Chris Watson (musician)

Christopher Richard Watson (born 1952)[1] is an English musician and sound recordist. A founding member of the Sheffield-based industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, Watson's subsequent work in field recordings since 1981 has included television documentaries and experimental musical collaborations.

For other people named Chris Watson, see Chris Watson (disambiguation).

Chris Watson
Watson speaking at the 2009 WIRED Lab.
Watson speaking at the 2009 WIRED Lab.
Background information
Born1952 (age 70–71)
Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Genres
Instrument(s)Vocals, samples
LabelsTouch, Rough Trade
Formerly ofCabaret Voltaire
The Hafler Trio

Music

Watson was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and later formed Hafler Trio.[2]

He has released several solo albums of field recordings including: Outside the Circle of Fire, Stepping into the Dark (which won an Award of Distinction at the 2000 Prix Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria), Weather Report, and El Tren Fantasma. He has also released a variety of works in collaboration with other artists, including Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, Philip Jeck, Hazard, Fennesz, AER (Jon Wozencroft, aka "Alpha Echo Romeo"), Biosphere, BJNilsen, and Marcus Davidson. All of these recordings were released on Touch, which releases material digitally through Bandcamp.[3]

His album Weather Report (2003) was named as one of the "1000 albums to hear before you die" by The Guardian in 2007.[4]

Sound recording

Watson's sound recording career began in 1981 when he left Cabaret Voltaire to join Tyne Tees Television. His television work includes Bill Oddie Back in the USA, Great Railway Journeys, Springwatch, and numerous nature documentaries by David Attenborough.[5][6]

In 2006 he 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".[7]

In 2010 he devised an art project at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital, using sound recordings made by children to calm other young patients as they received injections and other treatments.[8][9]

In 2018 he assisted Hildur Guðnadóttir in recording sounds from the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant for her Grammy Award-winning score for the miniseries Chernobyl.[10]

Watson is the president of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society.[11]

Radio programmes

Watson has made and been featured in a number of BBC radio programmes:

  • The Reed Bed – Series of five, fifteen-minute radio programmes, broadcast on BBC Radio Four in March 2007
  • A Guide to Garden Birds – Series of five, fifteen-minute radio programmes, broadcast weekly on Radio Four from May 2007
  • A Guide to Farmland Birds – Series of five, fifteen-minute radio programmes, broadcast weekly on Radio Four from August 2011
  • BBC Radio 4's biography series, Great Lives, in which he nominated the pioneering sound recordist Ludwig Koch.[12]

Personal life

Watson was raised in the Sheffield suburb of Totley[13] and attended Rowlinson School and Stannington College (now part of Sheffield College), both in Sheffield. He is married to Maggie, who appeared momentarily on-screen with him in episode 3 of Autumnwatch 2010.[14] Watson now lives in Northumberland.[12]

Watson was a Policy & Enterprise Fellow at Durham University's Institute of Advanced Study from December 2012 to May 2013.[15]

Album discography

Solo
  • Sunsets wordless recording made at Breachacha on Coll[16] 1994
  • Stepping into the Dark (1996, Touch)
  • Outside the Circle of Fire (1998, Touch)
  • Weather Report (2003, Touch)
  • Cima Verde (2008, Fondazione Edmund Mach and LoL Productions)
  • El Tren Fantasma (2011, Touch)
  • In St Cuthbert's Time (2013, Touch)

With Cabaret Voltaire

Collaborations
  • Star Switch On with Mika Vainio, Philip Jeck, Hazard, Fennesz, AER, and Biosphere (2002, Touch)
  • Number One with KK Null and Z'EV (2005, Touch)
  • Storm with B. J. Nilsen (2006, Touch)
  • Siren with Alec Finlay Platform Projects # ISBN 0-9546831-7-X [CD EP]
  • Cross-Pollination (Chris Watson + Marcus Davidson album) (2011, Touch)
  • Oxmardyke with Philip Jeck (2023, Touch)

References
  1. "Chris Watson". Soundartarchive.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  2. Cooper, Sean. "Biography: Chris Watson". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  3. "Music-Chris Watson". Bandcamp.com. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  4. "1000 albums to hear before you die: Artists beginning with W". The Guardian. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  5. Shackleford, Tom (6 June 2019). "Score For HBO's 'Chernobyl' Was Recorded Using Sounds From Inside A Nuclear Power Plant [Listen]". Live For Live Music. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  6. "The Quietus | Reviews | Chris Watson". The Quietus. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  7. "News". University of the West of England. Archived from the original on 14 September 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  8. Moss, Stephen (24 August 2010). "Birdsong: the cure for all ills?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  9. "Imagine Appeal - Alder Hey Arts". Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  10. Shackleford, Tom (6 June 2019). "Score For HBO's 'Chernobyl' Was Recorded Using Sounds From Inside A Nuclear Power Plant [Listen]". Live For Live Music. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  11. "About WSRS - Wildlife Sound Recording Society". www.wildlife-sound.org. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  12. "Ludwig Koch". Great Lives. 29 August 2023. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  13. Martyn Ware (3 April 2021). "Chris Watson". Electronically Yours With Martyn Ware (Podcast). Event occurs at 6:58. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  14. Autumn watch 2010, episode 3
  15. "Chris Watson | IAS Durham". Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  16. Street, Seán (1 March 2013). The Poetry of Radio: The Colour of Sound. Routledge. ISBN 9781136500480 – via Google Books.
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