For the last four CAMP seasons, the start of October has been 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. This is a truly unmissable CAMP experience - 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.

In 2024 we added another excellent new site to the workshop - a high altitude lake where the deer gather - and we also managed to fit in a visit to the Grotte de Niaux, a prehistoric cave network featuring cave paintings (including red deer!) 17,000 years old. Every year this workshop gets better, as we discover more deer sites, add more activities, and pack more in!


From mid-September to mid-October the high mountains and forests of the Ariege region plays host to one of the most impressive events of the wildlife calendar - the red deer rutting season. As the sun sets, we'll install ourselves on the mountain and wait for the unmistakeable "brame du cerf" - the sonorous call of the red stag. Evening explorations and all-night camping and recording sessions will provide an unforgettable experience of sonic exploration.

While we're not hunting the sound of deer, we'll focus on all factors of working with environmental sound - recording, production, decoding and critical analysis. There will also be recording sessions focusing on owls - it's the perfect time for owl activity, as mother owls try to push their recently independent young out of their territory - as well as bats, insects and hydrophone recordings in the lakes and rivers of this beautiful region.

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, and for installation at Fuse Art Space.

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 recently collaborated with Bjork on the soundtrack to her 2015 MoMA retrospective in New York and by contributing Icelandic recordings to her 'Utopia' album. His sounds and music are regularly featured on BBC television, Radio 4 and World Service productions including 'The Wire' which won him the Broadcasting Press Guild's Broadcaster of The Year Award (2012). As a freelance composer and sound recordist Watson specialises in creating spatial sound installations which feature a strong sense and spirit of place.

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. Recent commissions include work for The National Gallery (London) The Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), GRM & Radio France, The Louvre and the Aichi Triennial in Japan.



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, October 1, 2025. We advise that you arrive the evening before (30/09/2025) - 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 (06/10/2025). If you decide to take the minibus with us, you will be picked- up in Toulouse at 6pm on 30/09/2025, and will be back in Toulouse at 11am on 06/10/2025.

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.