Biography & Photos

Watson is one of the world's leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and for Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. For example. the unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson's words, putting a microphone where you can't put your ears. He was born in Sheffield where he attended Rowlinson School and Stannington College (now part of Sheffield College). In 1971 he was a founding member of the influential Sheffield-based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire. His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television. Since then he has developed a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. As a freelance recordist for film, tv & radio, Chris Watson specialises in natural history and documentary location sound together with track assembly and sound design in post production.

His television work includesBill Oddie Back in the USA, Springwatch, Autumnwatch and The One Show. He has appeared on many BBC Radio productions including A Guide to Garden Birds, the Reed Bed, Jules Verne's Volcanoe, The Ditch, Elegies from a Suburban Garden, The Wire and more. He also makes performances, live sound installations and specialises in multi-channel works, for example, recreating the sound of John Constable's "The Cornfield" in front of the original painting at The National Gallery in London.

In 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology degree by the University of the West of England"in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sound recording technology, especially in the field of natural history and documentary location sound".

In 2010 he devised an art project at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, using sound recordings made by children to calm other young patients as they received injections and other treatments. In the same year he initiated The Bee Symphony with Marcus Davidson & Mike Harding, which was originally commissioned by Pestival at The South Bank, London.

Lo-Res photos can be downloaded here and Hi-Res here [39.4 Mb]