Your knees hurt, your backs aches, your ears ring and you want to sleep in your own bed….time for a major change? Where does the jaded roadog go when the touring life loses its gloss - or the spirit is willing but the body is weak? Well, welcome to this new series about the options for life-off-the-road.

Willy T - "Your first day-job selling car parts was audio related!!"
JB - "Yeah, had to get to the gig some how!! (Laughs all round!)"

Willy T - "So would you say you got into the industry from a technical side?"
JB - "A Little bit, but more from an interest. Not to mention that my bass playing wasn't great, and I found it funny that we were paying the sound and lighting guys more than us so I thought, mmm, I'm at the wrong end here!!"

Willy T - "Do you find that Broadcast is as creative as Live Sound?"
JB - "No…though in saying that I spent 2 ½ touring with a show band and it was the same every night…The same changes, at the same cues every night! It was routine. The same as making games shows or doing the news every night isn't so creative and can be routine and mundane.

But then I might get 2 weeks of doing Audio-post for a doco and that's very creative…and fun!"

Willy T - "Is a lot of your gig slamming open and closed faders?"
JB - "Yeah…faders, tape machine, mic to tape machine, mic to tape machine…that sort of thing. It has its good points too, like not having to lug gear too and from trucks… and getting home at a reasonable time. And when it is quiet at the station I do post and location audio for the station, and can get out and do my own Live work.

I enjoy being there for O-Bs (Outside Broadcasts) but find them just as routine as studio. I enjoy getting outside…"

Willy T - "actually seeing the sunlight!' (laughs)"
JB - "Ha ha ha, yeah seeing the sun, and, they feed you! I like doing the odd stint of location work but I don't think I'd want to do it full time. It's very strenuous, they can be long days, very hard days and your-on-the-run the whole time. Up early catching the sun, always on full alert. For example I did a 5-day shoot in Hong Kong and we were up at 5a.m. every morning and not finishing until 10:30 at night."

Willy T - "On the technical side is there much to location work?"
JB - "Not really, you just have to be on-the-ball at all times and have tons of spares/back-up of absolutely everything - which you've got to carry yourself! Most times, due to budget, there are no assistants to help you!

One of the most important things is to be ready for the Producer to want to do unexpected things, at-the-drop-of-a-hat! For example in H-K we were just starting to get ready for an interview with two girls in a location over looking the harbour, when a 'sampan' - which only came by twice a week - started sailing by. The producer says: we have to get this shot…and what the producer wants…!"

Willy T - "In the studio, when you're setting up, do you look after the gain structure, or is that left to the Technical Director."
JB - " We set it up - the audio guys - the TD looks after it when it's leaving the desk, before it gets to the transmission tower. When it leaves here it goes to the Central Operations Room so other studios can take the signal if they need to. From there it goes to Master Control where they keep an eye on it going to the tower, making sure the signal doesn't 'square wave' or put it through a limiter or optimod, things like that, to keep it at certain level."

Willy T - "Is the TD responsible for the station's 'signature sound'?"
JB - "No, it goes from here to Master Control where it goes to an on-air area called Presentation. They're the ones responsible for the 'look' and the 'sound' of the station. They're the ones who switch between the shows and the commercials, between the studios, and they look after the levels going to air."

Willy T - "When a commercial comes from an external production house, what are the specs for an ad sent in?
JB - "Well, even though the ads do sound louder on-air, all we want is '0-VU!!' We don't add anything to it or put it through Aphex Dominators or Exciters…They've got more time to look after the sound. To compress it, add things to it or bring it up."

Willy T - "That was going to be my next question!"
JB - "I've often asked why we don't do it as that would make ours stuff sound as loud as their ads, but realistically, television survives by selling air-time to clients to run their ads, and they want their ads to be louder.

We don't do it; it's the production houses where they record their ads! They'll say to the production houses 'master this as loud as you can', similar to the mastering process of a CD where the record companies say to the mastering houses 'make it as loud as you can'. But now people are asking the question, do we really need that?"

Willy T - "Yeah, where has all the dynamic range gone? A bit like the 'hot mix' for radio."
JB - "Exactly, it squashes all the dynamics! So if you notice a really loud ad on television, it won't have any dynamics.

So although a lot of people think it's the TV stations that are doing that, it's the way it comes to us, and when we do the dub, if you look at the meters, it's still sitting at '0-VU'."

Willy T - "Just that everything is at '0'!" (Laughs all round!)
JB - "Yeah! They're doing everything right by us, and we can't refuse it and tell them not to do that…they're paying for the air time!"

Willy T - "So what's the cross-over between live FOH to Broadcast Audio? For example, some live concert shows sound really good but others are crap, and the sound guy can't 'mix a cake!!'… the vocals are too loud, there's no guitar in the mix etc."
JB - "Something to remember is that there's so many 'what ifs' before it gets to air. For example, I did a live recording of a concert to stereo tape, to go broadcast. I had an audio assistant with me at the concert; we had great monitoring, with everything split and isolated split from the PA. When we both heard it go to air we both looked at each other and agreed that that was not what we heard in the room. Somewhere between what we put to tape and what went to air someone had changed some EQ or re-compressed it…or something like that!

You can blame the sound guy but it may have been a Tape Editor somewhere along the line or in a transfer along the line. But where there's way too much guitar or not enough backing vox, well that's inexperience."

Willy T - "Is that where being an ex-live FOH guy helps?"
JB - "Yeah, but more like ex-studio guy. Even though it's a live show that you're putting to air, it's more like mixing down an album in the studio. I guess some guys haven't had that studio experience enough to know there's something missing there… or if I just tweak this a little bit it'll fill a gap…or give it more separation…or if I pan the guitars a little bit it'll give a better image or won't sound so messy…that sort of stuff. There just the little tricks you pick up in the studio, the more you mix, the more you learn."

Willy T - "Do you think you need that sort of background to know those sorts of tricks or could you pick them up in this gig?"
JB - "I think what you need is a good ear, lots of time in the studio, really good producer. Try to work on stuff with as many outside producers as you can. They're the guys who can show you things...what's in or out of pitch, what to hide if it's going to clash with something else, that sort of thing."

Willy T - "So is that almost like defining the roles between engineer and producer?"
JB - "Yeah it can be, but by spending time with a really good producer, you become a better engineer! You can hear things all of sudden, and when you come to mix something you can use this experience. For example, a block of backing vocals where you might have 2 or 3 vocalists. In the studio you'll double or triple them, which all helps. But live situation you've still only got those 3 people, you've gotta make that balance as best as possible. Otherwise all the backing will sound out of tune, even though they aren't necessarily so, it's just where you've placed them! That's where a really good producer will point those things out to you, and when you do it on your own you'll draw on this experience."

Willy T - "Final question mate…TV's mostly a visual medium, do you think that audio gets the credit it deserves in TV land?"
JB - "No, even in the industry!! I don't think many people really appreciate just how much effort goes into getting the sound right. Of courses if the audios bad, they'll know. But when it's good they still don't understand how much work went into getting it right!"

"Thanks John…have a good one!"

Willy T.

Any thoughts, drop me a line at willyt-downunderdesk@roadogz.com

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