Sound Engineering Abroad

Welcome to day one of my travels. I am currently packed and ready to go to Gatwick Airport for my flight to Genoa.

So here I am, finally in Genoa, Italy. I've settled in, I've reunited with my crew and I'm on my way to the site. So, everything gets shipped over to us and it's our responsibility to get all the kit up and running and connect the lines to our remote production.

On jobs such as The Ocean Race, we tend to set a wireless microphone systems and wireless IEM systems. As you just saw, I was rigging up our Wizycom radio mic system, making sure that our microphones and IEM packs stretch as far as the presenter will be presenting, and we'll be able to hear the director when we're in our live broadcast. As an audio engineer, we're also responsible for setting up all effects mics on our radio talkback. So here's me trying to creatively attach the microphone to the boat to hopefully capture the ambience of the ocean without it getting wet or distorted by wind noise. There's a lot that goes into a TV production, especially when live broadcasted. On the technical side of things, we have our camera crew, our audio crew, RF, VT and vision. Then we have our production team and for The Ocean Race, it was Warner Brothers Studios. They tell us decorated vision and we hopefully bring that to life.

Working in the TV industry is massively unique. I've come across such amazing personalities and worked with crew members who are now family. To me, it's a great way to travel and experience something new on every single job you're on. You could be on a football pitch one weekend and the next you're jetting off to The Ocean Race in Italy. Honestly, the projects don't stop. There is something interesting in your diary every month. For myself, I've worked on the Chelsea Flower Show, The Volvo Ocean Race here in Italy and Brazil. I did the King's Coronation concert and many more events. And I mean, who doesn't love an excuse to be in the sun and watch the sunset while you work?

However, saying that, the TV industry, of course, comes with its pros and cons like any other industry, we of course work outside. So like this, you could be working in torrential rain or snow, or strong heat or strong winds. Whatever the location, you could be faced with different types of weather, but all you have to do is have a resilient attitude and be able to adapt in every environment you've got. We also work incredibly long hours. You could be up at 4:00 in the morning to meet a call time, or you could be home as late as midnight or 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., but it's these great events that we get to go to, surrounded by a great team and make it all worth it. I really hope you've enjoyed this video. Thank you so much and bye for now.