Chris has contributed sounds to the Irish film, Silence (Harvest Films, 2012)
Jameson Dublin Film Festival | Thurs 23rd February 2012
Lighthouse Cinema 1, Smithfield, Dublin | 8:45pm
Blog Archives
Silence – Harvest Films [Dublin]
A Journey South | Leeds 7th March 2012
Old Broadcasting House, Leeds, England 7th March
6:00pm : Drinks, snacks & chats
7:00pm : An Introduction by Mike Harding of Touch
7:10pm : A Journey South, with Chris Watson
8:30pm : Q&A
9:00pm : Close
***This event is now sold out***
Touch.30, in conjunction with the Oates100 Campaign and nti Leeds present an audio-visual journey to the South Pole with Chris Watson.
As part of the team for the David Attenborough BBC series “Frozen Planet”, Chris travelled to Antarctica to record the ambient sounds, the wildlife, the water – even the groaning of a glacier as it moves. Chris talks about his experiences there and brings the remotest continent to life with his stunning recordings.
Chris is is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena. His recordings are used in TV, Radio and Film including contributions to the award-winning re-release of “A Great White Silence”, originally filmed during Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.
For Touch he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative released on CD & Vinyl, such as his latest release “El Tren Fantasma”; viewed by one reviewer as “a benchmark in field recording not to mention a map of the soul, an insight into the human condition and a key to dreams”.
Chris has characterised his work as “putting microphones where you can’t put your ears” – come along to experience the incredible surround-sound results for yourself. This is part of a series of events intended to commemorate Captain Lawrence “Titus” Oates, who sacrificed himself 100 years ago in an effort to save the lives of his fellow explorers during Captain Scott’s attempt to be the first to the South Pole.
Generously hosted by nti Leeds at Old Broadcasting House with equipment loaned from Leeds Metropolitan University, this is a unique event to commemorate a true Leeds hero.
This is now sold out
Directions and parking: www.ntileeds.co.uk
All profits go to: Help For Heroes
NATURE: James and the Giant Redwoods | BBC Radio 4 February 2012
NATURE: James and the Giant Redwoods (part 1)
BBC Radio 4, Tue 14 Feb 11.02, rpt Thur 16 Feb 21.02
James Aldred has long dreamt of seeing the world’s biggest trees, but their location is a well-kept secret, and then James is introduced to Michael Taylor, the man who found Hyperion, the world’s tallest tree, and so begins an adventure to the Giant Redwood forests of California in search of the some of the biggest living organisms on the planet, and an incredible climbing challenge.
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson. Producer Sarah Blunt
NATURE: James and the Giant Redwoods (part 2)
BBC Radio 4, Tue 21 Feb 11.02m rot Thu 23 Feb 21.20
James Aldred encounters some of the world’s biggest trees in The Grove of Titans and a childhood dream comes true when he’s not only taken to see Hyperion, the world’s tallest tree, whose location is a well-kept secret, but also gets the chance to climb it.
Additional sound recordings by Chris Watson. Producer Sarah Blunt
NATURE: Painting in Sound | BBC Radio 4 February 2012
NATURE: Painting in Sound
BBC Radio 4, Tue 7 Feb 11.02, rpt Thur 9 Feb 21.02
Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson spends much of his time listening and recording the sounds of the natural world. When the National Gallery invited him to create a sound piece inspired by a painting of his choice, he chose Constable’s ‘The Cornfield’. This was the start of a creative and exciting project, which also involved students from Ravensbourne College of Art and Design and other professional musicians and sounds artists. The project began with audio guides for paintings selected by the artists, and then later developed into an evening event involving a live sound mix in the gallery to accompany a tour of the paintings with an art historian. NATURE uses these events to explore how painters use a range of techniques to excite the viewers senses; not only the visual sense, but the senses of smell, touch and perhaps most poignantly, hearing. The programme also explores how sound installations and sound guides may help some viewers, especially people who might feel intimidated by paintings, to engage with these works of art.
Producer Sarah Blunt.
Inside Out | BBC TV Interview
You can watch an interview with Chris using BBC iPlayer here
Inside Out is a regional magazine with Chris Jackson. We follow Darlington football club’s battle to survive, and meet the man who put the sound to David Attenborough’s Frozen Planet.
This programme is available to view until 8pm February 6th 2012
www.bbc.co.uk/chrisjackson
NATURE: In Search of the Tiger’s Roar | BBC Radio 4 January 2012
BBC Radio 4, Tue 31 Jan 11.02, rpt Thur 2 Feb 21.02
Chris Watson leads a team of wildlife sound recordists to Corbett National Park in India, in the hope of capturing the sounds of the forest and the roar of a Bengal tiger.
Producer Sarah Blunt
NATURE: Emma Turner; a life in the reeds | BBC Radio 4 January 2012
NATURE: Emma Turner; a life in the reeds
BBC Radio 4, Tue 24 Jan 11.02, rpt Thur 26 Jan 21.02
Drawing on extracts from her book, ‘Broadland Birds’, NATURE tells the remarkable story of Emma Turner, a pioneering bird photographer who lived for many years on a houseboat in the reed beds at Hickling Broad. It was here that she took a remarkable photograph which provided evidence that Bitterns which had been driven to extinction in Britain in the late 1800s were breeding in Norfolk once again.
