Deep Listening in Whitehawk: Young Sound Designers Help Shape the Sound of Victoria Melody’s New Project

It’s a balmy Monday evening in Whitehawk, and The Crew Club is as lively as ever – young people dropping in for sports, dance or music sessions, or just to hang out with their mates. Meanwhile in the Training Room, a group of local teenagers huddle around portable recorders, microphones and headphones, getting ready to head out and capture the sounds of their surroundings for a new stage production. 

Overseeing this audio adventure is Simon James, a sound artist and former Whitehawk resident, who’s working with the young crew to build the soundscape for Trouble Struggle Bubble and Squeak, a new theatre production by Victoria Melody, directed by the legendary Mark Thomas. Proudly supported by East Brighton Trust, Victoria’s new project is a time-hopping celebration of everyday heroes – past and present – blending real stories and radical history in a fierce, funny tribute to grassroots power in Whitehawk. A work-in-progress version of the production will be showcased at Brighton Fringe this month under its original title ‘Re-Enactment.’ 

“Welcome the chaos” 

While guiding the young people to gather good material, Simon also offers them a new way to think about creativity, place and ownership. 

“My role is really as the lead sound artist for the project,” he explains. “I’ve been working with the young people to gather sounds from around Whitehawk Football Club and tonight we’ll be recording in the nature reserve – on the banks and hills of the valley.” 

As for the vibe in the workshops? Let’s just say they’re not exactly formal. “There’s always a bit of chaos!” Simon laughs. “Listening requires quiet, but understandably, young people don’t always want to be quiet – they’ve spent all day at school being talked at. So I’ve learned to embrace that. I have a phrase: welcome the chaos.” 

And that chaos brings real results. On the evening in question, with generous helpings of pizza powering them on, the group head into the nature reserve on a sonic scavenger hunt to capture five distinct sounds. Isabel and Tassia, out exploring with mics in hand, burst into laughter as they manage to record a pair of bees ‘mid-copulation’ (!). Later, the same curiosity leads them to collect sticks, fossilised bones, shells and leaves – items they can later use to create extra textures indoors by snapping or rubbing them together. 

Hearing the landscape 

For Simon, capturing the sound of Whitehawk goes well beyond the obvious. “It takes a certain amount of quiet, of reflection – what is known as deep listening. Most of us don’t do that very often… But to really connect with a place, you need to listen more intentionally.” 

He talks about how everyday sounds – birds calling, shoes on gravel, hedges shifting in the breeze – begin to build a sort of sonic fingerprint. “Beyond the surface of what you hear, it’s about what those sounds can communicate about an area – its rhythms, its life.” 

And the budding young sound artists are definitely tuning in. Tassia says: “It’s fun and adventurous – we all come together, but still do our own thing. I’ve learned a lot being part of it.” For Isabel, it’s also been a social win: “I’ve made some really good friends through this. We’ve had a laugh, and recording sounds together has just been fun.” Harry, who brings a thoughtful focus to the session and clearly relishes the process, says: “I love using the equipment and getting outside – it’s a different way to learn. When I hear the final piece, I feel proud. It makes me happy.” 

“That’s my sound!” 

For Simon, some of the most joyful elements in the whole process can come later – when the young people hear their own recordings in the final piece, live on stage. 

He recalls a favourite moment from a previous project, Neolithic Cannibals: “Tassia had recorded the sound of a Henry Hoover. While she was recording, she was shouting things like, ‘Henry Hoover!’ and ‘Spin it!’ I used her whole recording, voice and all… There’s this moment in the piece where everything drops out and her voice comes in – ‘The Henry Hoover!’ – and her face just lit up. Everyone’s did. It was beautiful. There’s something powerful about young people being heard – literally.” 

Listening as activism 

For Victoria Melody, the show’s creator and performer, the sound recordings are more than just background texture. “They’re really important”, says Victoria.” It’s just me on stage, trying to paint a picture of a place, and that takes a lot of imagination from the audience. The recordings help bring that picture to life… And the fact that these sounds are being recorded by young people who actually live here gives it so much more meaning.” 

She also sees the practice as something a bit more radical. “We live in a world that’s so hectic – we’re always chasing dopamine, glued to our phones. This project is the opposite of that. It’s about sitting quietly, listening to grass blow in the wind for ten minutes.” 

From Whitehawk to sound stages 

Simon, who first discovered sound design thanks to the encouragement of a teacher who kindly lent him some expensive synth and recording equipment, sees the workshops as a way of returning the favour. “When you’re a kid from a place like Whitehawk, that kind of trust from an adult is powerful. That’s why I care so much about working with young people here now.” 

He’s also eager to change the face of his industry. “One of my frustrations in the world of sound art is that I rarely meet people from backgrounds like mine. I want more kids from places like Whitehawk to believe they can be sound artists.” 

Victoria agrees. “Some of them are even thinking about careers in music and sound now. And that’s what sticks with you – at school, it’s often not your regular teachers who inspire you most, it’s the visiting artists, the fresh energy.” 

Noticing the unnoticed 

Simon’s favourite moments are often small, quiet ones – those subtle shifts in attention that prove something’s clicked. “I love when a young person comes back to the next session and says, ‘I heard this weird sound on the way home’ or ‘I noticed something I’d never heard before.’ That happens all the time.”  

“It’s like a switch flips, and suddenly they’re tuned into a world that was always there but unnoticed… And beyond that, I’m always encouraging them to be as weird as they want. Be bold, be strange. That’s where the magic is – and it’s something AI can’t replicate.” 

A legacy of listening 

As Simon puts it: “It’s rare for an artist who grew up here to be the one leading these projects… I don’t live here anymore, but I know the area deeply. There’s a quicker route to connection and trust because of that.” 

And maybe that’s the real sound running beneath it all: a rhythm of trust, play, and pride – echoing out from the hills, the football pitch, the Crew Club, and soon from stages across the UK. Trouble Struggle Bubble and Squeak will be heading to the Edinburgh Festival and Latitude, ahead of its official premiere at the 500-seat Corn Exchange, commissioned by Brighton Dome, in October 2025. After that, it’s set to tour nationally – taking the voices and stories of Whitehawk to audiences far beyond the valley.  

As part of Brighton Fringe, Victoria Melody presents Re-Enactment (Work In Progress) on May 8th at WundaBarn at The SpiegelGardens, starting 7.00pm. Tickets are available here 

Commissioned by Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival with financial support from East Brighton Trust, Creative Crawley as part of Creative Playground, Keep It Fringe and The Spring. Developed with Crew Club, East Brighton Food Co-op, Friends of Whitehawk Hill, The English Civil War Society and Woolly Umbrella.