The Dunwich Dynamo

CAPTURING A JOURNEY FROM LONDON TO THE SUFFOLK COAST

Client: BBC Radio 3 / BBC Sounds

Brief: Experience a night-time journey from central London to the Suffolk coast on a bicycle in this episode of Slow Radio for BBC Radio 3.

Tandem process: Team Tandem cycled 120 miles from a bustling pub in Hackney to Dunwich beach, capturing the sounds as they went via a specially devised on the bike recording rig to create a mesmerising sonic journey.

Project

Every July on the Saturday closest to the full moon, thousands of cyclists ride overnight from central London to the Suffolk coast. It’s a journey like no other: setting off in the late evening from a bustling pub in Hackney, they cycle through the night and arrive as dawn breaks on Dunwich beach - a distance of around 120 miles.

Many of the Tandem team are keen cyclists (the name isn’t just about how we like to work with our clients) so this opportunity to create a relaxing and immersive soundscape on board our bikes was irresistible. It also allowed us to challenge ourselves technically and figure out creative ways to record whilst on board our bikes. Not an easy thing to do given the sensitivities of microphones to vibrations and wind noise. 

We created our own recording rig to capture the audio and then we set to work on the post-production as we wove together sounds including the mesmeric ticking of a freewheel, nocturnal wildlife, the dawn chorus, groups of riders swooshing past and the roar of the North Sea.

The resulting podcast is available on BBC Sounds and exemplifies how Tandem can devise creative solutions to ensure unique audio productions to the highest standards.