Wildlife Sound Recording with Chris Watson

Wildlife Sound Recording

Sound Recording for Wildlife Films The importance of the sound track and the role of the sound recordist is often over-looked in the production of wildlife films. The successful recording of wildlife sound, and creation of the film's sound track is a crucial and major part of the creative process. With new digital equipment available for recording and editing sound it requires skill and experience to do the job justice.

This two-day course aims to teach you the skills necessary and give you hands-on experience with some of the latest equipment. The course is suitable for aspiring wildlife film-makers, camera operators, camera assistants, producers and sound recordists. It is taught by Chris Watson, one of the world's top wildlife sound specialists who regularly works for the BBC, and assisted by audio specialist Jez riley French.

The location is Whitwell Hall Country Centre in the centre of Norfolk, UK. Accommodation is shared rooms (or there are nearby bed and breakfasts/hotels if you prefer), and there will be excellent home-cooked food.

Please note that we run this course twice a year. The first (September) is aimed at beginners who have little or no experience of field recording and with litle or no equipment yet. The second (November) is for those who have some experience of recording already and their own equipment. Please make sure you enroll on the most appropriate course - contact us if you are not sure.

Itinerary

Day 1 : Aim to arrive by 6pm, directions will be sent when you have booked your place.
7pm - evening meal served (no problem if you arrive later)
8pm - introductory chat - who we are, who you are, and what we will be doing over the next two days.

Day 2:
8am - breakfast
9am - course starts - we will be covering:

An introduction to film sound and learning to listen.
What good quality sound can bring to a production - Sound is not a problem to be overcome, rather it is a creative opportunity to improve and enhance the overall quality of a film.
All aspects of wildlife sound recording for film & tv in order to provide the dubbing editor with useful, high quality material for track assembly.
The importance of being able to follow a soundtrack through from location to transmission

The above points will be demonstrated by;

Playback of recorded examples
Giving an understanding and hands on examination of microphones, recorders and accessories including the latest file-based recording systems
An overview of batteries and power supplies
Sound recording fieldcraft and techniques - awareness of legislation and ethical considerations - recording in hostile climates and environments
Assessing sound recordings and quality control
Post Production requirements e.g. formats. logging and good communications
Surround sound on location and post production
Hydrophone (underwater) recording
Practical session; location recording and critical analysis back at base
Putting together a recording kit for particular requirements.

7pm - evening meal served
In the evening there will be further opportunities for practical work and listening to recordings

Day 3:
Morning - further practical work, which may be on the north Norfolk coast or nearby nature reserves.
1pm - lunch
2pm - critical analysis of recordings
4pm - course ends

Staff/Tutors

Chris Watson (pictured right) - experienced sound recordist specialising in wildlife - Chris also runs courses in wildlife sound recording and post production at the BBC Natural History Unit, and lectures internationally on location sound and sound design. He has worked closely with two of the most high-profile natural history presenters in the business, David Attenborough and Bill Oddie. He is Oddie's favourite sound man and the TV veteran says of Watson: "I don't know anyone who is so intense yet so splendidly frivolous." Chris became a sound recordist in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television and is now widely regarded as one of the most creative sound artists in the business. His recent credits include the hugely popular Springwatch and Autumnwatch, and he received the Wildlife Film Asia Award for the BBC's Galapagos: Born of Fire. Watson also creates for the radio, with credits including Soundscape: The Sea Swallow, Watersong and The Estuary all for BBC Radio 4. See www.chriswatson.net

A selection of superb natural sound CDs by Chris Watson are now available from our Wildeye Shop at www.wildeye.co.uk/chriswatson.html.

Jez riley French is a composer, artist & audio specialist whose output involves elements of intuitive composition, field recording (using conventional & extended methods) photographic images (including their use in photographic scores) and improvisation. He has performed, exhibited and had his work published widely across the world and also lectures in both field recording and intuitive composition as a guest lecturer. Recently he has been artist in residence at organisations in Japan, Korea, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic & the UK.
Jez also makes & sells his own hydrophones and contact mics (http://hydrophones.blogspot.com/) + runs the ‘in place’ project with a website exploring various aspects of field recording & related work. In recent years Jez has been working closely with specific architectural spaces, capturing a sense of place that is both highly personal and yet offers the audience a fascinating opportunity to look and listen anew to the environments in which we spend our time. http://jezrileyfrench.blogspot.com/

Piers Warren - Principal of Wildeye - Piers is well known throughout the wildlife film-making industry as the editor of Wildlife Film News and producer of wildlife-film.com, which he created in the 1990s. With a strong background in biology, education and conservation, he has had a lifelong passion for wildlife films and has a wide knowledge of natural history. He cut his teeth in the industry as a sound engineer and multi-media producer, running a studio for many years. He is one of the founders of the international organisation Filmmakers for Conservation and was Vice President for the first three years. Piers is the author of many magazine features and several books including Careers in Wildlife Film-making and Go Wild with Your Camcorder - How to Make Wildlife Films.

Booking Information

Costs: £295 per person
This includes tuition, accommodation, and meals.

Dates:
7-9 Sep 2012 Beginners Course
23-25 Nov 2012 Experience Course

To be informed of future courses please add your email address in the column on the right to receive Wildeye Bulletins.

Booking: If the home page shows that there are places available for the course of your choice - please complete the online application form and send in your deposit/fee as detailed.

Recording Grey Seal pups in Norfolk

On 31 January 2007 - The Guardian featured an article on our tutor Chris Watson and the wildlife sound recording course we ran in December 2006 click here to view online

Wildlife Sound Recording staff and students December 2011

Wildlife Sound Recording staff and students September 2011

Recording the sea at Horsey

Thanks to the following companies for loaning equipment for the training:
Korg - MR-2 1-Bit Portable Recorder
Olympus - Linear PCM Recorder LS-11
Rycote - windshields, windjammers etc
SCV London - Fostex recorders and microphones

Comments from previous students:

Thanks for an excellent weekend on the introduction to sound recording course, it has been truly inspiring and answered all the questions I had from a novice point of view. You pitched at the right level for me but managed to keep the more experienced people interested and also passed on a great deal of knowledge and inspiration to them. I am truly hooked, and realise sound is all around, not just noise. You have prevented me making some costly equipment mistakes, and indeed saved me time in heading down blind alleys.

What a great weekend. I came with very little knowledge of wildlife sound recording except I knew I wanted to add this extra dimension to my work and left realising the huge creative possibilities. A great credit to you for once again producing another fulfilling course. Chris has been fantastic, his willingness to share and his sheer enjoyment for sound was wonderful. I've come away feeling as if I've been given a new toy.

Once again I'm very impressed at the quality of the weekend. I've learned to listen and trust my ears more

I really enjoyed the weekend and did indeed make some new friends. I would recommend the course and your company to anybody

I certainly enjoyed the weekend, and got a lot from it. I look forward to attending some of the other sessions that you run.

Just wanted to say thanks for the wildlife sound weekend, I thought it was superb, and I really enjoyed myself.

Essential reading:

Careers in Wildlife
Film-making

Go Wild with your Camcorder
How to Make Wildlife Films

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