Paul Cheese
The Music Hiding in Everyday Sounds.
Paul Cheese is a musician, music producer and sound artist based in Lamberhurst, Kent.
He can be found in front of his mixing desk working with top recording artists at the studio, on stage performing solo or with his band. Or on a bicycle carrying 45kg of recording equipment on the hunt for inspirational places to write and record music. He has written and recorded in locations around the world, from the tops of mountains, to deep underground, the Grand Canyon, to the Australian bush, ice caves to pill-boxes, old places, new places and even underwater.
When not at his studio or on stage, Paul works with individuals who have an acquired brain injury, implementing creative approaches aimed at fostering positivity and on developing cognitive function and creative music experiences.
His recording studio Relium X specialises in voice recording, with clients including the BBC, ITV, Channel Four, Leeds Castle, Harper Collins and Penguin Books.
Paul has cycled over 32,000 miles to locations around the world, recording sounds and creating music from the sounds he has collected. He will take you on a journey through sound, sharing his sonic discoveries and showing you how they all come together to create a piece of music.
Performance Title: The Music Hiding in Everyday Sounds.
Paul, we’re so excited to have you back at TEDxRoyal Tunbridge Wells. Can you tell us a little bit about your idea that changes everything?
Is there something sonically that links everything together? Over the years, I’ve cycled across the world, collecting thousands of sounds and creating music from them. And the more I listen, the more I realise that certain notes and tempos appear consistently across nature, industry, people, and places.
For example, stepping outside, I’ll hear a blackbird’s call, and it’s the same tempo as the sound of a tarpaulin blowing in the wind on the back of a truck. Or the low hum of a helicopter vibrating at the same frequency as the buzz of a bee.
In my talk, I want to share these sonic discoveries and show how, by pulling together 3500 to 4000 different sounds, you can create something new — a piece of music. It’s all about finding the connections in the rhythm and notes that surround us.
This time, I’ll also be incorporating the sounds of the newly refurbished Trinity Clock Tower into my performance. l will introduce my talk with the sounds and rhythms of the Trinity Clock Tower. It’s a really special moment for the town, with the clock tower re-opening after its renovation, and TEDxRoyal Tunbridge Wells also making its return after 5 years away.
I’m excited to be part of both of those returns.
What was the main motivation for coming back?
My first TEDxRoyal Tunbridge Wells was a definite moment in time. It changed the way I approached speaking and thinking. Since then, I have explored so many sonic possibilities, like:
What note do planes make when they fly into clouds?
What tempo do builders render walls at?
I’m really chuffed at the opportunity to come back and share some thoughts and ideas that could change people’s perspectives on the sound around them.
Possibly. Change. Everything.
How does your talk/performance fit in with our 2025 event theme “Next Steps”?
From creating music using real instruments, I started to introduce found sounds into the songs I created. The next steps were to create music, purely, from the found sounds collected in inspirational locations and on epic bike rides.
What is the one thing you want the audience to take away from your TEDx performance?
To inspire children and adults to listen to the world differently.
Whether it’s the hum of a helicopter, the tick-tock of a clock tower, or the resonance of nature, every sound can offer something new if we stop and listen. I hope that people come away from my talk understanding that there’s so much to hear and discover in the world around us, and that includes the sounds of history and change, like the reopening of the Trinity Clock Tower and the return of TEDxRoyal Tunbridge Wells after so long.
And lastly, what do you love most about Tunbridge Wells?
The Music, Art and Performance scene, there are so many great original artists, musicians and performers in the local area.
The music venue ‘The Tunbridge Wells Forum’ and ‘Trinity’ are the heart of the scene!
