Field Trips & Workshops

INTERMÈDES GÉOGRAPHIQUES | France Summer 2014

March 13, 2014 » Permalink: INTERMÈDES GÉOGRAPHIQUES | France Summer 2014

CHRIS WATSON
“The Songs of the Sands in the Forest”- du 7/06 au 5/10/2014.
Vernissage le 7 juin 2014
Création sonore

Paysage sonore insolite, à la croisée de l’Afrique du Nord et de la Franche-Comté, l’installation de Chris Watson est à la fois écho et célébration des grands mouvements de populations et des migrations saisonnières. L’artiste à choisi de mixer des sons recueillis par le passé dans les montagnes de l’Atlas à ceux prélevés au printemps dans la forêt de Chaux lors de sa résidence, pour offrir une approche poétique du nomadisme, une mémoire sonore des hommes et des territoires traversés.

WORKSHOP DE CHRIS WATSON À LA SALINE ROYALE

Une première en France!
Accès libre et places limitées!
Le 18 avril de 14h30 à 16h30
S’inscrire: intermedgeo@gmail.com

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

Wildlife Sound Recording in Northern India | January 2011

August 11, 2010 » Permalink: Wildlife Sound Recording in Northern India | January 2011

We’re very pleased to announce the dates for our next sound recording expedition to India – 14-24 January 2011. Full details at www.wildeye.co.uk

A unique opportunity to record the rich sounds of the jungles of Northern India accompanied by experienced wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson.

Our base will be Camp Forktail Creek – a forest home surrounded by a dense Sal forest and moist jungles and the only ‘jungle’ camp of its kind within Corbett Tiger Reserve, offering exclusivity in game viewing, great walks and explorations on foot. Corbett National Park was the first National Park founded in Asia and being an excellent habitat for the Bengal Tiger, “Project Tiger” was launched here in 1973. Corbett is also rich in avifauna with counts of over 600 bird species.

From Camp you could get great sound recordings of Great Hornbill, Slaty Woodpecker, Oriental Scops Owl, Spot bellied Eagle Owl, Brown Hawk Owl, Large Tailed Nightjar, Indian Cuckoo, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Cheetal, Barking deer and monkey alarm calls and if lucky a leopard sawing.

We have a fantastic itinerary planned with walks and game drives into various parts of the park. Although the focus will be on recording wildlife and natural atmospheres there will also be opportunities to record the wonderful sounds of the people and villages of the area.

Cost £1,495 plus flight – bookings via info@wildeye.co.uk

Japan & Australia | Autumn 2009

September 18, 2009 » Permalink: Japan & Australia | Autumn 2009

Japan:
2 day workshop at the Film School, Yokohama, followed by performance piece

Australia:
Open Frame in Brisbane
In residency
With Alan Lamb at The Wired Lab in Cootamundra:

CHRIS WATSON PERFORMANCE: on the evening of Saturday 17th October, Watson will also give a performance at the Cootamundra Creative Arts and Cultural Centre (CCACC). This will be your opportunity to hear Watson provide two live surround four channel sound mixes from his ‘Midnight at the Oasis’, a 20 minute time compression from sunset to sunrise in South Africa’s Kalahari desert. Along with; ‘Oceanus pacificus’ recorded on location around the Galapagos Islands 1000Km off the coast of Ecuador, and 10m below the sea surface. The Performance is open to the general public, $5-10 door fee, with proceeds to the CCACC, a volunteer run facility.

openframe

Workshop in Bath | 22-23rd August 2009

August 8, 2009 » Permalink: Workshop in Bath | 22-23rd August 2009

As part of the Staging Sound 2.0 programme. Staging Sound 2.0 is a three stranded (field/scavenged/homemade) exploration of experimental and DIY sound and music making around Bath.

It features a two-day field recording workshop with Chris exploring the urban, rural and architectural spaces around Bath; an online commission by Matthew Olden scavenging sounds and noises from Web 2.0; a Sound Hack with Dorkbot Bristol; and a series of guerilla performances in some of the City’s lesser known nooks and crannies.

Media Art Bath Website
Staging Sound 2.0 project page

Workshop in London | 27 – 28th July 2008

June 12, 2008 » Permalink: Workshop in London | 27 – 28th July 2008

Monday 28th July (+ Sunday 27th July)
10am – 5pm (exact Sunday times to follow)

Field Recording in & around an Urban River
with Chris Watson

Museum of Garden History, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB.
Price: £60 (Students – £45)

Following the success of previous sound recording workshops, we are delighted to welcome back BBC sound recordist extraordinaire and founder member of Cabaret Voltaire, Chris Watson, who will lead a workshop concentrating on field recording in and around the Thames. The Museum of Garden History is located a stone’s throw from the banks of the Thames; a river which is itself a remarkable receptacle and generator of diverse sound. As the city interacts with the river, so the range and variety of sounds increases, from ferries to tidal barriers, and in doing so it creates a rich environment in which one can demonstrate field recording techniques and use amazing equipment like hydrophones. This event will provide attendees with the chance to gain practical experience in the field followed by a studio workshop.

