Visit to BBC Bristol

I was lucky enough to be invited by my mate Martyn Harries to visit him at work at BBC Broadcasting House in Bristol.

Martyn is a Dubbing Mixer and has worked on numerous Natural History Programmes along with Drama and Entertainment. He was part of the BBC Team that won the 1999 BAFTA Award for Best Sound (Factual) for 'the Life of Birds.'

I spent the day in a Dubbing Theatre and watched in awe as Martyn did his stuff adding sounds and mixing levels for some short films and trails for BBC Springwatch. The Tracks had already been laid by the Assistants so his Job was to check all of the levels and make sure that the added sounds worked with the footage. Martyn instinctively knew which sounds would work and had a full library of alternatives to call on if he needed to.

He was using audiophile to lay and mix the tracks and working on an AMS Neve MMC Desk with full automation. The suite has a Full Projection Screen display along with 2 smaller televisons for monitoring and checking final mix levels. Mixes can be in Stereo or 5.1 Sound depending on where the final programme is to be shown - a lot of HD Content is being mixed in 5.1 along with programmes that may end up on DVD.

It wasn't all watching and I managed to involved and get my big break as a foley artist and recorded the foleys for a Magpie flapping its wings !

At lunchtime we popped into the 'Bargain Hunt' Office to meet up with Rob Bayly and have a quick look at where the Production Team run the Programme. I met Martyn through Rob and his passion for Ballooning - I've flown with him and also helped with crewing & retrieving - a great experience and one not be missed !

All in all an excellent day and a really educational visit - cheers for the pint !