Blog Archives

Cobra Mist

October 15, 2012 » Permalink: Cobra Mist

Cobra Mist, for which Chris made the location recordings, will be showing in 971 Horses and 4 Zebras, co-curated by artist Jordan Baseman and Gary Thomas (Animate Projects). An exhibition runs at Wimbledon Space, Wimbledon College of Art, from 2 November – 9 December 2012 and tours to CAST (Contemporary Art Spaces Tasmania), Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia, and The British School at Rome, in 2013.

www.wimbledon.arts.ac.uk/wimbledonspace/forthcomingexhibitions/
www.animateprojects.org/films/by_project/exhibition_space/971_horses

The films from the exhibition will also be showing at Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium on Thursday 29 November 2012 at 18.30.

www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/film/971-horses-and-4-zebras-artists-apply-animation

Silence

October 14, 2012 » Permalink: Silence

Silence, a new Irish feature film is getting its international premier at the BFI London Film Festival. It is screening at the ICA on Thursday 18th October at 18:45 and on Saturday 20th at 4pm at Screen on the Green as part of the London film Festival. Touch artist Chris Watson was one of the contributing sound recordists and also contributed sounds to the film.

The feature film follows Eoghan, a sound recordist who is returning to Ireland for the first time in 15 years. The reason for his return is a job offer: to record landscapes free from man-made sound. His quest takes him to remote terrain, away from towns and villages. Throughout his journey, he is drawn into a series of encounters and conversations which gradually divert his attention towards a more intangible silence, one that is bound up with the sounds of the life he had left behind.

It has received a very positive review from ‘Time Out’ in England. Wally Hammond wrote “gently mesmeric, seductively mournful, surprising and unquiet meditation on man, memory and landscape”. It was also the subject of a 6 column spread in the latest issue of ‘Sight and Sound’ magazine written by Frances Morgan.

harvestfilms.ie/silence

Atmospheres 4 | Touch.30 Live at Beaconsfield

September 30, 2012 » Permalink: Atmospheres 4 | Touch.30 Live at Beaconsfield

atmos4

A two-day festival celebrating 30 years of Touch, with performances, installations and displays, and a full programme of workshops and masterclasses in design and music, recording, mastering and the digital realm. The full programme is now available to read below or to download.

The Festival Pass entitles you to access all events at this festival and is now onsale here:

Atmospheres 4 – Touch.30 at Beaconsfield is the main UK event in a year-round programme of activities celebrating 30 years of existence.

Atmospheres 4 – Touch.30 at Beaconsfield is a two-day festival with performances, installations and displays, and a full programme of workshops and masterclasses. The Festival will explore all aspects of Touch: the music; the distinctive and influential design and photography; the process of recording and mastering; and the opportunities of the digital realm.

Participation in the event will extend well beyond Touch artists and creative team into the hinterland around the label: academics, industry professionals, other ground breaking music organisations etc.

Atmospheres will be curated by two of Touch’s founders and the current creative team, Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft, and produced by them with along with Touch’s experienced digital and live production team already responsible this year for events in the UK, Germany, Belgium, USA and elsewhere detailed here

Venue: Beaconsfield, 22 Newport St, Vauxhall, London, SE11 6AY
Dates: 5-6 December 2012

Day One – Wednesday 5th December 2012
Afternoon events, 2pm-6pm:
• 2pm: Jon Wozencroft talks about the history of Touch, “Through the Digital Glass”
• 2:30pm: Denis Blackham (Skye Mastering) and Christian Fennesz on mastering for digital manufacture and the demands of the “Venice” project
• 3pm: Chaired by John Kieffer: Denis Blackham, Jason (Transition Mastering Studios) and Jon Wozencroft on digital and analogue sound, and how this determines listening outcomes
• 4:15pm: Chaired by Tony Myatt (University of Surrey): Mike Harding, Seb Jouan (Aecom Acoustic Design & Arts & Culture) on multi-channel with Hildur Gudnadottir. This session reflects upon hi-audio formats, a specific example, and their future
• Sonic interventions from ELEH/Ryoji Ikeda/Mika Vainio & Panasonic. “When did sound become music?” (Followed by questions)

