Our 2019 red deer session with Chris Watson was one of the highlights of the year - rolling silently down forest tracks in the dead of night, headlights off, side door open ready to drop our team of sonic explorers at key recording sites, discovering and understanding the habitats and behaviour of the red deer, camping out under the stars in wait for them to begin their display, the thrill of quickly, silently setting up gear with one stag on each side of your position, braying back and forth.

From mid-September to mid-October the high mountains and forests of the Ariege region plays host to one of the most impressive events of the wildlife calendar - the red deer rutting season. As the sun sets, we'll install ourselves on the mountain and wait for the unmistakeable "brame du cerf" - the sonorous call of the red stag. Evening explorations and all-night camping and recording sessions will provide an unforgettable experience of sonic exploration.

While we're not hunting the sound of deer, we'll focus on all factors of working with environmental sound - recording, production, decoding and critical analysis. There will also be recording sessions focusing on owls - it's the perfect time for owl activity, as mother owls try to push their recently independent young out of their territory - bats, insects and hydrophone recordings in the lakes and rivers of this beautiful region.

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:



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, and for installation at Fuse Art Space.

Chris 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 recently collaborated with Bjork on the soundtrack to her 2015 MoMA retrospective in New York and by contributing Icelandic recordings to her 'Utopia' album. His sounds and music are regularly featured on BBC television, Radio 4 and World Service productions including 'The Wire' which won him the Broadcasting Press Guild's Broadcaster of The Year Award (2012). As a freelance composer and sound recordist Watson specialises in creating spatial sound installations which feature a strong sense and spirit of place.

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. Recent commissions include work for The National Gallery (London) The Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), GRM & Radio France, The Louvre and the Aichi Triennial in Japan.



WHERE AND WHEN?

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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 month payment plan). In the latter case, a monthly payment plan will be put in place, so your card will be charged 1/ of the fee today, and 1/ each month (on the same day) for an additional -1 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.