In this episode our storyteller Paul Cheese shares his fascination with sounds, particularly the everyday sounds around us. Did you know that the sound of Kent is D Major? If you have a mower or streamer, chances are it will hum the note of F sharp.
Listen here to find out why dropping a skip in a car park made as much of an impression on Paul as oystercatchers in Ipswich, fountains in Sheffield, and kicking the bar in Aberystwyth, He has captured the sounds of the bouncing of a basketball in Huddersfield, that of a nail gun near Wormit (near Dundee) and arrows hitting an archery target at Wicksteed Park, Kettering.
Paul is a professional musician, sound artist, producer, singer, cyclist, songwriter. As well as creating the opening music for the Business Diaries Podcast, he has written and recorded music in many locations around the world. From the tops of mountains to deep underground, old places, new places, and even underwater, from pillar boxes to ice caves, the Australian bush to the Grand Canyon…
His latest project is TheBigRecordUK Paul cycled to every region of the UK to capture the sounds of people and places, then used these to create a new song, The Sound Of The UK. He collected around 11,000 sounds and cycled almost 5,000 miles in 94 days. He did 135 local radio interviews, ate over 150 bananas, drank at least 180 pints of milk, and learned that three out of four UK builders render a wall at 98 beats per minute. These, and so many more stories from his journey, can be heard here
In this episode, Paul takes us on a journey with him around the UK, sharing many of the sounds he collected along the way, some of the stories behind these sounds, and tales of the kindness of people he met on his journey.
In our discussion, we explore:
- The origins of Paul’s interest in sound and what his earliest sound memories were
- How, often, we may be aware of one sound around us, but how we can tune ourselves to be able to listen to a wider grouping of sounds
- How the sounds of different places resonate around a single note
- On a more practical level, how he can carry all the equipment he needs on his bike
And
- How he funds his projects
This is an inspiring, and slightly different, episode. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have.
Best wishes
Islay and Lisa
Paul can be found https://www.paulcheese.com/
More information on TheBigREcordUK https://www.thebigrecord.com/
More information on the Business Diaries Click here
Business Diaries Podcast: Episode 23 with Paul Cheese
