Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

The Listeners: creating the soundworld of the groundbreaking drama

13/01/2025

Sound designer Steve Fanagan tells David Davies how the soundscape behind the recent BBC One series, The Listeners, was created

By Contributor

Published: January 10, 2025 Updated: January 13, 2025

Sound designer Steve Fanagan tells David Davies how the soundscape behind the recent BBC One series, The Listeners, was created

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>

There have been many instances of innovative TV sound design in recent years, but it's hard to imagine there will be another series where it's more fundamental to every facet of the story and production than is the case with The Listeners. Broadcast on BBC One at the end of last year and available on iPlayer until November 2025, the four-part drama combines field recordings, vivid audio processing, a haunting new score from Devont Hynes, and existing music from seminal artists including Nick Drake and Richard and Linda Thompson to frequently astonishing effect.

Adapted by Jordan Tannahill from his own acclaimed 2021 novel, but with the action transferred from the US to the UK, The Listeners begins with English teacher Claire - played by Rebecca Hall - becoming acutely aware of a continuous humming noise that is apparently only heard by a relatively small number of people. What follows is a brilliantly unusual and affecting drama from director Janicza Bravo that variously evokes classic psychological thrillers, folk-horror, and even 1970s public information films like The Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water.

Steve Fanagan, sound designer, The Listeners, image courtesy BBC Sound designer for the series is Steve Fanagan, whose credits in this role - and/or as a supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer - include Normal People, Swan Song and An Cail n Ci in/The Quiet Girl. It was wonderful to get to work on something that is as subjective and crafted as The Listeners, he says. I think Janicza is an incredible, visionary director, and that's apparent in all of her work. She's a very detailed person so there's nothing that isn't thought about, and that idea of meticulousness has translated to the sound work, where I hope that the sound feels deliberate and all the choices are about pushing the story forward. It's not sound for sound's sake, but instead something that's built into the narrative and is justified by the story unfolding on the screen.

Finessing The Hum' Inevitably, determining the noise as it appears to Claire was a high priority for the sound design. Research into the real-world phenomenon known as The Hum played a part, but with reports of frequency ranges differing around the world, as well as theories about its causes, there was always going to be a significant creative aspect here. So the starting point was a conversation with Janicza about what sort of sound this might be, how the character might be experiencing it, and the ways in which it could be used not only to represent the idea of a sound Claire is hearing or experiencing but also how it might evolve and change depending on where she is on her journey in the story.

So as might be expected, the initial awareness of the sound feels huge - very distracting and grating, and affecting Claire's ability to concentrate. It begins to affect her home life so that had to be reflected in a certain way sonically, but as the series progresses and she finds out that one of her students, Kyle [played by Ollie West], can also hear it, you have the first point where she begins to feel some relief - and so the hum becomes something that's a little more harmonised.

Ollie West and Rebecca Hall in The Listeners. Image courtesy BBC As the story twists and turns, so does the hum and its position in the overall soundworld. For the actual filming, Fanagan provided a collection of sounds that could be used on set as a reference point to help [the relevant actors] become distracted in the moment . Then, during post, the form of the noise continued to mutate with different treatments and processing - reflecting a wider ethos of perpetual revision to the series as it neared finalisation.

We were always working across the four episodes in post, confirms Fanagan. So if there was something we discovered in episode four that we were enjoying and thought was working, we might figure out a version of it that could be planted as a little seed in an earlier episode. And that helped it evolved into this much bigger, kind of transcendental sound.

Built into the script But as the first few minutes of the opening episode indicate - when Richard and Linda Thompson's glorious I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight bursts onto the soundtrack, and Claire and her daughter begin to sing along with it - music is also integral to the sound of The Listeners. Along with other existing tracks by artists including Nick Drake and This Mortal Coil, there is an innovative original score by Devont Hynes, who has also recorded prolifically under the names Blood Orange and Lightspeed Champion.

With a lot of the existing music - such as the Nick Drake track [Fly] we hear as the original recording and then played by [Ollie West], who learned how to perform it for the series - it was very much built into the DNA of the writing and the shooting, which was really useful, says Fanagan.

