Describe what you do and where you specialise?
I am a production sound mixer for drama and also a sound recordist which means I do documentary work and daytime TV.
Why did you choose to work in sound?
Sound inspired me from an early age. I realised then that you had to want to do what you were going to end up doing for the rest of your life. So I gravitated towards something that genuinely interested me. I used to listen to BBC sound Fx tapes and found that what really interested me was sound because it could be so much more creative, it gives you an idea in the same way that you get one with a book. With literature the writer gives the essence of an idea and the reader pictures things out in their mind. The same goes for sound in that you are not spoon-feeding your audience the entire idea by dictating 'this is how it must look and this is how exactly how everything must be'. You don't have the similar kind of auteuristic vision that you can put in but you give someone the ability to create ideas in their own head. Everyone can hear the same thing but can picture something different, perhaps even better, in their minds and to that end I think it is more involving for the listener.
I had a series of deciding factors over the years that made me want to pursue this as a career, listening to BBC sound Fx tapes in my young teens instead of music is obviously a big one. These conjured up images in my head and I suppose it developed from there. I noticed soundtracks improving in film and audio drama on the radio, in what they could do and this in turn cemented my ideas of what I wanted to go into.
How did you get to the position that you are at now?
As a production sound mixer, I can't really climb much higher than this other than to be well known and be particularly well respected. While it's a case of being here and in the right position, it's also a case of finding the right jobs and doing them to such an extent that it passes professional muster.
I was lucky in that my earlier qualifications, GCSEs etc, were very much geared towards working in the media. Even if from early on it was sound in the more general sense (perhaps more towards sound design and post production), I studied electronics and physics which even if not very in-depth at least gave me the right direction.
This gave me the confidence to deal with technical issues and is a grounding for what you finally do, because when you twiddle knobs on a daily basis you don't necessarily have to know what impedance or root mean, or what square voltage is, but sound is a comparatively technical department and some basics are a good idea. At college I did a BTEC in media studies and at University a degree in media production. As good as those courses are, they can only teach you so many principles and then you are in the outside world and have to work your way from there. I got into doing work experience by doing placements while I was on my courses, like working as a runner in post-production houses and gaining experience so I could concentrate on the sort of things that interested me. On leaving University I started working at a post-production sound facility called De Lane Lea as a runner when I was still considering going into sound design. I left there to work at a company called Colour Film Services working in their sound department where I did sound synching. This is where you marry up the location sound to the film rushes which is tedious but essential and gave me a lot of the grounding on how things fitted together. I also trained to be a Foley artist. However, Foley is a very specialised field but a bit limiting in how much work is actually available, it's very seasonal, so I went back to production sound, which was something I had always done through my college and University training and had more experience at. I prefer it because I got to be out and about and visit lots of different locations and lots of different countries which is something that, in post-production, you never get to do, it's pretty much all dark windowless rooms in Soho.
What are the biggest challenges to be found in your work?
In location sound the greatest challenge is finding somewhere quiet enough. Noise pollution is a problem and the world is a loud place these days. Planes are always a constant presence especially when you come to do things like period dramas where technological sounds become totally anachronistic. Unless you have gone to some very remote area you are always going to have something in the background, it's increasingly difficult because noise is constant no matter what time day or night. There is a background texture to the world which is distinct to now.
The challenge is to find something that works without having to use a studio, which of course looks like a studio not to mention sounds like one. Although the controlled environment of the studio might be ideal to a soundman, it is not really the real world that we are trying to capture.
In the long term, sound is different from every other department because you are expected to buy your own equipment. Camera and lighting departments don't have that concern because the equipment is too expensive; some cameras are not even sold they are so expensive you can only rent them. With sound you have to buy your own microphones, some for outdoors, some for studio, tie mics, plant mics, radio mics and an assorted tool bag to handle any situation. As a professional you are expected to have these, but buying new mics and gadgets can become quite addictive.
A sound recordist basic kit including a small location mixer, boom pole, rifle mic, assorted cables and a couple of radio mics will cost in the region of £16,000. Then there's expenditure on maintenance and of course insurance which you have to consider for worldwide travel. It is far more alluring to potential employees if you are a soundman with his own kit (you'll be cheaper for starters). Most soundmen will dry hire their kit as well as needing it themselves and of course you do still pad-out with extra hired kit as the job requires.
Do you feel that sound tends to be viewed as important or more of an afterthought on productions?
On British films they are much more conscientious about getting the live sound and not doing it all in post, whereas in America they are happy to just do it all in post replacing 40 - 60% easily as a post cost. In England we tend to concentrate on getting the performance from the actors, which is key, especially in things like comedy and you're unlikely to get that level of performance from a dry recording in the studio, doing the ADR months later when they have forgotten how they felt on the day.
