Category: Guest Lectures

 

Monday 21st November

Helen McCarron and Claire Butler

Today was the turn of Helen McCarron and Claire Butler to lead our guest lecture, which was focused towards Freelance and Self-employment.

Helen began the talk by informing us that according to the Creative Skill Set Website: 67% of audio, sound and music workers are freelance, while 30% of last year’s Audio Production graduates also went freelance. This highlighted the likelihood of freelance work, and how vital it is that I improve my knowledge into this career opportunity.

After this, Helen and Claire conducted a 10-question quiz to test our knowledge on everything freelance and self-employment-based. Questions varied from how many BECTU advise a sound freelancer working in film should be paid daily, to when and how many times a year tax is due, to what sort of expenses can be claimed back through business work. On the quiz I scored a mere 5/10, suggesting that I definitely need to enhance my knowledge! Claire took us through the answers at the end of the quiz and explained the questions in more detail.

Succeeding this, Helen gave us useful resources in similar areas, such as BECTU’s YouTube tutorial, “Accountancy Q+A”, while Claire lists the many pros and cons of freelance work. Interestingly, Helen and Claire suggested freelance work was a great opportunity to follow post-graduation, in order to build up experience and portfolio work before heading to an interview with a client. This way, you have more to offer the client as they can see the skills and experience you have earned. This directly challenges what Lucy Johnstone suggested in the first guest lecture, when she stated that starting lower down in a company could be a better way to go, in order to get your foot in the door, before working your way up the ladder in a company, which would in turn provide more experience and work for your portfolio. From this, I have taken the notion that it is possible to go either route I prefer, as they both have their pros and cons and have been argued as equal routes to take, it is more up to which way I would prefer to go.

Finally, Claire informed us about a £2 500 grant students can receive when graduating from university. The scheme was created in order to help fund start-up businesses in buying equipment, office space, etc… and is eligible to anyone on the Audio Production course, limited to 30 places. Students must undertake a series of masterclasses which Claire outlined. It is not essential to attend all, but it would be most useful. Then students must pitch their business ideas for why they believe they should be given the grant, and the panel will decide if one is successful or not.

I found this lecture incredibly useful, as demonstrated I do not have great knowledge in the area of freelance and self-employment. Even though it was only an introductory lecture to this topic, it was very informative and also detailed the many other student workshop masterclasses and resources we can go and find in order to enhance our knowledge. Freelance work is definitely a possibility I must consider as I am looking for location sound or post-production work, and this seems to be a very popular and successful route than many graduates and experts in the industry follow. For example, even though Lucy started at a company, she now does work freelance. This implies to me that within this industry there is a high possibility of working freelance at any time, whether that be at the start, in the middle, or at the end of your media career.

Monday 7th November

Lol Hammond

Today’s guest lecture was taken by Lol Hammond, a Film Music Supervisor currently working at Vertigo Films.

The lecture was informative for me, as I have previously worked on films which have required sourcing music tracks. However, for Perils of Patricide, my role was Foley and SFX based, and for our upcoming project, Cognition, the director has chosen to find an external composer. Perhaps in Semester B, depending on what I am working on, I will aim to improve my skills working with music in film.

Lol explained the responsibilities of a Music Supervisor, which includes sourcing all of the music for a film, as well as suggesting 5 composers for the director to use in the film. He illustrated how a Music Supervisor works in between the composer and director, and how managing people is a key skill to have in this business. The two main skills Lol put forward as the most important were being able to meet the demands of strict deadlines, and not being too precious with you work. Lol used to be in bands and DJ, and often composes his own works for film. However, if the director is not a fan of the piece, Lol explained how it is best to not be too precious and become offended, but to understand why the piece didn’t work in that particular instance.

After this, Lol took us through the motions of requiring a track. initially, he would ask the record company for the track and then publisher later if necessary. Commonly, both the record company and publisher want the same fee, which is created by Lol from the budget and is dependent on the artist. He explained how Prince does not like to use his songs in film, whilst Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Beatles are mighty expensive. Furthermore, Lol told us a story during one of his films, when a Coldplay song was requested. At first, Coldplay stated £500 000 as the fee for the track. However, once the band got to know the film and the people who made it, both of which they thoroughly liked, they offered the song to the film makers for a mere 1% of initial asking price – £5000. Usually with these tracks, the Music Supervisor does not have the ability to edit or chop up the track, but must use it as it comes. Similarly, telling a composer to go away and change a track multiple times can make them fed up of the project, or again, hurt their ego, so one must be careful when dealing with this issue. Finally, Lol informed us that music used for the opening or closing titles, or the film’s trailer, will cost double than music used elsewhere in the film.