Then, with the original score, Janicza and the producers were very keen for me to be involved in the conversations with Dev, so that if he was asking about things that we might be experimenting with from a sound design point of view I could let him know what we were working on, and if he had concerns about frequencies I was hitting that he needed to hit - or vice versa - we could talk about all of those things. This was really useful because the sound design was always evolving with the picture. Sometimes you want it to not be obv
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/audio/the-listeners-creating-the-soundworld-...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

09/04/2026

BIA Increases 2026 Local Ad Forecast to $184.5 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Yospace surpasses 10 billion ads stitched in a single mon...

Yospace exceeded 10 billion dynamically stitched ads in a single month, reaching 11.6 billion as ad-supported streaming surged. Driven by a packed global sports...

09/04/2026

Bitmovin Expands Live Encoding and Observability Solution...

Bitmovin has expanded its Live Encoding and Observability solutions to provide true end to end, real time insights across live streaming workflows, from encodin...

09/04/2026

Leyra Powers the Launch of Icelandic Broadcaster RUVs Str...

Leyra has announced the launch of Icelandic public broadcaster R V's streaming service on Samsung and LG Smart TVs. R V is the first public broadcaster to d...

09/04/2026

3Play Media Launches AI Dubbing Solution for YouTube Crea...

3Play Media, a global leader in video accessibility and localization, today announced an AI Dubbing solution purpose-built for YouTube creators. The company, wh...

09/04/2026

Big Blue Marble Recognized as AWS Managed Services Provid...

Big Blue Marble, a provider of broadcast-grade, cloud-native video solutions, has been recognized as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managed Services Provider (MSP...

09/04/2026

PDC Cleeng and Urban Zoo partner to launch new global str...

The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) has officially launched its revamped global streaming service, PDC TV, in collaboration with Cleeng and sports technolo...

09/04/2026

Cleeng launches industry first cross-platform AI agents t...

Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) pioneer, today announced a raft of new AI agents for its AI Assistant to accelerate decision-making and autom...

09/04/2026

Hearst Taps Merzigo to Expand Presence on YouTube, Facebook

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Fox Jumps Into Prediction Markets with Kalshi Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

NAB Show: Kokusai Denki To Feature New, Affordable 4K Broadcast Camera

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Corus Taps Appear for IP-First Operations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insights: Big Blue Marble

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

FCC Extends Audible Crawl Rule Waiver for 18 Months

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Pliant Technologies Showcases Expanded Accessories at NAB...

New Charging, Connectivity, and Mounting Solutions Now Available LAS VEGAS, APRIL 8, 2026 Pliant Technologies will highlight a range of new accessories at th...

09/04/2026

Media Links Brings Ultra Resilient IP Transport Proven at...

As live production continues its shift to IP, the challenge is no longer adoption it's reliability. At NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2033), Media Links will demon...

09/04/2026

QuickLink Launches StudioPro Town Hall at 2026 NAB Show

QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, launches its new AI-powered add-on for its StudioPro p...

09/04/2026

The Hive Group Releases White Paper on the FCC Upper C-Ba...

The Hive Group has published a new white paper, No Safe Harbor: Why the FCC's Upper C-Band Auction Demands Early Action from Broadcasters ahead of NAB Sho...

09/04/2026

Saranyu Technologies Renews VisualOn Optimizer VoD Subscr...

Saranyu Technologies today announced the renewal of its Optimizer VoD subscription with VisualOn. The announcement coincides with NAB Show 2026, taking place Ap...

09/04/2026

Time for some fresh air: Tracks & Trails is back

Doireann N Ghlac in returns as presenter, with the first episode airing this Friday at 8.30pm on RT One and RT Player The beloved walking series Tracks & T...

09/04/2026

Strength and Destiny Collide: Samson: A Tyndalston Story' Arrives in the Cloud

A timeless story of grit, faith and rebellion takes center stage as Samson: A Ty...

09/04/2026

April 08, 2026

New technique for synthesizing branched molecules could accelerate the development of future medicines Scripps Research chemists solve a longstanding problem in...

08/04/2026

SVG College Sports Media Awards 2026: Entry Deadline is Monday, April 13

The deadline to enter the 18th Annual SVG College Sports Media Awards in association with NACDA is rapidly approaching! Submit your entries to this year's c...

