Andia Coral Newton South East London based maker and project coordinator
Field Recording: Red Deer Season with Chris Watson
“The start of October is marked by a very special event - as the season changes, and the mountain landscape moves slowly into Autumn, we set out with Chris Watson for five days of hunting the sound of the Red Deer. Rolling silently down forest tracks, creeping into position ready to record the huge stags and their mating call, as the last light disappears from the sky above the deep, mountainous Ariegoise forests.”
This field recording course focused on hunting for the "brame du cerf" - the sonorous call of the red stag at night, and in the daytime we looked at all factors of working with environmental sound - recording, production, decoding and critical analysis. There were also recording sessions focusing on owls, bats, insects and hydrophone recordings in the lakes and rivers of this beautiful region.
The course covered:
-Fieldcraft and microphone techniques
-Spatial audio recording techniques such as spaced stereo microphones, surround sound arrays, Ambisonic techniques
-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
My Residency:
For five intense days we learnt about recording techniques, scouted out good positions in the forest and laid in wait for red deer to start howling as night fell. Laying on the forest floor as darkness descended in stillness and silence for hours was just magical. You really do start to hear things differently.
We also visited Grotte de Niaux, a massive acoustically gorgeous cave with 17000 year old artworks inside. This was basically a dream come true- I’m such a history nerd as you probably know. Honestly was barely containing myself.
Chris was so generous with his time, knowledge and sense of humour. It will take me a while to process all the learning (and WAV files) but my ultimate goal for this was to focus on audio over visuals, which I definitely acheived.
I spent a lot of time not looking or drawing or writing or even recording. Often I just listened. Which was just as rich as I usually find looking in terms of world-orientating and story telling.
We were not permitted to take pictures in the Grotte de Niaux, which became a very precious sonic and experiential memory. One of our group was an exceptional singer of folk music, and we all switched our torches off when we got to the main gallery and listened to him sing in the wet, accoustically lush cavern-darkness. It is easy to understand why ancient people chose this as a special place; it sounded more beautiful than a catherdral and several of us wept in the blackness. This may also be the start of an intense interest in archeoaccoustics for me...
I return to the UK with ears more sensitive than ever before.