Stuart Bowditch Podcasts

Stuart Bowditch

Stuart’s work is inspired by location and the people, experiences and objects he encounters there. He is particularly interested in sounds that are associated with place, overlooked and overheard noises of the everyday and highlighting the auditory as a defining factor in how we experience a particular environment. ​ His recordings of people, their activities, experiences and environs have contributed to art installations, phone apps, archival records, dance performances, public consultation events, musical compositions, a computer game, a eulogy and sound tracks to short films.

  1. 1d ago

    Saca de la Toleta, Venice, Italy - 29th October 2026

    I love Venice and this is the third time I have visited. A lot of people come for the art, the history or the wine. I come for the sound. In the absence of roads and the motor car, sound travels differently in Venice. Boundaries are broken with domestic sounds being audible outside, and public sounds being heard in private places. Sounds are more localised due smaller public places in alley ways and squares. And I think individual sounds appear clearer due to the lack of traffic din that usually muddies the soundscapes of other cities. In this recording my travelling companion heard the sound of an oboe being played in a room above the alley way of Saca de la Toleta, in the district of Dorsoduro. We positioned ourselves beneath the window for around 10 minutes, to finish off eating out street pizza, and to admire the beautiful juxtaposition of oboe practice from above, and passersby at close quarters below.

    Saca de la Toleta, Venice, Italy - 29th October 2026

  2. Sep 26

    Parsonage Street, Halstead, Essex - 25th August 2026

    For a few Tuesday evenings on a row I had noticed that bingo was being played in the Church Hall near St.Andrew's. So I waited until the following week, took a stroll down the road and sat on the wall outside with my recorder. What a lovely moment on a warm summer evening. The moon was shining brightly on the way back.

    Parsonage Street, Halstead, Essex - 25th August 2026

  3. Sep 13

    Constable Ambisonic - Perception of Landscape with Paul Blackburn

    As part of the Constable Ambisonic project I want to understand how we perceive the landscape, and what did Constable and his contemporaries bring to our understanding of the natural world, and who else has contributed to the language used and ideals we hold in regard to perception of landscape. Here I talk to electronic musician, Paul Blackburn aka Yggdrasil, about how sounds from the natural world inform his music, the relationship between analogue sounds and electronic hardware, and how humans are a part of nature.

    Constable Ambisonic - Perception of Landscape with Paul Blackburn

  4. Aug 13

    A field near Pebmarsh during the eclipse - 12th August 2026

    During the eclipse of 1999 I was on some scaffolding in Islington, London, applying mastic to a block of flats. What I noticed at the time was that as well as the change in light, the sound changed too with everything, traffic, birds, people, becoming quieter. So 27 years later I decided that I wanted to try to capture that change in ambience. I found a quiet place on the map not far from where I live and walked on the footpaths to a gap in the hedgerow outside Pebmarsh, Essex. The eclipse happens in the middle of this recording, and listen to hear if you can detect any change, amongst the aircraft. There is a lovely treat at the end of the recording if you're in to birds.

    A field near Pebmarsh during the eclipse - 12th August 2026

  5. Jul 4

    Porch of East Bergholt Church - 2nd July 2026 (excerpt)

    It’s 10pm and I’m in the graveyard of St.Mary’s amongst the stones, I’ve tried to position myself near the image location but also not on any graves, it’s so quiet that even my notepad paper sounds loud as I write on it, the very distant A12 drone off to the north, a distant jet above, everything here is quiet which is letting sounds from further away be heard, the occasional passing car, no birds, no bats, no wind in the trees, no people passing. A long pause of not much, and then the silhouette of a bat above the nave, not a cloud in the sky, something crawling on my leg, the porch light, the weather vane, a flag pole with no flag, the silhouette of the Church, crenellations, a car door slams somewhere in the village, I saw a lot of dog walkers, walkers, joggers as I arrived but now no one, rural places always go to sleep early, 10 is the cut off time here, it’s 9:30 in Sudbury, now I’m almost unable to see what I am writing, Constable’s parents are buried just over there, it appears that time moves more slowly in quiet places but that’s not the case, that moth drawn to the recorder lights is moving in real time, someone with a torch, a flashing red light passing by on the road but I am unable to see what it is attached to, I’m having to be extra quiet with my movements and have definitely worn the correct clothing.

