The chance meeting of a goose and a plover on a turntable: Chris Watson’s wildlife sound recordings

Wildlife recordings have an uncertain position within media industries and genres because they can circulate as documentary soundtracks, sound art, or music. In this paper, I explore the cultural life of such recordings through an examination of the work of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson. After a sketch of his professional career and discussion of the relation between his career trajectory and formal solutions to the spatial and temporal problems of wildlife sound recording, I consider the status of Watson’s work as audio-based eco-criticism, via the record El Tren Fantasma (2011).