The Essay: Sounds of Isolation

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The Essay: Sounds of Isolation: The Great White Silence

Sounds of Isolation

The Great White Silence

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Sounds of Isolation, The Great White Silence

Chris Watson vividly recalls how he captured the sounds of 'The Great White Silence'.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson vividly recalls his quest to capture the sounds of a glacier calving in 'The Great White Silence' of Antarctica.

For many of us, isolation is disconcerting and challenging, but for wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, it is something he actively seeks, so he can fully immerse himself in a place and capture its unique sounds in his recordings. 

In the first of five illustrated essays, Chris recalls a trip to Antarctica, to a landscape which has been described as ‘The Great White Silence’ to record one of the greatest transitional events on the planet; the sounds of a glacier being transformed over the Antarctic summer from a solid mountain of freshwater ice into the salt water of the Ross Sea. 

Produced by Sarah Blunt for BBC Audio in Bristol.  Photo courtesy Chris Watson.

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Chris Watson recalls his quests to record sound in some of nature's most isolated places.

In a series of five illustrated essays, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson recalls his quests around the world to record in some of nature's most isolated places.

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