Screening Situations (upstairs), 6pm-7pm
• Coda-plus 47 (audio by Fennesz & Ryoji Ikeda)
• Liquid Music (audio by Fennesz)

Evening Performances, 8pm-11pm
• Hildur Gudnadottir – Leyfɗu Ljósinu (Beaconsfield version)
• audio intervention by David Toop, a presentation of “Yanomamo Shamanism”, released on ‘Touch Travel’ [T4] in 1984.
• Philip Jeck
• audio intervention by BJNilsen, who plays a new piece recorded outside the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, “The cackle of dogs and laughter of death”.
• Playback of a surround-sound rendition of his Touch.30 piece “Brussels Nord” by Chris Watson (in absentia)
• Fennesz

Day Two – Thursday 6th December 2012
Afternoon events, 2pm-6pm:
• 2pm: Mike Harding introduces Touch’s digital presence on the web with Philip Marshall (websites) & Tim Medcalf (iOS devices) followed by at
• 2:45pm: Paul Wilson & Cheryl Tipp from The British Library on the TouchRadio archive
• 3pm: Jon Wozencroft & Garry Mouat – “Bromides and Spray Mount” – Touch design in the early years
• 3:45pm: Design Seminar by Jon Wozencroft – How Touch has responded to changing formats and download culture
•: 4:30pm Jon Wozencroft & Peter Saville discuss their parallel experience of visual culture, and the movement of graphic design to the art world (Followed by questions)

Screening Situations (upstairs), 6pm-7:15pm
• The Whitstable Symphony (audio by BJNilsen)
• The Suffolk Symphony (audio by Philip Jeck & BJNilsen)

Evening Performances, 8pm-11pm
• Thomas Köner
• followed by an audio intervention by Bruce Gilbert – “Sliding off the World”
• CM von Hausswolff
• Jon Wozencroft introduces Jon Savage’s and his pirate broadcast for Network 21 in 1987
• Biosphere – transfiguring Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht”

To be allocated: audio interventions by People Like Us | Edwin Pouncey | Heitor Alvelos | Simon Fisher Turner…

In the Bar: Photography by Jon Wozencroft: The Listening Eye

Chris Watson – “Sunrise in the Sukau Rainforest” | framework September 2012

September 24, 2012 » Permalink: Chris Watson – “Sunrise in the Sukau Rainforest” | framework September 2012

framework

framework:seasonal issue #3, autumn 2012
Chris Watson: Sunrise in the Sukau Rainforest
2.5 hour high resolution audio dvdr

The framework:seaonal series of fund-raising audio releases continues with a very special issue #3 – the great chris watson, who, we’re sure, needs no introduction amongst framework listeners, has donated a single-take, 2.5 hour field recording from the rainforests of borneo, recorded and published at its full length at higher-than-cd audio quality. this stunning recording has never before been released, and has been donated by the artist in support of framework radio. it is available only through framework, in exchange for your donation of €20 of more on the framework website.

Each dvdr is slow burnt onto the highest quality taiyo yuden archival discs, and is hand-stamped with the custom-made image of a borneo-native mushroom, in keeping with the previous issues of the seasonal series. each is housed in an offset and folio printed sleeve from a local printing press, on paper from a local papermill, both here in the southeast estonian town of räpina. the insert as well is printed on additive-free paper from the räpina mill. these audio dvdr’s will play in any standard dvd player, or on any computer.

