide to Water Birds, A Guide to Coastal Birds and A Guide to Farmland Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our upland visitors and residents.... BBC Radio 4, Mon – Fri, 7-11 January, 13.45-14.00 Brett Westwood in conversation with Stephen Moss Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt Which bird sounds like a coffee percolator and moves like a clockwork mouse? Well, the answer can be found in the first of a new series of Radio Guides to our commonest upland birds. Surrounded by the go-back-back-back calls of Red Grouse, Brett Westwood joins keen bird watcher Stephen Moss on the magnificent rolling hills of the Long Mynd in Shropshire. With the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the birds which you’re most likely to see and hear on heather moors in Upland Britain. This series complements five previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds, A Guide to Water Birds, A Guide to Coastal Birds and A Guide to Farmland Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our upland visitors and residents.]]>