LOCATION SOUND RECORDING WITH CHRIS WATSON
STARTS 2025-06-04 | SOLD OUT WAITING LIST IS HERE

SIMILAR COURSES:

2025-05-14 | 2 PLACES LEFT

MODERN COMPOSITION WITH GAVIN BRYARS

2025-10-29 | 8 PLACES LEFT

ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA WITH CM VON HAUSSWOLFF AND MICHAEL ESPOSITO

2025-05-28 | 2 PLACES LEFT

ECOACOUSTICS: APPROACHES TO LISTENING, STUDYING AND TRANSMITTING ECO-CULTURAL SOUNDWORLDS WITH ALICE ELDRIDGE, GRANT SMITH, HILDEGARD WESTERKAMP AND LEAH BARCLAY



THE BASICS

  • Six nights accommodation in a private room with mountain views
  • Five full days of teaching, workshops, discussions, activities and use of our excellent arts facilities
  • All inclusive - breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and drinks included
  • Option to stay +7 nights following the workshop, use the facilities, work on your projects
  • Return transport from Toulouse included

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Work closely with one of the most respected sound recordists in the world
  • Explore diverse sonic environments from forests, rivers and meadows to high alpine slopes
  • Expeditions into the epic Pyrenean landscape at all hours of day and night, including late night/dawn chorus recording sessions
  • Post-workshop release, broadcast, installation and performance opportunities
  • Unlimited use of our recording facilities, arts library, digital editing suites and other facilities
  • Optional mountain expeditions including ascent of Mont Ceint and the spectacular Cascade d'Ars

BOOK NOW

This workshop is sold out. You can add your email to the waiting list here, or view our other workshops here.
Chris Watson 's red deer recording workshop has formed an annual highlight at CAMP for the last few years - now, we're extremely excited to host an expanded field recording workshop with Chris, taking place in springtime, and focusing on a wide array of natural sound. Spring in Pyrenees is an extremely special time for all kinds of wildlife, from birds and insects to mammals and reptiles, as the snow starts to recede and the rivers fill with meltwater, bringing this incredibly diverse ecosystem to life.

We'll visit an array of locations, from freshly awakened meadows and high plateaus teeming with insect life, to forests filled with layers of birdsong and high peaks where ravens, vultures, bears, ibex and other rare alpine species come to life. We'll be out in the landscape at all hours, recording the dawn chorus as the sun rises over the high ridges, as well as exploring the nocturnal life of the forest (owls, bats, boar and much more).

Chris Watson is one of the world's leading sound recordists specialising in wildlife and natural phenomena. In 1971 he was a founding member of the influential Sheffield-based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire. His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television, and since then Chris has gone on to forge a reputation as a pioneer of natural sound recording and production, working closely with David Attenborough on Frozen Planet, The Life of Mammals, The Life of Birds, Life in the Undergrowth, Galapagos and others, winning a BAFTA for his work on The Life Of Birds. His TV credits include Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Big Cat Diary, and in 2012 the Broadcasting Press Guild named Chris "Radio Broadcaster of the Year". In 2013 Chris won the Paul Hamlyn Composers Award, and he collaborated with Björk on the soundtrack to her 2015 MoMA retrospective in New York.

Chris has released four solo albums of field recordings, including "Stepping into the Dark" which won an Award of Distinction at the 2000 Prix Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, and has collaborated with Mika Vainio, Philip Jeck, Hazard, Fennesz, AER (Jon Wozencroft, aka "Alpha Echo Romeo"), and Biosphere, BJNilsen, and Marcus Davidson.

This course will focus on all factors of working with environmental sound - recording, production, decoding and critical analysis. Taking place in the forests, mountains and high-altitude plains of the Haute Couserans, with field trips to some of the regions most spectacular locations, the course will cover:

Fieldcraft and microphone techniques
Spatial audio recording techniques such as spaced stereo microphones, surround sound arrays, Ambisonic techniques using a Soundfield microphone ST450, Schoeps double mid side arrays and Sennheiser middle and side systems
Experimentation with contact microphones, hydrophones and parabolic reflectors
Surround sound playback and multi-channel systems
Decoding techniques
Listening sessions and discussion of critical analysis
Technical operation and specifics of location recording equipment


The sessions will be accompanied by optional outdoors activities led by CAMP crew, including guided mountaineering, visits to local beauty points, and downtime to hang out, relax, enjoy the local food and wine, and learn informally from Chris, the CAMP crew, and your fellow students. Following the course, we will invite students to submit work for release on our in-house labels, for installation at Fuse Art Space, and for broadcast on CAMP Radio.



WHERE AND WHEN?

The course takes place at our residential centre in Aulus les Bains. It's two hours south of Toulouse, high in the French Pyrenees, very near the border with Spain. For detailed travel information, see the transport section. The course starts on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. We advise that you arrive the evening before (03/06/2025) - dinner and accommodation that night is included. The course runs for five days, ending on Sunday night. Accommodation on Sunday night is included, then we leave on Monday morning (09/06/2025). If you decide to take the minibus with us, you will be picked- up in Toulouse at 6pm on 03/06/2025, and will be back in Toulouse at 11am on 09/06/2025.

You'll also have the option to stay at CAMP an additional 7 nights, following the workshop, for an additional cost of €349. Hang out, do some hiking, use our facilities, work on your projects and process the content of the workshop at your own pace. In 2024, just over 50% of participants stayed for the +7. We expect that number to increase in 2025 - don't miss out on the extra fun! Read more about the +7 option here.

HOW TO BOOK

To book your place on the course, click the button in the green section above. You won't pay anything right now - we'll send you a booking confirmation email with everything you need to know next. Your place is reserved without payment for three days.

You'll find a payment link in the booking confirmation email - follow the link to make a payment (either in full, or the first payment of a 4 month payment plan). In the latter case, a monthly payment plan will be put in place, so your card will be charged 1/4 of the fee today, and 1/4 each month (on the same day) for an additional 3 months. All card payments are handled by Stripe, and are extremely secure. We don't store any card data ourselves - all of this is handled securely off-site by Stripe. If you have a discount or grant code, you will be able to add it when you follow the payment link in your confirmation email.

Once you've made a payment, you'll receive another email containing your receipt, links to resources, contact information and access to our group chat to discuss the workshop with other participants.

IMPORTANT: BY SIGNING UP TO A COURSE (OR A PAYMENT SPLIT), YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS

INCLUDED IN THE COURSE FEE: SIX NIGHTS ACCOMMODATION, AND FIVE DAYS OF CLASSES AND ACTIVITIES, A COMFORTABLE PRIVATE ROOM AT CAMP, ALL MEALS (ALL DIETS CATERED FOR), UNLIMITED USE OF OUR RECORDING EQUIPMENT, EDITING SUITES, REHEARSAL STUDIOS, LIBRARY AND OTHER FACILITIES, POST-COURSE BENEFITS & SUPPORT (SEE BELOW)
NOT INCLUDED IN THE COURSE FEE: TRAVEL
STUDENT LEVEL: ALL WELCOME
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: USE YOUR OWN PORTABLE RECORDING GEAR, OR BORROW OURS. GOOD WALKING BOOTS, DAY SACK & WATERPROOFS ESSENTIAL
POST-COURSE SUPPORT: PERFORMANCE AND INSTALLATION OPPORTUNITIES AT FUSE ART SPACE, BROADCAST OPPORTUNITIES ON CAMP RADIO, RELEASE OPPORTUNITIES VIA CAMP EDITIONS, ONGOING SUPPORT AND MENTORSHIP FROM CAMP