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Sound Mentor in London
HI!
I’m trying to get my foot through the door to video production world. I’ve decided to specialise in audio as I see it as bit of neglected area in “semi professional” production field. At the moment I’m reading books, blogs, forums watching tutorials etc. and planning to equip myself with standard set of audio capture devices (recorder,mixer,boom,lavs,transmitters,couple mics etc.).
However before this I would love to have a chance to get any shoot plan under wing of an experience sound person so I could watch (listen ?!), help and learn.
I live in London I’m available most weekdays full time (working part @weekends) own car, fit, IT and electronic education background and so on. I’m happy to act as runner and help with almost anything as long as I can learn.
here is a link for one of my practise and fun videos I’ve made: https://youtu.be/HXa_kIp2qpw
(sound recorded from laptop mic 😉Please let me know if there is anything coming up where I could be useful.
Thanks
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7 Replies
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Interesting idea….BUT be careful.
I mentored a young guy a few years ago, nice guy, keen, learnt well… Then he bought some gear and then undercut my price and went to my clients and effectively took over my work that I earned a living from.In a tight financial climate would I mentor again…. NO.
May I suggest become involved with low cost productions, normally student type films, develop your skills at the same rate as other film / video makers develop theirs in camera, lighting etc, become part of a film / video ‘community’ and develop your own work rather than trying to move into the work of others.
Trends of production / equipment change over time it’s good to move with the needs of the productions you partake in.Training of people when you work for the same employer is one thing but in a Freelance market why would you train your opposition?
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Hi Brian,
Many thanks for your respond. I’m sorry to hear about your experience… I don’t know much about economy but what I see is if there is a room for competition then competition will, come sooner or later. Having person who grew with experience thanks to your effort naturally should give you advantage as opposite to outsider. Unfortunately you have been dealing with someone who could be described as backstaber (if I should judge basing on your story)
I will be joining students and non budget projects however i think this is much less effective path as you learning along not from people. Having mentor seems to be fast track option.
As for argument of though financial times.. well we are talking about London here where despite all the difficulties I think there is plenty room for growth and prosperity and what is the better way to progress and develop if not by passing part of your duties to “trusted” employee/mentee etc?
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If there is massive amount of work in London, then good for you but it would be the only place in the world in that situation.
With the lower cost of audio equipment and the DSLR era pricing has dropped causing major problems for people that have invested large amounts of money in gear, this has dropped rates.May I suggest that have a look at Facebook of ‘Freelance Sound Mixers & Recordists for TV/Film’ this will give you a good indication of the industry world wide.
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There you go….. Looks like the low rates have hit London as well.
Sound Technician –
Employer: InterLinkingProduction
Location: London and surrounding countie [view map]
Duration: Upto a year, starts Straight AwayPayment is on a lo/no/deferred basis. [note on unpaid jobs]
ILM are looking for a Sound Tech with own equipment for a new Reality TV series.You must be able to work well as part of an established team. Everything is ready and the cast and crew are filled, great original concept and we are ready to film the pilot.
MUST have own equipment from booms to radio mics..
To work alongside our head of sound..
This will be unpaid for the first two episodes. Travel expenses will be provided. Once this is commissioned ( and there is much interest from big channels already) this will be a fully paid permanent role. Also consider there are plans to take this to LA next year. Please email with a cover letter to the team at AlmostApply to: christiana
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I’ve seen it on the FB channel which you are referring to. As a contrast I would like to refer you to some YT channels made by “students” that generates some ridicules view stats made at expense of ?? well not much. And as we know viewing stats must = $$ this way or another. What’s is conclusion of this?
What I know at the moment is that I want to learn about videomaking and sound recording. I’ve got my plans and ideas and hope for money to come later. I’ve been working as truck driver for last 7 years where money is quite good but I can’t stand it anymore I have to do something with passion. Would you call it the right attitude?
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The change of delivering product is changing rapidly, things like YouTube, LIVE video streaming or similar are an outlet for productions….. Some will give you an income many won’t.
You can’t pay the supermarket, the home loan, the childrens schooling etc with promises of deferred payments or credits on productions.
Many people have borrowed money to purchase audio gear to earn an income yet producers want more and more technology but prepared only to pay less and less.
Your original posting was to seek a Sound Mentor, good luck to you in your desires but be mindful it might be rare to find someone to help you.I agreee there is nothing better than getting up in the morning to go to employment you are passionate about and enjoy.
Just a last piece of advice use YouTube to learn how to solder and make audio cables…. It will become invaluable beyond belief and save you lots of money in the long run.
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I wish you the best of luck. I would say though that even the big broadcasters are getting cameramen to multi-skill and record sound on location these days, consequently I spend more of my time than I care for trying to sweeten location sound where the peaks are bouncing off a limiter or there’s clipping ten decibels below 0dBFS or a few dB of gain brings background noise up to unacceptable levels. I had an ad-hoc “studio” shoot the other week, four cameras in a room + 4 mics recording to a separate recorder for a discussion show (presenter and 3 guests talking for about an hour and a quarter) and when we loaded all the media for post, NOTHING stayed in sync with anything else for more than a minute or two. And it was for a major broadcaster. So, quite frankly there’s room in London for people who really, properly understand the technical side of things… (things like not compromising on, for example, being sure that EVERY place where pictures and sound are processed/recorded are locked to the same syncs/timecode).
To be a bit more positive, things have gone around in cycles of cost cutting before and I sense that lots of time being wasted fixing stuff in post is starting to bring a few producers/production managers back to the knowledge that corner cutting on location is a false economy.
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