Speechification

Here he is again. Chris Watson: sound recordist, Speechification touchstone (and Cabaret Voltaire founder). And this is an extraordinary item. 50:21 recorded in Antarctica (using microphones and hydrophones). It's special because it's not a radio programme. It's from Watson's own Touch Radio podcast.

So he does things you can't do on the radio - he dwells on a single sound for far too long and on almost imperceptible ambient sound for longer still (it's quiet in Antarctica). And it's a 192kbps MP3 so the quality is excellent. Listen on your iPod. If you subscribe to the Touch Radio podcast you'll sometimes get lovely enhanced, chapterised files with pictures too.

A Journey South was recorded while Watson was on location for David Attenborough's next TV series (MP3). The picture is from the Touch Radio web site.

Perhaps I'm in danger of overloading you with Chris Watson, but the sound recordist is already a firm favourite with the Speechification crew, thanks to his emphasis on creating radio that not only tells a story but also captures the sounds of life.

He popped up again this morning on Midweek, in a too-brief 8-minute interview where he gives a glimpse of how and why he works. Ostensibly he's talking about a new exhibition about tropical rainforests he's got on at the Sunderland Museum called Whispering in the Leaves, but along the way he manages to describe capturing the sound of glaciers moving, Mexican railways and vultures gnawing away at zebra carcasses on the Masai Mara.

Fascinating stuff. It's about 23 and a half minutes into this stream, or you can listen to the MP3

(Incidentally, I've always wondered about Radio 4's propensity to take the same show - a gentle series of interviews with three or four interesting people - and slap a different presenter and a different name on it. You've got Start the Week, Midweek, Woman's Hour and In Our Time are all essentially mild variants of the same concept. I hope they name a new show "just-over-halfway-through-the-week" for continuity purposes.)

I must be an auditory learner. I can soak this stuff up indefinitely: mesmerising, layered natural sound recorded in and around a ruined castle on the Northumberland coast by Chris Watson (who's made more than one appearance here since we got started). I guess the excellent presenter could be producer Sarah Blunt but she doesn't get a credit anywhere at bbc.co.uk, which is a pity (MP3).