Blog Archives

Chris Watson – Field Recording at Its Finest

“This week I had the absolute honour of talking with field recordist, musician, and audio ace Chris Watson. For those unfamiliar with Chris, he is considered one of the top field recordists in the world. He’s worked on Frozen Planet, The Life of Birds, Big Cat Diary, Life in the Undergrowth, Nature, Autumnwatch, and many more. If you want a bigger impression of this amazing artists work check out his website at www.chriswatson.net and you’ll get an even better picture. Needless to say, he’s had and is still pursuing a stunning career that many of us only dream of!”

www.sounddesignacademy.com

Another chance to hear six characters in and around a garden pond, reflect on what life is really like between the lily pads and the buttercups. Written by Lynne Truss. Wildlife sound recordings by Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt

BBC Radio 4, Tue 25 Aug, 23.02 We hear from the tadpole (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and the dragonfly (Alison Steadman)

BBC Radio 4, Tue 1 Sept, 23.02 We hear from the water boatman (Sandi Toksvig) and the Great Diving Beetle (David Ryall)

BBC Radio 4, Tue 8 Sept, 23.02 We hear from the garden spider (Amanda Root) and the Great Pond Snail (James Fleet)

Gossip from the Garden Pond

There’s another chance to hear SOUNDSTAGE on BBC Radio 4
Mondays at 09.30am, 17 Aug – 14 September

Monday 17 August, BBC Radio 4, 09.30-09.45, Midnight at the Oasis
Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson narrates the first in a series of audio postcards capturing spectacular wild sound events, beginning in the Kalahari desert.

Monday 24 August, BBC Radio 4, 09.30-09.45 St James Park
Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson introduces the sounds of the city on Match Day in Newcastle upon Tyne in the second in a series of immersive soundscapes.

Monday 31 August, BBC Radio 4, 09.30-09.45 The Wash
Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson introduces the extraordinary sounds which accompany the movement of the tides on the Wash, in this series of immersive soundscapes.

Monday 7 September, BBC Radio 4, 09.30-09.45 Glacial Melt
The extraordinary and powerful sounds of a glacier calving are captured by wildlife sound recordist, Chris Watson in this series of immersive soundscapes.

Monday 14 September, BBC Radio 4, 09.30-09.45 Dawn Chorus
Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson introduces the sounds of a dawn chorus recorded near Aldeburgh in Suffolk in the last in this series of immersive soundscapes.
Narrated and recorded by Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt

Hear and Now this Saturday 4th April at 10pm, in the Composers’ Rooms series.

Composers’ Rooms collection
Hear & Now homepage
Podcasts
Photo gallery

Radio 3’s primary contemporary music programme, featuring live performances and studio sessions from the best new groups, and premiering works commissioned by the BBC

BBC Radio 4, Mon- Fri, 23-27 March 2015, 13.45-14.00

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson narrates five immersive soundscapes; each of which is a time compression; a spectacular natural event which has been recorded over hours, days, weeks or even months but which is presented here in less than 15minutes.In the first programme, Chris visits the Kalahari Desert to capture the sounds of midnight at the oasis. Newcastle upon Tyne is the location of the second programme where Chris records a city soundscape following the changing character of St James’ Park and the neighbouring Leazes Park on match day. The thunder of wings as tens of thousands of birds are driven from the vast expanse of mud by the encroaching tide on The Wash is in sharp contrast to the quietness of the landscape at low tide which is captured in the third programme. Chris then travels to Antarctica and follows the extraordinary transformation as the Barne glacier calves. The series ends with a dawn chorus recorded in Suffolk, featuring a beautiful solo performance by a nightingale, a duet with a robin and a bewitching finale from a group of curlew as they fly overhead from the coastal marshes.
Narrator & Recordist Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt

All episodes are available on BBC iPlayer

Martha – an Endling’s Tale

BBC Radio 4, Tue 10 March 2015, 11.02am (rpt Mon 16 March at 21.02)

When Europeans arrived in America there were some 3-5 billion Passenger Pigeons. The last one, a bird named Martha died in captivity in 1914. A century on, wildlife filmmaker, writer and broadcaster, John Aitchison reflects on what lessons we have learned from the birds’ demise and explores the possibility of bringing the passenger pigeon back from extinction using genomic technology and a living relative, the band-tailed pigeon. It’s a fascinating and sobering journey. As John says when he comes face to face with Martha, “Extinction is a terrible thing”.

Wildlife sound recordings by Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt

The Diaries of Brett Westwood

BBC Radio 4

Mon – Fri, 12-16 January 2015, 13.45-14.00
Naturalist, writer and broadcaster Brett Westwood began a wildlife diary at the age of 15 about his ‘local patch’, an area of some 5 square miles near his home in Stourbridge. Some 40 years later, he’s still making notes and updating his records about the area. In this series, we join Brett as he returns to his local haunt and reflects on a lifetime of changes.

Wildlife sound recordings by Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson’s evocative and powerful sound portrait of Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland.

Built in the 14th century as a piece of political theatre, the magnificent ruins have been reclaimed by nature. Swallows and rock doves nest in the gatehouse, kittiwakes and fulmars guard the sea walls, seals patrol the beaches and skylarks man the approach. The sounds of the sea, the wind and the waves are ever present.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 4, Monday 27 October, 16.02

Paul Evans narrates a ghostly tale inspired by the true story of Alice Glaston who at eleven years old was the youngest person to be hung. She was hung from the gallows tree in Much Wenlock in Shropshire in 1545. When writer Paul Evans who was born here, later returned to live here and discovered the story of Alice Glaston from a passing reference in a local history book, he was both shocked and intrigued. The more he thought about the story, the more he felt a responsibility to tell the story as a way to free Alice’s ghost. It is the landscape and its stories which have inspired this poem, and this landscape is powerfully evoked through sound recordings by Chris Watson.

Alice is played by Bettrys Jones. Producer: Sarah Blunt