Opening The Room – Radio Lear’s First Sound Assembly At The Arches

The first Radio Lear Sound Assembly brought a small group together at the Braunstone Gate Arches for an evening of listening, performance, recording and storytelling. The idea was simple: begin with the space, pay attention to what it offers, and let the activity develop from there.

The feedback after the workshop was positive. The gathering moved easily between focused recording, performance, conversation and the ordinary sociability of sharing a room.

A Space That Invites People In

Traci Howard has created a very welcoming space at the Arches. It does not feel like a neutral studio waiting to be filled. It already has a character of its own: tall timber doors opening onto uneven cobbles, whitewashed brick carrying the marks of earlier uses, exposed roof beams, hanging ropes and windows that soften the daylight.

Inside, bookshelves, plants, handmade objects, an easel and an orange sofa sit alongside worktables and recording equipment. Jars of materials share space with a copper kettle and mugs. Outside, the cobbled yard, stacked timber pallets and dense greenery make the threshold feel like part workshop, part garden and part informal meeting place.

The photographs capture that mixture well. People lean over a low table to examine materials, listen through headphones beside colourful artwork, and continue conversations over tea among the plants outside. Nothing is arranged like a conventional stage. The space encourages people to move, notice details and find their own way into the activity.

Performing The Building

Miffy Ryan was able to perform using the features of the space itself. Photographs from the activity show Miffy with a handheld recorder moving around the large timber doorway, its blue-and-white tiled lower edge and the cobbles immediately outside. At times the microphone is held close to a surface; at others, the performer steps back and listens to the wider threshold between the room and the yard.

This made the venue more than a backdrop. Timber, brick, tiles, gaps, edges and changes in acoustic perspective became part of the performance. Another participant worked indoors with headphones and a recorder, concentrating on smaller sounds among the furniture, artwork and rough materials of the room.

Paul Conneally brought a vintage police whistle, adding a sharply distinctive object and sound to the session. He also recorded some stories. The combination of whistle, spoken memory and environmental recording opened another route through the workshop: not only listening to what the building sounds like, but considering what kinds of experience and association can be carried into it.

From The Workshop To The Radio

The evening produced audio that Radio Lear will begin editing soon. The recordings will be shaped into a forthcoming broadcast, bringing together elements of the performances, the vintage whistle, the stories and the atmosphere of creative activity inside and around the Arches.

The aim is not simply to report that a workshop happened. Radio can hold the texture of the space: the movement between interior and yard, the closeness of a microphone to timber or brick, voices in conversation and the moments when somebody stops to listen.

The first Sound Assembly demonstrated what can happen when a welcoming room, a loose structure and a group of attentive people are brought together. Traci’s space supported a relaxed atmosphere in which performance, recording and conversation could remain open to one another.

We will share details of the Radio Lear broadcast when the edit is ready.

Listen first. Make something. Leave a trace on the radio.