The details:

Recorded during October 2011 by the river Kinabatangen, Sabah, Borneo from 0430h using Sennheiser MKH 8040/30 middle and side array to a Nagra ARES Pll recorder at 48Khz 16 Bits .wav

“The Sukau rainforest is a relatively narrow strip of primary forest either side of the banks of the river Kinabatangen in Sabah, Borneo. Access to the forest floor is very difficult as there are no trails, however at the back of the lodge where I was staying there was a narrow old and decaying boardwalk that led, snake like, through the dense undergrowth and out into what felt like another world. Each morning for over a week I left my lodge around 0400h and set off carefully along a zig zag pattern of soft and splintered planks into the velvet darkness. Either side of the red glow from my head torch fireflies and other unknown bioluminescent insects blinked and flashed their alien languages whilst dead ahead the small piercing red reflecting eyes of hunting bats streaked, missile like, directly towards me. On several mornings my GPS guided me to a favourite looping curve at the furthermost point of the 2Km trail where I could stop and fix my mikes in a tree whilst trying to bat off the myriad host of mosquitos that quickly find anything warm blooded that is stationary. I rigged and set away the recording before quietly moving off, my ears straining to hear the distant songs of gibbons, the shrieks of macaques and the low whistle of a pitta. Sunrise, such as it is 30m below the canopy, is also accompanied by the slow drip of condensation percolating down through the grey green gloom from a canopy 30m above as the forest is slowly revealed.” (Chris Watson)

Sunrise in the Sukau rainforest is published by Touch Music

To order your copy go to the framework website and donate €20 or more via the donations bar on the right, or click the ‘donate’ button below and do the same. we’ll be in touch to confirm the best shipping address. copies of previous issues of framework:seasonal are also still available – donate €20 or more per issue and let us know which ones you’d like!

send + receive | Canada 14-17th October 2012

September 24, 2012 » Permalink: send + receive | Canada 14-17th October 2012

The 14th edition of send + receive will feature performances and works that explore distinct interpretations of natural sound by artists from across Canada and around the globe.

Featuring performances by:

Akio Suzuki (JP)
Tomoko Sauvage (JP/FR)
Nmperign (US)
the Rita (BC)
Angela Forget (MB)
Jeffrey Allport (SK)
Featuring works by:
Chris Watson (UK)
Douglas Quin (US)
Jana Winderen (NO)
Hope Peterson (MB)
Jane Tingley (QC)
Garth Hardy (MB)
Jamie Woollard (MB/QC)
George Brecht (US)
Christian Wolff (US) ‘stones’ performed by the send + receive Temporary Ensemble (MB)

Complete details are available now on our website: www.sendandreceive.org
For press enquiries please contact our Director crys cole

The Uranus Music Prize 2012

September 13, 2012 » Permalink: The Uranus Music Prize 2012

As the dust settles on another year of uninspired Mercury Music Prize nominations, The Liminal have decided upon a selection of 12 albums that far better represent the variety of extraordinary music being produced in Britain today…

Chris Watson – El Tren Fantasma

TO42 - El Tren Fantasma - Chris Watson

The title of the sound recordist Chris Watson’s latest CD, borrowed from a Mexican film from the 1920s, translates as “The Ghost Train”. The name makes reference to the fact that the recordings were made while he was working on the BBC show Great Railway Journeys, where he took a ride on one of the very last passenger trains which ran from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Gulf on the other side, a journey that since 1999 can no longer be made. However, as you listen to it while studying a map of the route, from Los Mochis in the west, through Chihuahua and Mexico City to Veracruz on the east, you begin to trace a number of branch lines which lead off from the main line. You find yourself making connections, hitching your wagon to a number of different trains, in order to chase down some fascinating – and very resonant – ghosts from Mexico’s history.

The Uranus Prize
You can buy this album in the TouchShop here

HY-BRASIL | BBC Radio 4 5th September 2012

September 5, 2012 » Permalink: HY-BRASIL | BBC Radio 4 5th September 2012

BBC Radio 4, Wed 5 Sept, 11.02am

Writer and narrator Paul Evans, Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt

Hy-Brasil is a phantom island which features in many Irish myths. It appears on a map in 1325 off the south west coast of Ireland and said be cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it becomes visible but still cannot be reached. There are rumours of strange creatures and a lone magician who inhabit it.

