Voicing velociraptors and capturing the dawn chorus

Meet Doug Quin, sound designer and naturalist who makes field recordings all over the world. Hear what Doug heard when he got up close to emperor penguins, lions and vultures. (R)

Sound designer and naturalist Doug Quin has been highly attuned to sound since he was a young child growing up in Algeria under the threat of bombing. 

Through his family’s travels and his years at a Scottish boarding school, Doug fell in love with the outdoors, and especially with wintery landscapes. 

He later transformed his deep curiosity about nature and skills in music and art into a prolific career. 

Since the early 1980s Doug has been making field recordings in every corner of the Earth, and putting them to use in work spanning all media. 

His extensive credits include designing sound for films such as Jurassic Park 3 and countless nature documentaries, collaborating with the Kronos Quartet, composing soundscapes for museums and art galleries, releasing albums, and contributing planetary ambiences to the score of the game Spore.   

This episode of Conversations touches on the natural world, Jurassic Park 3, animals, nature, silence, Antarctica, origin stories, Scotland, Algeria, birding, birdsong, war, bombing, resilience and family.