    Porch of East Bergholt Church - 2nd July 2026 (excerpt)

  6. Jun 30

    A hayfield at East Bergholt: sunset - 29th June 2026 (excerpt)

    More here

    A hayfield at East Bergholt: sunset - 29th June 2026 (excerpt)

  7. Jun 15

    A Boat Passing a Lock - 5th June 2026 (excerpt)

    Magpies call and respond, Moorhen, Mallards sleeping on the paving slabs, someone in the cafe already to set up for the day, no cars or jets, only tinnitus, I stay very still to encourage a Magpie to get closer which it does for a while but then flies over to Lock Island, one of the Mallards flies away, the Magpie comes back, a Squirrel comes by very close on the ground, inquisitive, and for millions of years I like to think that it was quiet, everywhere existed without explanation, water flowed downstream, reeds grew, habitats formed, species evolved. And then came people shouting at dogs and slamming gates, the cakes were delivered by a man in a truck, shareholders made a profit, Mallards moved in to the grass to preen and coat their feathers with oil, Squirrels squirrelling, Robin surveying it’s territory, a fly investigates the grains of wood on the table, distant Geese sound upset about something, I need to do more of this basking in the morning sun, a man on an electric scooter wearing a crash helmet, everything is growing imperceptibly slowly, a Bluebottle on my knee, now four Magpies investigating the grass, some white and grey clouds appear from the west and block out the warmth of the sun, a noisy maintenance van driving faster than the time I got told off for driving too fast down Flatford Road, a stack of correctly stored pallets, the Robin perched on top of the parasol, a maintenance man in hi-vis crosses the bridge to collect all of the bagged dog poo and replace the bin liner, a Cuckoo, an alarm on the Granary going off, a lady carrying empty cardboard boxes, two Crows join the exploration of the grass, they ignore the mic and camera tripods, a small black and white moth on my arm, a man with a red t-shirt walking towards the Granary, two men stop for a chat in the lane, a Pied Wagtail. As this was an early morning recording there was a lot of bird sound, in addition to the above, Cuckoo, Goldcrest, Garden Warbler, Mistle Thrush, Marsh Warbler, Greenfinch, Canada Goose, Willow Warbler, Coal Tit, Song Thrush, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw and Blackcap.

    A Boat Passing a Lock - 5th June 2026 (excerpt)

  8. Jun 5

    Old Hall, East Bergholt - 12th April 2026 (excerpt)

    Thanks to Old Hall’s Dave Hodgson for making possible the chance to have an event in the Chapel and to be able to make a recording in the grounds. Three men tasked with chopping the firewood, the threat of rain was hollow, and the sun has come out, a man driving the tractor, a Massey Ferguson 675, the wind gentler than last week but still bit gusty, children playing on the trampoline, the man on the tractor setting it up to chop some wood, all hands on deck to make the firewood the right size for its various uses, jackdaws congregating in the big gnarly tree above the lumberjacks, blue and white flowering Nettles, Comfrey on a big patch under the holly tree, all four men chopping the wood working in dependently, man vs wood, blade vs bark, the wood of the axe shaft a traitor? Or forced in to labour against its own kind, no choice in the matter, wood the rarest material in the universe, and one of the most useful, one man visited by a woman and then they both leave and head towards the Hall, a man in a wooly hat walking past whilst looking at the lumberjacks, technique is more important than strength, tractor is stronger than tecnique, the man with glasses walks away from the pile, two remaining men carry on, a man with a pony tail walks past with a watering can, a cold breeze arrives with a large cloud, a Sparrow inspecting the wood pile left by the man with the glasses, a couple with shoulder bags walk past, a silver car drives past, similar to the recording made near Gandish Road a few gusts start to appear near to the end of the recording, an hour seems like an awkwardly long time whilst in someone else’s domain as somewhat of an imposition even with a welcome from one of the community, would Constable have been ignored by the public whenever he was working in the field? The tractor stops and the man operating takes his ear defenders off, now I can hear the sound of children playing and more details of the wind in the trees, you could say that because more os the recording is full up with tractor engine that the visit was poorly timed but I accept that my experience is what happens whenever I am wherever, but I let the recording run on a little bit extra to see if I can get a nice excerpt sans combustion engine, thankfully I had a wee before the recording, Dave is coming back and gives me a wave, the bag couple comeback up the lane.

    Old Hall, East Bergholt - 12th April 2026 (excerpt)
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About

Stuart’s work is inspired by location and the people, experiences and objects he encounters there. He is particularly interested in sounds that are associated with place, overlooked and overheard noises of the everyday and highlighting the auditory as a defining factor in how we experience a particular environment. ​ His recordings of people, their activities, experiences and environs have contributed to art installations, phone apps, archival records, dance performances, public consultation events, musical compositions, a computer game, a eulogy and sound tracks to short films.

Information

  • Creator
    Stuart Bowditch
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    97
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Stuart Bowditch Podcasts