Video+

(in English, but starts in Swedish)

CHRIS WATSON:

Demonstrating how he captures sounds in stereo using a pair of DolphinEar PRO hydrophones.

“These are two of my favourite instruments…”

Chris Watson is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena. 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 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 includes many programmes in the David Attenborough ‘Life’ series including ‘The Life of Birds’ which won a BAFTA Award for ‘Best Factual Sound’ in 1996. More recently Watson was the location sound recordist with David Attenborough on the BBC’s series ‘Frozen Planet’ which won a BAFTA Award for ‘Best Factual Sound’ (2012).

Watson has recorded and featured in many BBC Radio productions including; ‘The Ice Mountain, ‘The Reed Bed’, ‘Jules Verne’s Volcano’, ‘The Ditch’, ‘The Listeners’ and ‘The Wire’ which won him the Broadcasting Press Guild’s Broadcaster of The Year Award (2012). His music is regularly featured on the BBC Radio 3 programme ‘Late Junction’.

In 2006 Watson 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”. And in 2011 Watson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of The Arts in London. In 2011 Le Louvre, Paris  Watson was commissioned to create three sound installation works and a live performance piece ‘Oceanus pacificus’ as a response to the exhibition curated by the Nobel Prize winning writer JMG LeClezio.

He says this about his DolphinEar PRO hydrophones: “These are two of my favourite instruments …”