From 1998 to 2017, the BBC radio features producer Piers Plowright traditionally gave the opening talk at the biennial School of Sound international festivals celebrating the world of audio in its many forms. Seán Street shares extracts from these talks, as well as from Plowright’s radio oeuvre, and some personal recollections of their friendship. Found sound, music, the human voice, and - underlying everything - the silence of creative possibility: these were just some of the working tools of Piers Plowright. This will be an opportunity to revisit them, through the ears and voice of Plowright himself.

With over 50 years experience as a location sound recordist in documentary and features, Ray Beckett is best known for his work with Ken Loach, Kathryn Bigelow and Merchant Ivory. His aim in this session is to stress the importance to communicate the need for sound to be included in production planning from the earliest stages as an important part of the final viewer experience and not just as an 'addendum' to the image.