Wildlife sound recordist: Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt
Alder Hey Interview
“Last year I interviewed sound recordist Chris Watson on the subject of noise for a piece exploring the use of birdsong at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool…”
NATURE: The Ghost Roost | BBC Radio 4 January 2012
NATURE: The Ghost Roost
BBC Radio 4, Tue 17 Jan 11.02, rpt Thur 19 Jan 21.02
More than ten years ago, sound recordists Chris Watson and Thor McIntyre-Burnie recorded the sounds of tens of thousands of starlings when they came into roost for the night in the derelict remains of the concert hall on the West Pier in Brighton. Today the West Pier no longer exists, having been destroyed by storms and fire, what remains are the sounds of a Ghost Roost.
Producer Sarah Blunt
NATURE: The Water Boatman’s Song | BBC Radio 4 January 2012
NATURE: The Water Boatman’s Song
BBC Radio 4, Tue 10 Jan 11.02, rpt Thur 12 Jan 21.02
Writer Paul Evans accompanies sound recordist Tom Lawrence on a journey in sound across Pollardstown Fen to hear the extraordinary sounds of an underwater orchestra of aquatic insects.
Additional sound recordings: Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt
RTS NORTH EAST & THE BORDER CENTRE | 12th January 2012
The magnificent pictures that our specialist cameramen produce for the BBC Natural History Unit’s stunning wildlife documentaries are a high point of UK television. But, as always, the pictures are pretty useless without the sound that goes with them. CHRIS WATSON is one of the world’s leading location sound recordists, with a remarkable portfolio of work including ‘The Frozen Planet’, ‘The Life of Mammals’ and ‘The Life of Birds’.
On January 12th the RTS, in association with Newcastle University, is promoting an evening event with Chris that will demonstrate the lengths he goes to capturing the remarkable sound of the natural world – or as Chris puts it, ‘putting a microphone where you can’t put your ears’.
For more details of this un-missable event, go to www.rts.org.uk/netb. The event is free, but registration is essential through our Eventbrite booking service.
NATURE: Soundings from Antarctica | BBC Radio 4 January 2012
NATURE: Soundings from Antarctica
BBC Radio 4, Tue 3 Jan 11.02, rpt Thur 5 Jan 21.02
Soundings from a frozen landscape: A powerful and emotional journey in sound; above, below and within Antarctica’s landscape of ice with contributions from the team who made the BBC series Frozen Planet.
Sound recordist: Chris Watson, Producer Sarah Blunt.
You can read a review in The Guardian of this broadcast here.
The Poetry of Radio | The Colour of Sound
The Poetry of Radio
The Colour of Sound
By Seán Street
To Be Published 6th February 2012 by Routledge – 146 pages
This book explores the idea of the poetic in radio and sound as well as the concept of pure sound as poetry, both historically and within a contemporary perspective, examining examples of makers and works internationally.
Chris Watson at Bluecoats | Liverpool 27th January 2012
Gina Czarnecki exhibition until 19 Feb ’12
A retrospective exhibition by this award-winning artist, featuring new commissions and other works being shown in the UK for the first time. Daily 10am – 6pm.
Fri 27 January 7.30 – 9.30pm
Chris Watson – Quarantine:
Founder member of influential Sheffield based music group Cabaret Voltaire, Chris Watson is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena. Here Watson presents the UK premiere of new album El Tren Fantasma and a live performance of his sound score for Quarantine, a video work by Gina Czarnecki.
Chris Watson Sound Quiz on Springwatch | BBC2 26th December
Chris Watson’s sound quiz for Springwatch (BBC2 tonight at 7pm). Answers tonight!
Stimulus Respond
Chris has responded to the latest edition of “Stimulus Respond – 13 Chaos”. You can find out more here
Review of El Tren Fantasma in The Quietus
You can read a review by Luke Turner in The Quietus
El Tren Fantasma | BBC Best Albums of November 2011
El Tren Fantasma has been listed as one of the BBCs Best Albums of November 2011
“It’s during the points of human absence that El Tren Fantasma works best. Here Watson’s ability to create whole worlds, entire lifetimes in the listener’s imagination, beyond the moment of recording, comes to the fore. Brushwood and tall grass sway beneath the breeze crossing canyon slopes, while constant cicada chatter is punctuated by the distinctive calls of woodpecker and crow.”
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcmusic/2011/11/the_best_albums_of_november_20.html
Review of El Tren Fantasma by Andrew Weatherall
“A benchmark in field recording not to mention a map of the soul, an insight into the human condition and a key to dreams.” (Caught by the river)
You can read the full review here and buy the album and 12″ vinyl in the TouchShop
Chris Watson at The Louvre, Paris | 3rd November 2011
To mark the start of the month of events curated by Nobel Prize winning author JMG Le Clezio in Le Louvre the author will deliver a presentation about his work in the auditorium this evening followed by a soundscape response to the writer’s work by Chris Watson.
This will be an Acousmatique diffusion of ‘Oceanus pacificus’ through a 24 channel system specially installed by GRM.
You can read The Louvre’s blog on soundlandscapes here