Written and narrated by Paul Evans, with sound recordings by Chris Watson, Hy-Brasil tells the story of a journey across a sea of imagination in search of this phantom isle.

Interview with Chris Watson by Katja Seltmann | 24th August 2012

August 24, 2012 » Permalink: Interview with Chris Watson by Katja Seltmann | 24th August 2012

You can hear an interview with Chris recorded over Skype for the forthcoming Touch.30 live event in New York City in September 2012.

Listen to the interview [1:02:53]

Marcus Davidson will be conducting “The Bee Symphony” and a new piece, the second in a trilogy, “Sea Polyphonies” on September 15th (Chris will not be present). You can hear an interview with him, also conducted by Katja, here.

Touch.30 live in NYC

Going With The Flow | February – August 2012

August 14, 2012 » Permalink: Going With The Flow | February – August 2012

28th August Sound walk

‘Going With The ~Flow’ began in February with the sounds of shifting ice fragments in England’s last wilderness high on the northern Pennines.

Join renowed sound recordist Chris Watson on a slow walk at sunset and drift down stream with the Tyne as the river ebbs past Newburn and Blaydon. Out of hours the daytime industry and commerce crowding the banks fall silent whilst the river snakes through it’s heart and forms a transient wildlife refuge twice a day as the low tide reveals the mud. Curlew, redshank and lapwing have moved down river to roost and feed out on the exposed mudflats and they are joined by busy urban gulls and international travelling birds on their way south from arctic latitudes.

Participants are advised to wear dark clothing and bring binoculars if possible. There will be some recording opportunity for those with recorders and Chris Watson will bring along a number of microphone set ups to plug into.

Please note that this walk has a very limited capacity. To book your place go HERE.
Price: £5

5th September at 19:30 – 21:00

This major new commission by the world’s greatest sound recordist creates an acoustic journey down the River Tyne from its sources to the sea.

Going With The Flow is a unique soundscape, a seasonal time compression consisting entirely of location recordings gathered and composed between February and August 2012.

Taking inspiration from the actions and rhythms of the river, the recordings will track the course of the flow and the voices from the backsides between which is passes, following the sonic metamorphosis of upland rainfall to tidal seawater.

Extracts of Chris’s recordings will be presented at flowmill.org/media (TBC) and the final commission will be presented at The Sage Gateshead alongside visuals by Andy Greenwood.

Tickets £7.00
To book tickets visit thesagegateshead.org or call 0191 443 4661.
The Sage Gateshead, St. Mary’s Sqaure, Gateshead Quays, Tyne and Wear, NE8 2JR

Cricket Cabaret | BBC Radio 4 14th July 2012

July 4, 2012 » Permalink: Cricket Cabaret | BBC Radio 4 14th July 2012

CRICKET CABARET
Sat 14 July, 15.45 -16.00

An unusual cabaret of sound inspired by the songs of crickets. Created from field recordings of the insects, electronically treated sounds (by Chris Watson) as well as music and human voices, Cricket Cabaret is a celebration of the songs of crickets; a quirky, sound-rich composition inspired by ancient traditions.

Producer Sarah Blunt

Salon North | Harrogate, 11th July 2012

June 28, 2012 » Permalink: Salon North | Harrogate, 11th July 2012

Chris is taking part at the Harrogate International festival

You can find out more here

Nature Disco: Dawn Safari :

For our final session we are so privileged to have coming to Salon North the magic that is super sound recordist Chris Watson. If you have ever heard the sound of an animal putting tooth to flesh in any of the David Attenborough’s series it is our Chris who was there, literally placing his boom deep inside the leopard’s mouth. David Attenborough will work with no-one else, and Chris has built up, over many decades travelling a world class sound archive. If it’s sounds of ice fields groaning as they split apart deep under the ice caps or electrical storm in the Serengeti desert you want, Chris is your go to sound guy. For Salon North Chris will be taking us on select sound safari, playing the sounds of the dawn during our British summertime. From the tip of the Orkneys to the far west of the British Isles, Chris will be playing the sounds of our nation’s dawn in Salon’s very own nature disco.

