Advanced Wildlife Sound Recording with Chris Watson

Advanced Wildlife Sound Recording
(Editing and Mixing)

Wildlife Video Editing with Final Cut Pro This two-day course with Chris Watson explores techniques of editing audio files on a computer and mixing soundtracks. It is suitable for those who have already taken our Wildlife Sound Recording course, or those who already have some experience of audio work.

Through demonstration and working on practical tasks you will learn how to edit, manipulate and improve sound recordings, and also how they can be effectively combined and mixed together to produce a soundtrack. This could be for a television or radio programme, for installations, or for your own enjoyment.

The course is taught by Chris Watson, one of the world's top wildlife sound specialists who regularly works for the BBC.

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.

It is recommended that you bring your own laptop/computer with editing and mixing programs installed - we can recommend these before the course if you don't have any.

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 with a discussion about the use of computers for manipulating audio files and the platforms and programs available. Following this a demonstration of cleaning up and editing a selection of audio files for various applications.
1pm - lunch
2pm - practical work editing audio files
4pm - teabreak followed by an introduction to the mixing of sountracks including field recordings and narration
7pm - evening meal served

Day 3:
8am - breakfast
9am - practical work mixing soundtracks from supplied audio files
1pm - lunch
2pm - critical analysis of mixes
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.

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.

Matt Abrey is a freelance wildlife sound recordist and broadcast sound engineer. He has previously contracted as a quality assessor and sound engineer for the Discovery Channel Network and is currently working on projects in the UK and India.

Booking Information

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

Dates:
To be decided

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.

Staff and students November 2009

Comments from previous students:

The course was really good. I learnt such a lot in just a few days. Most interesting was seeing Chris Watson's original sound edits with all the tracks for the four short BBC programmes. It gave me an insight into how these things are done, and lots of ideas for my own work.

Another big plus was the other students and the course assistants. It was such a good mix of students, ranging from installation artists to radio broadcasters, sound engineers and wild life enthusiasts, all of them and the assistants, friendly and helpful. And, of course, the delicious food resulting in serious over-eating.

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