Christopher Richard Watson (born 21 November 1953) is an English musician and sound recordist. A founding member of the

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

-based industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, Watson's subsequent work in field recordings since 1981 has included television documentaries and experimental musical collaborations.

Music

Watson was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and later formed Hafler Trio. 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 Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in t ...

Festival in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, Austria), ''Weather Report'', and '' El Tren Fantasma''. He has also released a variety of works in collaboration with other artists, including

Mika Vainio Mika Tapio Vainio (May 15, 1963 – April 12, 2017) was a Finnish electronic musician. He was best known as a member of Pan Sonic. In addition to his real name, he recorded under the aliases Ø, Kentolevi, Philus, and Tekonivel. He has worked w ...

of Pan Sonic, Philip Jeck,

Hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...

Fennesz Christian Fennesz (born 25 December 1962) is an Austrian producer and guitarist active in electronic music since the 1990s, often credited mononymously as Fennesz. His work utilizes guitar and laptop computers to blend melody with treated samp ...

, AER (Jon Wozencroft, aka "Alpha Echo Romeo"),

Biosphere The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...

, BJNilsen, and Marcus Davidson. All of these recordings were released on

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

, which releases material digitally through

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. His album ''Weather Report'' (2003) was named as one of the "1000 albums to hear before you die" by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in 2007.

Sound recording

Watson's sound recording career began in 1981 when he left Cabaret Voltaire to join

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchisee for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stu ...

. His television work includes '' Bill Oddie Back in the USA,

Great Railway Journeys ''Great Railway Journeys'', originally titled ''Great Railway Journeys of the World'', is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figu ...

,'' '' Springwatch,'' and numerous nature documentaries by

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

. In 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology degree by the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

"in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sound recording technology, especially in the field of natural history and documentary location sound". 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. In 2018 he assisted

Hildur Guðnadóttir Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and ...

in recording sounds from the

Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant () is a Nuclear decommissioning, decommissioned two-unit RBMK-1500 nuclear power plant, nuclear power station in Visaginas Municipality, Lithuania. It was named after the nearby city of Ignalina. Due to the plant' ...

for her

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning score for the miniseries ''Chernobyl''. In 2024 he was sound designer for Andrea Luza Zimmerman's fil
Wayfaring Stranger
Watson is the president of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society.

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 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at B ...

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 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's biography series, ''

Great Lives ''Great Lives'' is a BBC Radio 4 biography series, produced in Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the re ...

'', in which he nominated the pioneering sound recordist Ludwig Koch.

Personal life

Watson was raised in the Sheffield suburb of

Totley Totley is a suburb on the extreme southwest of the city of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. Lying within the historic county boundaries of Derbyshire, Totley was amalgamated into the city of Sheffield in 1933, and is today part of the ...

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. Watson now lives in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. Watson was a Policy & Enterprise Fellow at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

's Institute of Advanced Study from December 2012 to May 2013.

Album discography

Solo

*''Sunsets'' wordless recording made at Breachacha on Coll 1994 *''Stepping into the Dark'' (1996,

) *''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

* '' Mix-Up'' (1979) * '' Three Mantras'' (1980) * ''The Voice of America'' (1980) * '' Red Mecca'' (1981) * ''

2x45 ''2x45'' is the fifth studio album by English band Cabaret Voltaire. It was released in May 1982 through Rough Trade. This was the last studio album by the band to feature founding member Chris Watson, who had departed during its recording. B ...

'' (1982)

Collaborations

*''Star Switch On'' with

, Philip Jeck,

, AER, and

(2002, Touch) *''Number One'' with

KK Null , known by his stage name KK Null, is a Japanese experimental multi-instrumentalist active since the early 1980s. He began as a guitarist but learned how to compose, sing, play drums, and create electronic music. He also studied Butoh dance at M ...

and

Z'EV Z'EV (born Stefan Joel Weisser, February 8, 1951 – December 16, 2017) was an American poet, percussionist, and sound artist. After studying various world music traditions at CalArts, he began creating his own percussion sounds out of indu ...

(2005, Touch) *''Storm'' with BJ Nilsen (2006, Touch) *''Siren'' with Alec Finlay Platform Projects # D EP*''Cross-Pollination (Chris Watson + Marcus Davidson album)'' (2011, Touch) *''Oxmardyke'' with Philip Jeck (2023, Touch)

References

External links

Watson's homepage

Discography and archived reviews - Touch
* * *
Chris Watson on SilenceRadio.org

Swedish television interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Chris English experimental musicians 1953 births Living people Musicians from Sheffield Wildlife sound recordists Academics of Durham University Cabaret Voltaire (band) members Field recording