Chris Watson 's red deer recording workshop has formed an annual highlight at CAMP for the last few years - now, we're extremely excited to host an expanded field recording workshop with Chris, taking place in springtime, and focusing on a wide array of natural sound. Spring in Pyrenees is an extremely special time for all kinds of wildlife, from birds and insects to mammals and reptiles, as the snow starts to recede and the rivers fill with meltwater, bringing this incredibly diverse ecosystem to life.

We'll visit an array of locations, from freshly awakened meadows and high plateaus teeming with insect life, to forests filled with layers of birdsong and high peaks where ravens, vultures, bears, ibex and other rare alpine species come to life. We'll be out in the landscape at all hours, recording the dawn chorus as the sun rises over the high ridges, as well as exploring the nocturnal life of the forest (owls, bats, boar and much more).

Chris Watson 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 collaborated with Björk on the soundtrack to her 2015 MoMA retrospective in New York.

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.

This course will focus on all factors of working with environmental sound - recording, production, decoding and critical analysis. 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, for installation at Fuse Art Space, and for broadcast on CAMP Radio.



WHERE AND WHEN?

The course takes place at our residential centre in Aulus les Bains. It's two hours south of Toulouse, high in the French Pyrenees, very near the border with Spain. For detailed travel information, see the transport section. The course starts on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. We advise that you arrive the evening before (03/06/2025) - dinner and accommodation that night is included. The course runs for five days, ending on Sunday night. Accommodation on Sunday night is included, then we leave on Monday morning (09/06/2025). If you decide to take the minibus with us, you will be picked- up in Toulouse at 6pm on 03/06/2025, and will be back in Toulouse at 11am on 09/06/2025.

You'll also have the option to stay at CAMP an additional 7 nights, following the workshop, for an additional cost of $379. Hang out, do some hiking, use our facilities, work on your projects and process the content of the workshop at your own pace. In 2024, just over 50% of participants stayed for the +7. We expect that number to increase in 2025 - don't miss out on the extra fun! Read more about the +7 option here.

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 4 month payment plan). In the latter case, a monthly payment plan will be put in place, so your card will be charged 1/4 of the fee today, and 1/4 each month (on the same day) for an additional 3 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.