Category: Guest Lectures

Had a great talk this week off Helen and Claire. Helen is the Careers and Employability Advisor and Claire is the Student Enterprise Co-Ordinator. They spoke about working as a freelancer and how the university can help graduates start their own business. I’ve always wanted to be self employed, my parents did it and I always liked how they could be so flexible and always had a variation in what they do so this week was particularly useful for myself. They talked a lot about taxes, what you pay, when you pay and what you don’t have to pay. They also covered super useful stuff that I have no idea about like what to include on an invoice and how if you work freelance and part time that you will have to declare you work both.

Lucy talked about her experience working in film and TV as a sound editor and mixer. She covered topics about how to run a voice over session and how to and how to layout sessions to make it easier for whoever will be taking on the project after you’ve finished your work on it. Something that she mentioned that I found particularly interesting was how she made the move from one job to the next. She said that she made sure people knew she was capable at mixing by asking to help out on premixes and then gradually working from there to get jobs as a mixer.

She had some many useful bits and bobs to say that it would make an extremely long post so I’m just going to bullet point some of my favourite tips she mentioned.

• Use slow motion to help sync footsteps
• Remove middle sections of effects like rain and applause that naturally fade rather that fading the effect out.
• Use 3-4 different atmospheres for outdoor scenes to add variation
• Sort tracks into groups of 8 so it’s easier for anyone opening the project using hardware as most come in groups of 8 faders.
• Always be willing to learn
• Learn to say no to people (This is something I particularly need to do)
• Don’t be offended  if your sounds aren’t used, they’re all subjective.

 

This weeks talk was with Luke Pickering an assistant engineer at The Church Studios, London. A lot of what he said was about being in the right place at the right time but you have to put yourself in that situation for that to happen and not just hope to get lucky. He applied for work experience placements through a company called Miloco, they work with studios around the world to fill job positions and provide work experience. Luke said was to stop thinking of any audio industry as anything other than a service industry. Almost always a job in audio will be working for a client and catering to their needs and making sure they’re happy. They are trusting you with their money and so they expect a certain level of professional service. Luke said to always keep busy, whether that’s just cleaning up or making someone a cup of tea when they need it make sure you’re always doing something to help as employers will notice your attention to detail and how well you work with other people. Finally Luke really pushed that if you’re given am opportunity do everything you can to make it happen. Whether that means sleeping on someones floor or making a sacrifice in your personal life because you don’t know if you’ll ever be given another opportunity as good as the one that you’re given.

Had a great talk from Jez, a sound recordist and sound artist he came in to talk about his work and how he got started with his recordings. He does a lot of his work with contact and hydrophonic microphones. Although he has been at it for a long time he said that he still has no idea what sounds he’s going to get and that wind, temperature and time of day all affect the sounds he will capture. One thing that I really found useful was how long I should record for, usually on locations I will record for around a minute for wildtracks but for his recordings he was suggesting recording around 20-30 minutes at least. One, because any animals that were in the area being recorded are going to be disturbed by the mics and need to be given time to settle. And two because for the first few minutes our ears won’t really pick up these sounds when they’re being played back but once they are noticed it’s easy for us to heard patterns so looping them won’t be as natural and enjoyable. My favourite thing about the talk was his DIY approach, I’m all about winging it and hoping for the best. Since the talk I’ve gone out and bought my own bits and bobs to make a contact mic, it doesn’t work yet but I’m going to give it another bash and try some recordings with it. The first real sound I’m planning on recording is the sound of the springs inside my guitar.

Had a talk from sound editor Dean Humphreys. He had a lot of useful things to say about working in the industry some things we’re quite obvious other things were really quite surprising. A lot of what he talked about was how to get along with people, how to make the right connections and how to make sure you keep yourself working. Two of the most important things he mentioned was to practice good time management and to be a team player. He talked at length about how if you’re not early you’re late. For me I thought 15 mins early was fine but he said anything under around 45 minutes early was late because although you might start at 9am there are still a lot of things that need doing before you can start work at 9. Being Early shows you’re committed and passionate and that alone will make you stand out from some people. Dean kept coming back to being a team player and how if you’re not one you will not work in the industry for very long. When things are difficult don’t complain about being tired just carry on and keep working because everyone is going to be as tired as you are. Also compromising is important, although you might believe you are right and the other person is completely wrong, just go along with it at the end of the day they are paying you to do the work. If you do find that you are right, don’t gloat about it just carry on, there’s no point in riling someone up and making them dislike you when you don’t know how long you’re going to have to be working with that person. Winding people up, being rude and getting into arguments will quickly give you a bad name in the industry. One last thing on being a team player is be polite to everyone, from the receptionist to the director although they have very different jobs they both have their own networks and you never know where you’re next opportunity will come from.