Overall I thought this lecture was very enlightening and definitely made me want to improve my skills when working with music in film, a role that I shall take on in future projects.

 

Monday 24th October 

Luke Pickering

This week’s guest lecture was presented by Luke Pickering, a former University of Lincoln (BA Hons) Audio Production student, who graduated in 2012. The session was very insightful, as Luke knew with first-hand experience what students want to get out of these sessions.

Luke began by explaining his own experiences when it came to leaving university and entering the real-world for the first time. He justified and encouraged us to not get stuck in a 9-5 while looking for media work, or else we may never get out. Luke himself did a lot of volunteer work in London, working freelance and for Sync music companies. However, in 2015 while being hired by Miloco (recording studio company) he was in the right place at the right time to help out at Church Studios, where he now works on salary.

After taking us through a virtual tour of Church Studios, and informing us of the real roles of a studio assistant, assistant engineer and engineer itself, Luke gave us some do’s and don’ts, as well as what to expect in recording studios. Although this isn’t as relevant to someone focusing on Location Sound and Post- for Film and TV, the tips given were universally applicable across the media industry.

The Do’s included researching the job thoroughly, applying for the job listed not the job you want in the future, taking time with layout, appearance and grammar with CVs and cover letters, appearing flexible, curios and keen, and following up the application afterwards. Even if you don’t get the job, it’s useful to know why and how to improve for the next application.

The Don’ts were equally as illuminating: Don’t say you are a producer (or professional in which ever field) – you have just graduated from university. This would likely insult an expert who has been in the industry for 30 years doing it for real. Don’t get spelling and grammar wrong on the application, write more than one page, talk about yourself too much, or create work for the person reading the application as they are most likely a very busy person who does not have the time to research you/your work/read a long application. Finally, don’t profess how amazing you are at ProTools, but instead when the opportunity comes demonstrate your skills and impress your employer.

After this, Luke suggested the skills that are worth listing when applying for a job. These included computer skills, social media skills, organizational skills, DAWs you are familiar with, first aid training and experience dealing with clients. But above all else, expect to make LOTS of tea when on work experience. It is likely that when we leave university we may become runners or assistants, so being able to make a good cup of tea is actually very important, it could open up a conversation that could lead anywhere, for example. This is a similar argument Lucy Johnstone made in her lecture, displaying the reality of life after university.

Finally, Luke ended the session with some tips on how to act when getting a placement: Don’t be late, be prepared to do little or a vast amount, be wary of clients – they are there for the studio not you, don’t create any additional work for anyone, use initiative and stay busy, stay as long as possible, find your place in the team, build contacts and most importantly: don’t leave until you have set up another placement for more work experience – the more you have the better.

Overall, this lecture was significantly beneficial and thoroughly enjoyable. Being a graduate himself, Luke knew how useful it was to give us an insight into the real world. The Do’s and Don’ts, useful skills and placement advice was exactly what we needed to hear from someone who has just started to consolidate himself in the industry. Also, the lecture shared similar themes with Lucy’s, suggesting how we would inevitably find ourselves lower down the chain, having to work our way up by being reliable, helpful, impressive when opportunity knocks, and by making a great cup of tea!

 

Monday 17th October

Jez Riley French

Today, we had our second guest lecture of the semester, led by Jez Riley French. Jez is primarily a Field Recorder, who has more recently been working on the recordings of large surfaces and structures, such as buildings and bridges, as well as spaces. To take a look at Jez’s personal bio, cv and previous work, follow this link to his website, or follow his Twitter and SoundCloud, where he uploads many of his works.