Markets to Maggots | resonancefm 17th June 2012

June 17, 2012 » Permalink: Markets to Maggots | resonancefm 17th June 2012

Sunday 17 June, 11pm, http://resonancefm.com

The Estonian-based Framework FM project (Patrick McGinley) will broadcast this selection of field recordings made by students from the School of Art, Architecture and Design at Leeds Metropolitan University over the past three years working with Alan Dunn and the sound recordist Chris Watson. Each year a group of students work with Chris around Leeds, building their own contact microphones, experimenting with hydrophones or working with bat detectors to create unique new audio portraits of Leeds at various times of the day. In this selection we hear numerous original recordings and edited compositions ranging from the sound of inside a pinball machine, night-time acoustics under the rail bridge by the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and the microscopic sounds of maggots.

See http://cagd.leedsmet.ac.uk.

The Cave | BBC Radio 4 JUne 2012

May 27, 2012 » Permalink: The Cave | BBC Radio 4 JUne 2012


BBC Radio 4, Mon- Fri, 25-29 June 2012,13.45-14.00
A series of five illustrated talks inspired by ‘THE CAVE’

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt

• THE CAVE HORSE

A drawing scratched onto a wall comes to life as writer and naturalist Paul Evans reflects on the significance of The Cave Horse.
Actor : Adjoa Andoh, Wildlife sound recordist: Chris Watson

• LIMESTONE, WATER, FIRE and ICE

Illustrated with recordings made on location, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson recalls his experiences in two dramatically different cave systems: the limestone caves of Waitomo in New Zealand, and the Kverkfjöll ice caves in Iceland.

• PLATO’S CAVE

Alan Read, Professor of Theatre at Kings College London takes a philosophical approach when he reflects on Plato’s Cave.
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson

• CAVE OF FAITH

Martin Palmer, Secretary General of The Alliance of Religions and Conservation reflects on the role of caves in religious stories and traditions.
Reader; Adjoa Andoh, Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson

• BEYOND THE VERMILION BORDER

A dramatic finale to this series ventures inside the human cave; the mouth, in a virtual journey around the senses.

Written by Patricia Reynolds specialist in oral surgery and Director of Flexible Learning at Kings College London.

Joe is played by Harry Livingstone
The Oracle is played by Gerard McDermott
The Oracle Lady is played by Adjoa Andoh
The reader is Christine Hall

Touch.30 | Two Installations for Sounding City: Public Sound

April 27, 2012 » Permalink: Touch.30 | Two Installations for Sounding City: Public Sound

Sounding City: Public Sound, Kortrijk, Belgium, 28.04.12 – 13.05.12

Opening on the 28th with a presentation of the work of Chris Watson by Mike Harding and a live performance by Jana Winderen.

afterthedeluge

Chris Watson – installation inspired by “After the Deluge (Na de Zondvloed)” by Roelant Savery @ Broel Museum

Jana Winderen – installation – “The Moat” & live performance

Unfortunately Chris Watson cannot be present for family reasons, so his work will be presented by Mike Harding from Touch.

www.festivalkortrijk.be

Touch.30 Live at Kingston University | May 3rd 2012

April 25, 2012 » Permalink: Touch.30 Live at Kingston University | May 3rd 2012

May 3rd Touch.30 live at Kingston University
Improvisation and Digital Arts Festival

Market House, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey UK

Live:

Philip Jeck – www.philipjeck.com
BJNilsen – www.bjnilsen.com
Chris Watson – www.chriswatson.net

1500-1700 Touch Seminar: Mike Harding chairs a panel with the artists
2000-2200 Touch.30 Live

www.idaf.co.uk/

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Tidal Talk from the Rockpool | BBC Radio 4 May 2012

April 25, 2012 » Permalink: Tidal Talk from the Rockpool | BBC Radio 4 May 2012

BBC Radio 4, 1st May 2012 11pm

The first of three nautically themed tales by Lynn Truss, written for and performed at the BBC More than Words Festival.

