This year I had an interest in discovering and learning first hand about the role of sound in studio productions. Sound is an area I didn't really explore during my first year of university but as my experience of editing has progressed I have realised the importance of recording good, clear sound whilst the camera is rolling.
I was given the role of sound assistant for the filming of Middlesex Now in November 2013, which was a magazine show involving various elements relevant to students of Middlesex University, with a live band playing the theme tune and in between sections of the show. I began with a tutorial with Barry which took me through all the basics of studio sounds and which was very insightful.
My role included setting up the presenters and guests with radio mics, testing the mics on the person to see if sound levels were good in the sound room and keeping tabs on battery life. My role also included sorting out foldback for the presenters through the use of ear pieces as well as micing up the band, and arranging foldback for the members through use of on stage amplifiers. As the band were a three piece, non-vocal group there was no need for a vocals mic, however mics on the drum kit, bass guitar and keyboard were set up and checked. I also set up an audience mic as the director wanted to hear the sound of clapping in between sections of the show.
Through my experience as sound assistant I wanted an opportunity to be sound engineer so as to explore further sound in a studio environment. This opportunity came on the February production, Quote That, a comedy quiz panel show. Two episodes were filmed on two consecutive Thursdays and I feel it is important to reflect on each separately as they each came with their own trials and tribulations.
For the first show 7 radio mics were required for the host and guests, and an audience mic was needed for the sound of clapping at appropriate moments. We also had two channels of VT Sound. As sound engineer I took the sensible decision to group team 1 (radio mics 1-3) and team 2 (radio mics 5-7) together so each could be controlled as a whole and only be turned on when relevant. I left the hosts' mic and the audience mic separate as these needed to be operated on their own, but I grouped the VT sound channels together so as to operate these together. I felt this set up worked well however due to my inexperience on the sound board, unfortunately the final sound on the record was a little low in volume. I feel I learned from the experience of being sound engineer as a whole and this aided me the following week.
Unfortunately, when arriving to set up for show two of Quote That, Barry was off sick and so unable to help the sound team. Being head of sound, and with my past experience, I took on the responsibility of trying to set up the elements I knew how to. I managed to get the radio mics and audience mic working with the help of Erim and the assistants however there was a struggle to get VT sound working. I moved on to trying to sort out the sound for the sting which was a new element for this show. The sound needed to be played from a laptop and connected to the sound board to play on one of the channels. As the cable wasn't long enough to reach the laptop to simply allow it to be put on a channel at the end of all the already assigned channels, the sting was assigned to channel 1 and I moved all the wiring so that the other sound elements were all moved up a channel. Danny helped set up the VT sound a little later and we tested this worked before he left.
I then set about testing the radio mic sounds and adjusting the gain and volume levels with the help of the sound assistants. We then tested the audience mic by getting the audience to do a sample round of applause and tested and adjusted the gain and volume levels of the sting to check it was at a good level both in the studio and on the sound board.
I ran into difficulties 5 minutes before the record as I had left the sound room for a couple of minutes and in this time the volume levels of the channels had all been turned down and the gain levels been reset to their original state. I'm not sure how this happened as according to the sound assistants no-one had been in the room and when the director announced we were recording without checking I was ready I had to reset the channels as the show was recording. I found this highly stressful and although I had feedback the sound was fine on the record I feel it would have been better with the settings I had previously had. Another mistake was that the sound assistants forgot to check the radio mic batteries before the record and so unfortunately one of the guests mics ran out of battery during the show. We quickly changed the mic to our spare mic on channel 9 however this could have easily been avoided.
I feel my experience of sound assistant in the first show helped me to direct my team as head of sound on the second and third shows and I feel I completed both roles to the best of my ability. In conclusion, sound roles have been the most interesting and complicated studio roles I have undertaken and I feel I would like to carry on gaining more experience in this area to improve my sound skills.