Additionally, the acoustics never really quite match and you can always tell ADR even though it's getting better. There are of course times and places where it is absolutely necessary. If there are special fx and bangs sounding off, then you have no choice. For example in films like Saving Private Ryan , or if there is a blizzard and you have a huge hurricane fan going round then it is totally unavoidable - there is no choice but to use post-syncing.
Obviously some corners have to be cut, but sound is not generally an after-thought and necessity of picture over sound which is understandable. In America they seem a lot more willing to wave it, which is a shame.
Having worked in the industry for a fair while what kind of changes have you noticed?
Mainly technology, sound is a very tech based department compared to many others. Camera has changed relatively little in the past decade, one or two minor tweaks really, whereas sound is constantly changing. You don't have to know how to build things but you do have to know how and why things work in order to get the best out of the equipment. We went from analogue to digital and now we have multi-track hard drive systems which are increasingly more complex and give you many more options. However, you have to split your brain more than ever before. Whereas you did a mono mix or a stereo track, you're splitting a mix from one side of your brain to the other and listening to two separate things. You don't mix on location for the final production mix necessarily, but you record things in such a way that means that they can be dealt with in post which means recording individual threads of sound that can be blended together later. As the technology gets more complex then your job gets more harder because you have to leave them with more of those threads and monitor them all as you work. At the end of the day it is worth while because it means post has more salvageable elements, as opposed to having ADR forced upon them because one part of a mix wasn't quite right.
Is there anything you would have done differently to get to where you are?
I wouldn't have started working on short films. Short films are a good way to spread your wings in some respects, but they are a bad way of learning because you can fall into a lot of bad habits. There's often no budget and on the bulk of short films that get made there are very rarely experienced heads of department. There are people who are young, eager and willing to work for no money but they have not necessarily had the training, and there are not enough people on each department to pick anyone else up on what they may be getting wrong. So there's a big pitfall to short films in that they are often peopled with enthusiastic, intelligent, but not necessarily pointing in quite the right direction people.
It's good to do a little bit on a short, but don't make your nest there. Essentially you need to find experienced people and try to get some training under them. Do offer to work for free but not necessarily on short films. There's always space for an extra hand even if there isn't always the budget for it. They'd more often than not love to have you and people are always willing to tell you what they know. Everyone is willing to help anyone but you have to keep plugging away to get that 'oh yeah I got something coming up soon,' answer that you are looking for.
What advice would you give someone interested in getting to work in sound?
It's important that you really do want to do sound. It isn't a springboard into another department. If your CV starts to look like you are willing to do anything just to work in the media then that will eventually look quite bad and you'll find your CV goes to the side pile rather than the immediate choices pile. I get sent CVs from people and I can see they've done film, sound design, music mixing and now they're asking to be a boom op. It seems a bit vague and even if it is all sound then there are stark differences in working in each department. Obviously as you work in different departments you might decide one particular thing isn't for you, but be careful how you present yourself to people and that you are determined in the direction that you wish to go.
What are the skills or type of personality you need for this role?
You need to be determined. It's an attractive job with great opportunities. I am genuinely privileged and there is an allure to the job. People doing this job are enthusiastic and don't start turning up late. Everybody's on time, all the time. Anybody who starts being slack doesn't get hired again. In the freelance world you have to continue to be good, there are few long contracts really so with 70 - 80% of the industry being freelance you have to be consistently good with no sliding into a rut of not trying your very best. Its not like your work is going into a file somewhere, your work is going to be seen and inspected. If it doesn't hold up to the light of day then you won't do very well very quickly, so there is always that pressure. You have to start with and then maintain that enthusiasm. If you don't think you'll be able to maintain that consistency, then you should look elsewhere as to what you want to do as a career.
What do you like best and least about working in sound?
It can be very hard work with extremely long hours. You could work an 18 hour day which is something that very few jobs demand. The budgets are increasingly small and you are expected to work harder and harder. Sometimes you are standing around for hours in the rain and the freezing cold. Despite this though the pros really outweigh the cons; I get to be in different places all the time which is infinitely interesting. I've been from Telford to Timbuktu and seen things that that I'll never forget; variety is the key and aside from my own pleasure, I can be involved in things that really grab peoples attention.
Jonathan Wilkins
Julian's CV:
Sound Recording
Star Hyke - 6x30min Sci-fi series - LightWorx Media
L8r - 5x10mins schools series - BBC
Watchdog - Consumer series - BBC
Fallen Angels - Horror feature - Aviro Productions
White Bits - Short film - The Business
Foley
Love Honour & Obey - Brit gangster feature - BBC Films
Distant Shadow - Thriller Feature - Adrenalin Films
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