08/04/2026

SVG Campus Shot Callers: Trever Sheets, Senior Director, ACC Network, Virginia Tech

The Pittsburgh product helps lead more than 100 annual ESPN broadcasts as part o...

08/04/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Harmonic's Jean Macher on Turning Live Sports Content Into a Smarter Monetization Engine

Dynamic ad insertion, AI-based technologies, programmatic advertising are some o...

08/04/2026

Announcing the 2026 Fellows for the Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency on Sundance Collab

Seven Fellows Selected for Second Year of Residency in Honor of Social Justice L...

08/04/2026

From Tokyo to the World: Watch Bad Bunny's Billions Club Live Concert on Spotify

On March 7, Bad Bunny made history with his first-ever performance in Asia, taki...

08/04/2026

De Tokio para el mundo: Mira el concierto Billions Club Live de Bad Bunny en Spotify

El 7 de marzo, Bad Bunny hizo historia con su primera presentaci n en Asia, subi...

08/04/2026

Tube Lab from Fuse Audio Labs

New channel strip plug-in revealed The latest plug-in to be added to the Fuse Audio Labs line-up emulates a selection of vintage hardware units, combining c...

08/04/2026

Blue Cat Audio release Axiom 2.3

Guitar & bass multi-effects software overhauled Blue Cat Audio's flagship guitar and bass multi-effects software has recently received a significant upd...

08/04/2026

Merging Technologies launch Pyramix 16

PanNoir mixer integration, Dolby Atmos Renderer & more Merging Technologies have just launched Pyramix 16, the latest major update to their renowned DAW sof...

08/04/2026

Updating QUARTZ Router Module Firmware Over-The-Air

Applicable Products Part number Description QUARTZ-22-LTE (EU) Dual Port Dual SIM LTE Router (EU) QUARTZ-COMPACT-11-LTE (EU) Single Port Compact LTE ...

08/04/2026

YEP September 2025 Newsletter (2)

The September 19, 2025 YEP Newsletter highlights a group visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where participants explored exhibits showcasing the art...

08/04/2026

Proven On Orbit: L3Harris Congratulates Missile Defense Agency for Receiving Top Defense Honor for HBTSS

The L3Harris HBTSS satellite is proven on orbit, successfully demonstrating trac...

08/04/2026

From Earth to Mars: Resilient Communications Powering the Space Economy

Image Credit: NASA. Artist rendering of a space communications satellite in orbit, representative of the resilient, multiband infrastructure supporting mission ...

08/04/2026

Precision in Practice: Flight Test Confirms Key Air-to-Air Capabilities

Latest evaluation validates image quality, Inertial Navigation System performance and long-range tracking in operational flight conditions....

08/04/2026

Gen Alpha Leads Shift to AI-Powered Entertainment Search, Discovery and Recommendations

New Gracenote study finds behavioral change well underway, but trust in AI-gener...

08/04/2026

Media Links to Focus on IP Transport Solutions at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/04/2026

Telestream and Mimir Integration Facilitates Real-Time Pr...

Integration eliminates ingest bottlenecks by ensuring content is immediately usable across cloud and hybrid editorial workflows. See it at NAB 2026. Nevada Cit...

08/04/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia Bringing...

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the commercial availability of Dalia, its media-aware, agentic AI...

08/04/2026

Synamedia unveils Senza Ignite to transform deployed devi...

Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced Senza Ignite, a cloud-based platform that transforms existing connected devices through a single firmw...

08/04/2026

Appear works with Corus to transform national news contri...

Modernised architecture increases operational control and agility, while reducing cost and simplifying nationwide media transport across affiliates and news bur...

08/04/2026

LynTec to Showcase High Density Power Control Solutions f...

Company to Feature DMX Dual Relay, High-Density 48-Channel Relay Panels, and New Private Label Power Program LynTec, a leading manufacturer of innovative ele...

08/04/2026

BCE integrates BCNEXXT Vipe to power cloud playout in Med...

Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), a European media technology and services partner, today announces a technology partnership with BCNEXXT, a Netherlands-based c...