Periwinkle: Bill Wallis
Hermit Crab: Geoffrey Palmer
Contributor: Chris Watson
Sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt
Radio Times Pick of the Week:

Chris Watson wins for The Wire (Radio 4) “Radio Personality of the Year” BPG 2012 Award

April 10, 2012 » Permalink: Chris Watson wins for The Wire (Radio 4) “Radio Personality of the Year” BPG 2012 Award

Broadcasting Press Guild Award for The Wire

The Guardian reviews the broadcast:

wiredlab

Sunday 2 January, 2011
13.30-14.00

Chris Watson visits The WIRED Lab project in Australia, which is inspired by the work of biomedical scientist and composer Alan Lamb, who has long been fascinated by the extraordinary sounds created when the wind and the weather interact with telegraph wires or fencing cables stretched across the landscape. Here, Chris not only meets Alan and his colleagues Sarah Last and Dave Burraston to find out more about the history and evolution of their work with wire structures, but also records for himself the music of the wires.

Presenter Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt

The Ice Mountain | BBC Radio 4 April 2012

March 24, 2012 » Permalink: The Ice Mountain | BBC Radio 4 April 2012

BBC Radio 4, Friday 20 April, 11.02a

Haunted by the sinking of RMS Titanic one hundred years ago, this fictional soundscape tells the story of an iceberg and its journey south after calving from a glacier in Greenland.

Narrated by Adjoa Andoh
Sound recordings by Chris Watson
Producer Sarah Blunt

Bang Goes the Theory | BBC1 Monday 19th March 2012

March 14, 2012 » Permalink: Bang Goes the Theory | BBC1 Monday 19th March 2012

Series 6, Is Life Too Loud?

2/8. The team asks if modern life is damaging our ears. Jem records a centipede’s footsteps.

The team asks whether modern life is damaging our ears. Dallas explores how safety-conscious scientists are putting the noise back into driving, Liz learns to like the sound of being sick, and Jem sets out to record the sound of a centipede’s footsteps.

The programme is produced in partnership with the Open University.

Chris features in the film recording insects inside an anechoic chamber at the University of Salford.

You can see a clip from the programme here.

Chris wins the RTS CENTRE AWARD

February 24, 2012 » Permalink: Chris wins the RTS CENTRE AWARD

rts

THE CENTRE AWARD WINNER

This award goes to the person, team or organisation whose work has made an outstanding contribution to any aspect of the industry — through broadcasting, production or technical sectors within the region and beyond. Their work, either in front of the camera or behind the scenes, should have made a significant and lasting impact on audiences and viewers in the North East and the Borders — and on a wider stage. The judges are keen to invite nominations from as broad a spectrum of talents as possible. Evidence of recent exceptional achievement(s) should be included. Nominations for the Centre Award were sent in confidence to the Chair of the Judges.

The Judges said:

Tonight’s recipient is described as “one of the most modest, unassuming people you will ever meet.” That counts a few of us out!

Our winner is one of the world’s foremost wildlife sound recordists, whose major credits include productions like THE LIFE OF BIRDS (which won him a BAFTA in 1998), THE BLUE PLANET, THE LIFE OF MAMMALS and more recently the sensational FROZEN PLANET.

He started his career at Tyne Tees TV in the 1980’s, and was soon developing a passionate interest in recording the sounds of wildlife, which led to major innovations in recording natural sound in often difficult, dangerous and challenging environments; an enrichment of sound recording techniques in the industry generally, and raising the bar in the understanding of the sounds of the natural world.

Although wildlife has always been his main focus, he’s also expanded into experimental sound-work — for example the sound installation he created for Constable’s ‘Cornfield’ at the National Gallery in London.

Our winner is known for his generosity in sharing and explaining his techniques, and his commitment to the importance of training and inspiring others.

Guest Presenter: PETER SALMON
Winner: CHRIS WATSON