BBC Work Experience - Episode VI - 20th January, 2014

First day on sound!

This was very exciting. I had previously volunteered at Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB) Radio a few years ago so I was already familiar with the principles of mixing desks. They are simpler to operate than they look; basically the main rule of thumb is that one column of dials and switches controls one sound channel...So if you learn one, you learn (most of) the others.

However, as the end game for these mixing desks required more than sound, there are other devices on the sound desk that inform and control the sound in relation to the vision. There are five monitors directly above the desk; these show what all three cameras in the studio is seeing, plus a view of the whole studio to see who's there, what the main camera is seeing (either for broadcast or preview/rehearsal), what the upcoming news package(s) will be, and the autocue for the newsreaders. Basically the monitors are visual cues/indicators for the live sound composition. To the right is a button-laden device for all of the reusable pieces of BBC news music (dongs, beeps, rhythms, etc.) to introduce news items or punctuate the headlines, or when the programmes finish. And this device is connected to a staff computer, which has all the pre-recorded sounds for the device to use, using their network memory.

As one can tell, I was very keen on taking in all the details of the sound operation. And I believe this was helped by my first supervisor on sound, Ian. I found speaking to him rather fascinating; he was friendly, co-operative and informative. He let me know early on that he does not regularly work in the building and is usually working on location with the satellite vans. His affable nature meant that he was he was a stark contrast to Brian, my second camera 'supervisor' who also frequented location work.
   I felt like I learnt quite a lot about the functionality of the sound area from Ian, plus a little more than I believe to be usual; despite his assignment to the sound-desk for that day, Ian was checking in regularly with the satellite vans and showed me the system that tracks where the vans are in the regions. It was another aspect of news operations outside of sound, but still fascinating, no-less! I didn't get much practical experience though, but I'm okay with this as it was my first day on sound...Hopefully the next time, though!

AM