Find your next sonic adventure
Explore conversations about how music works, evolves and connects us.
Try typing a genre, a guest name, an instrument, or a keyword like “mbaqanga”, “washboard” or “field recording.”
Browse by interest
Sound Science · Music History · Music Theory · Origins & Oddities · Genre Tombola · Entertaining Noises
Follow a musical thread: Five notes, many musical worlds.
Episode 40 - Voice, Power and the Big Machine: Opera Special
Bass Barnaby Rea joins Steve backstage at the Royal Opera House to explore the unamplified operatic voice, La Scala, class, access and the enormous machinery behind opera.
Episode 31 - Earwax, Echoes and Entropy
From whale earwax to cosmic echoes, Steve explores how sound shapes life—from the sea bed to the stars.
Episode 30 - Music therapy, Swedish Standards and Clinical Improvisation
Edinburgh conversations on music therapy, Swedish standards and what clinical improvisation really sounds like in the room.
Episode 24 — Vocal Coaching, Twanging and Matters of Life and Death
Live with vocal coach Juliet Russell at ALSO Festival: twang, resonance, breath and the warm-ups that actually help. Plus a closing tribute to Nathaniel Dye and the making of his album, Matters of Life and Death.
Episode 23 — Ass-haling, Skateboard Zithers and Golden Audio
Breath jokes, throat sounds, skateboard zithers and a trip to Audio Gold in Crouch End — an episode about how we hear, not just what we play.
Episode 21 — Oud, microtones and underwater soundscapes
Live at Wilton’s with Hackney Colliery Band and harpist Valeria Clarke, plus a deep-dive with Syrian musician Nawar Alnaddaf into the oud, the ney and the emotional power of microtones — with a sea-soaked soundscape in between.
Episode 17 — Sound balancers, Bowie's favourite studio and Debussy
Inside Maida Vale with BBC sound balancer Martin Appleby, plus Debussy's Arabesques and an AI challenge — an episode about how recordings really work and where musical nuance still wins.
Episode 16 — Double bass, planetary resonance and jam
Exoplanet harmonies at Wilton’s and an in-depth session with bassist Charlie Pyne — an episode about resonance, low end and how the bass quietly runs the show.
Episode 10 — East Anglian cowpunk, trombone marathons, the 'i' word and reverb
Trombonist and ultrarunner Nathanial Dye on living loudly with stage four cancer, Steve's deep dive into reverb from Wilton's to the Natural History Museum, and an AI-boosted East Anglian cowpunk experiment.
Episode 7 — End of year space and slides special, with Chris Hadfield, Rosie Turton and 1201 Alarm
Moon-bound albums with 1201_Alarm, binaural trombone wizardry with Rosie Turton and Chris Hadfield on flutes, space guitars and why music always travels with us.
Episode 5 — Nordic creativity, grand pianos and AI emo
Northern Norway workshops, young players taking charge of their own music, a Fazioli grand piano up close with Birk, and a Genre Tombola deep dive into emo pop with LK Francis and AI-assisted angst.
Episode 4 — Harmonic remembrance, blues shouting and deathgrind taxonomy
Bugles in Abney Park, brass harmonics and Remembrance Sunday, binaural blues shouting with Nicole Cassandra Smit, and a gloriously over-detailed tour through deathgrind with Andrew O’Neill — plus Philip Larkin over blast beats.
Episode 3 — Pubs, flutes, township rhythms and tape delay
A hymn to pub gigs and grassroots venues, binaural baritone sax and flute experiments with Tamar Osborn, and Claude Deppa guiding a joyful, political dive into South African mbaqanga and township rhythms.
Episode 1 — Hearing music in new ways
Shells, bone flutes, Darwin mugs, a chaotic shed tour and a rant about what music theory really is — Episode 1 lays out the Origin of the Pieces mission to help you hear music in strange, deeper, more joyful ways.