Jez began the lecture by talking about contact mics, what they are, how he uses them, and that he creates his own and sells them on his website. He demonstrated the use of contacts mics with his first piece, Teleferica, where he had connected contact mics along a piece of tensioned cable in Italy. The contact mics would then record the sound of insects, leaves and the wind interacting with the cable. I found this piece very interesting, as Jez explained that Dr Alan Lamb had discovered a similar sound when recording an abandoned stretch of telegraph wire. This was particularly interesting because Lamb was contacted by the sound designers working on Star Wars no less, who wanted to use this sound for the laser blasters in the original film. I have embedded Jez’s piece below to illustrate the sound of the laser blasters:

After this, Jez continued by demonstrating his use of hydrophones and coils through other pieces of his work. In one piece, Dissolves, Jez attached hydrophones to the inside of a beaker, filled with slightly acidic water and recorded the sound of dolomites dissolving into this substance, which strangely sounded similar to birdsong. Furthermore, Jez illustrated how he uses geophones, which do not typically record sound, to create sound pieces. He played us an example of what the Earth turning on its axis sounds like, and followed this clip by questioning whether humans could ever perceive infrasound (infra-: sounds below our frequency threshold, ultra: sounds above). Additionally, Jez suggested that ever since the creation of technology and the technology to record sound, ironically our hearing has decreased vastly in the past 100 years. This is due to compression in everyday life, and the fact that sound is presented to the audience, instead of the audience (of whatever – music, film, TV, etc.) having to seek it out for themselves via the use of critical listening. Jez finished the talk by telling us to constantly challenge what we accept to be correct, acceptable or appropriate as sometimes sounds that we do not expect to work can have the biggest impact.

I found this lecture very insightful, as it taught me the excellent, creative uses of unconventional mics to produce sounds we would otherwise not hear. It made me want to go out into the field and record sound, which is reflectively something I do not do enough of, and now that Media Loans has recently purchased hydrophones, we can experiment with these.

 

 

Monday 10th October

Lucy Johnstone

Lucy Johnstone graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2008 with a degree in Classical Music. She started as a runner at Envy Post Production and progressed to become Audio Assistant Manager. After a few years in the machine room, Lucy was promoted to Tracklayer, whilst also running voice-over sessions and providing fully mixed Sound Design for television.

To visit her website, follow this link. Alternatively, check out her IMDb page, or follow her Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

Lucy’s presentation was targeted towards Post Production Sound for Factual TV. She began the talk by explicitly informing us that the presentation we were about to observe was focused on what had worked for Lucy personally, conveying her own experiences and practice in the industry. She stated that this could be completely different to other specialists within the same profession.

Lucy focused on the main Post-Production Sound categories of Dialogue (and voice overs), Atmos and Foley+SFX. When overseeing a VO session, she suggested that 30% of work is what you know, but 70% is how you are. This meant that although the engineer could be an expert with Pro Tools and their DAW, those who have greater personal skills will be those who are hired.  This is a learning outcome I am aiming to improve when working professionally on set. I hope to improve my personal, professional and communication skills while working with the client, giving me greater experience for the real world.

When dealing with atmos and SFX, especially when on a tight timescale, Lucy suggested a couple of tips to help speed up our process. The first is acknowledging that we do not have time to add every single sound effect, so prioritize the most important. Also, there may not be time to Foley everything, if at all, so either invest or go out and record sound effects, such as footsteps and create a library. Secondly, if we do use our own libraries, try to add variation: do not use the same two footsteps throughout, or 10 seconds of the same crowd noise. Ask the offline editor for handles but use effects such as time stretch or pitch shift to alter the sounds slightly, which stops the sound becoming repetitive and predictable. And ALWAYS keep a copy of the original tracks underneath, in case the editor wants to use them or something goes wrong. It will be very useful to use this method of prioritisation when working on Cognition.

Finally, Lucy offered some real world job advice with regards to this industry. Firstly, she stated that work experience is essential and will help a long way to persuading a company to employ you. Secondly, within this role expect to be making hot drinks on a low wage as a runner for a while, getting your foot in the door with a company – just because we have a degree does not mean we should just land a high-end job, we still have to work for it! Next, that an in-house role would likely be the best route for graduates, as freelance work requires knowing enough, having enough credits and good credits, and knowing enough people – contacts. This brought the presentation succinctly to an end, where Lucy suggested using Twitter, LinkedIn and emails to network on a 1-to-1 basis, if approaching a large group of people and introducing yourself is not one of your strengths.

I was very impressed with the presentation and learned most about just how different the real world is, compared to university work. For example, being given only one day to complete a Factual TV soundtrack, ensuring you network with enough people to build up contacts, and the importance of speed and competence once you have a job. I also picked up useful skills such as prioritizing jobs (dialogue/foley/sfx/atmos) and the importance of personal, communication skills. Finally, I am pleased that David is bringing in guests who are working in the real-world right now, so they can give us as much advice and direction as possible, and tell us how it is right now, instead of what it was like ‘in their day’.

 
Photo taken from Lucy’s website.