On the Sunday, attendees are welcome to join Chris as he leads a recording session on location. Material recorded on the Sunday by attendees will then be used on the Monday as Chris demonstrates techniques and equipment and provides a critique of attendees work. Every attendee will have the chance to work one-on-one with Chris. The combined work created over the course of these two days will then be made available for each participant (subject to permission).

Cost includes lunch and refreshments on the Monday. Information concerning the times and location of the Sunday field session as well as equipment requirements will be released shortly. The workshop is suitable for both experienced and novice field recorders alike.

Sound Threshold, Italy | July & September 2008

May 14, 2008 » Permalink: Sound Threshold, Italy | July & September 2008

Trentino: Sound Threshold: presented by Lucia Farinati & Daniela Cascella as a parallel event of Manifesta 7 in July.

mic

A press release can be downloaded here

FIELD RECORDING IN THE CITY | London January 2008

December 12, 2007 » Permalink: FIELD RECORDING IN THE CITY | London January 2008

Monday 28th January 2008
10am – 5pm

FIELD RECORDING IN THE CITY with CHRIS WATSON

We are delighted to welcome back natural sound recorder extraordinaire Chris
Watson for another field recording workshop following the sell-out success of his workshop as part of the Atmospheres festival in October 2007.

A voluntary recording session on the Sunday evening (27th Jan, 9pm – 1am) will allow attendees to gather recordings in a useful session in London lead by Chris himself, before the workshop commences on the Monday. The workshop will include a practical guide to techniques and equipment and also a critique of each attendees work. Cost includes refreshments, lunch, the Sunday evening session, and a copy of the workshop material on CD/DVD.

Cost: £50 (£40 Students)

Holystone with Mike Harding & Jana Winderen | March 2006

March 14, 2006 » Permalink: Holystone with Mike Harding & Jana Winderen | March 2006

In March 2006, Chris Watson, Jana Winderen & Mike Harding visited Holystone in Northumberland.

Report:

Holystone Forest, Northumberland, England
Saturday 4th March 2006
Chris Watson & Jana Winderen with Mike Harding

Light snow cover/light breeze/cold/clear and dry/high pressure

Ancient oak woodland

Mics/units:

1 x Shure single point stereo mic on 70m cable, rigged on tree stump about 3m high, back to observation point [OP] to Fostex FR2 field recorder
1 x Sennheiser MKH60/30 middle and side rig on 50m cable into a small clearing, back to OP to SQN 4S mixer feeding line inputs of a sound device 744T portable
hard disc recorder

3 pairs of headphones were shared by the group

0340 got up, cuppa tea
0410 on the road
0515 arr. Holystone
while setting up we heard several tawny owls singing, very clear and close
0610 recording commenced with quiet pre-dawn atmospheres – light snow drifted off branches onto dry leaf litter. Superb acoustic conditions and low ambient noise provided Chris with the best recordings of this type in deciduous winter woodland he has yet made
0715 derigged and relocated

birds recorded included robin, wren, blue tit, great tit, tree creeper, chaffinch, tawny owl, pheasant, crossbill, coal tit etc.

after approximately 30 minutes, the initial chorus subsided and after approximately 15 minutes we derigged and relocated.

In the car park, Jana practised using a Telinga “Science” parabloic reflector on a range of birds including chaffinch and coal tit in the coniferous woodland bordering the car park.

Then after relocating to the Northumberland Wildlife Trust Reserve, a mixed coniferous and deciduous woodland in the valley of Holystone burn, in bright sunshine, now calm, colder, but superbly clear conditions. We located a hairy wood ant’s nest after some alarm that our initial nest sites had been destroyed by forestry logging operations, and we carefully inserted 2 Dolphin Ear Pro hydrophones into the nest, approximately 20 cms into the main body of the nest on the south-facing side.

The nest was completely covered in snow and apparently inactive. We returned 15 minutes later to allow settlement and expecting more activity as the sun shone directly onto the nest. Listening revealed surprising levels of activity, despite the cold, but there were no visible signs of the occupants of the nest!

Conclusion: although the activity sounded close, further listening seemed to indicate that the ants were deeper underground that we thought, after a protracted period of cold. They were not near the surface as first thought.

Audio:

Jana Winderen:

Ants

Chris Watson:

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Five