Sound engineering for television and live broad cast

dav nagle

Has anyone any information about this field of work?

1. Does it pay well?
2. It it a fun job?
3. What do you do Monday to Friday?


Any information would be very helpful ?

Sunn

dav nagle wrote: »

Has anyone any information about this field of work?

1. Does it pay well?
2. It it a fun job?
3. What do you do Monday to Friday?


Any information would be very helpful ?

Most production companies will have their own in house engineer, although it depends as you can also work free lance. Not sure how much an engineer gets but Boom operators can earn a tidy little sum for a days work.

When I was in Rte, rte provided their own engineer who was in the gallery so the production company didn't need one. Its a difficult field to get into particularly in Ireland were all or most of the Jobs are centered around Dublin and the market is somewhat over saturated.

dav nagle

Sunn wrote: »

Most production companies will have their own in house engineer, although it depends as you can also work free lance. Not sure how much an engineer gets but Boom operators can earn a tidy little sum for a days work.

When I was in Rte, rte provided their own engineer who was in the gallery so the production company didn't need one. Its a difficult field to get into particularly in Ireland were all or most of the Jobs are centered around Dublin and the market is somewhat over saturated.

Thanks for the info

QuadLeo

dav nagle wrote: »

Has anyone any information about this field of work?

1. Does it pay well?
2. It it a fun job?
3. What do you do Monday to Friday?


Any information would be very helpful ?

It pays well. And it tends to be salary based which is good if you're looking for a loan or mortgage. It is definitely a fun job but it can also be really stressful. There's a lot of responsibility working as a crew member for a live show. There's nothing worse than some radio mics not working 5 minutes before a live broadcast. You're stomach does cartwheels.
You meet a lot of interesting people. It's not really a Monday - Friday job. Hours are anti-social. Most TV shows that require a large crew are live. They tend to be in the afternoon / evening. So most days you won't finish work until late at night. Depends where you work though. If you work for a production company then the work can vary a lot. As does the location and hours. If you work for a Broadcaster like TV3, RTE, BBC then the work is regular and routine, within reason.

dav nagle

QuadLeo wrote: »

It pays well. And it tends to be salary based which is good if you're looking for a loan or mortgage. It is definitely a fun job but it can also be really stressful. There's a lot of responsibility working as a crew member for a live show. There's nothing worse than some radio mics not working 5 minutes before a live broadcast. You're stomach does cartwheels.
You meet a lot of interesting people. It's not really a Monday - Friday job. Hours are anti-social. Most TV shows that require a large crew are live. They tend to be in the afternoon / evening. So most days you won't finish work until late at night. Depends where you work though. If you work for a production company then the work can vary a lot. As does the location and hours. If you work for a Broadcaster like TV3, RTE, BBC then the work is regular and routine, within reason.

This is very useful information, thanks a mill mate. I can only imagine that sick feeling that something has gone wrong and one of the main microphones is not working and its like 'Oh god I am going to get toasted by my boss tonight!'

Interesting to hear this detail. What kind of money should one ask for as a first time television sound operator? It is a question that has come up and if I am going to commit I would like a good wage. I mean it is a skilled job. Any suggestions salary wise? Would a sound operator be thrown in the deep end or would the head studio engineer pass some training on? Cheers, D

QuadLeo

dav nagle wrote: »

This is very useful information, thanks a mill mate. I can only imagine that sick feeling that something has gone wrong and one of the main microphones is not working and its like 'Oh god I am going to get toasted by my boss tonight!'

Interesting to hear this detail. What kind of money should one ask for as a first time television sound operator? It is a question that has come up and if I am going to commit I would like a good wage. I mean it is a skilled job. Any suggestions salary wise? Would a sound operator be thrown in the deep end or would the head studio engineer pass some training on? Cheers, D

I can't really comment on exact figures. But you should earn around €20per hour in most places when starting off. But many OB and production companies hire a lot of different engineers with varying levels of skill. If it's full time then a standard starting salary would usually be around the 40k mark. As I said it varies a lot. But take what you can get. I mean if you can't get €20per hour, but get offered €15 take it. It's a starting point.

It's rare that an operator would be thrown in the deep end. There's so much to be aware of. Not just sound. You'd need a lot of local knowledge about cameras, lighting, and the basic process of making a tv show. Usually a few months training would be required before any real responsibilities are given. In my experience anyway.

dav nagle

QuadLeo wrote: »

I can't really comment on exact figures. But you should earn around €20per hour in most places when starting off. But many OB and production companies hire a lot of different engineers with varying levels of skill. If it's full time then a standard starting salary would usually be around the 40k mark. As I said it varies a lot. But take what you can get. I mean if you can't get €20per hour, but get offered €15 take it. It's a starting point.

It's rare that an operator would be thrown in the deep end. There's so much to be aware of. Not just sound. You'd need a lot of local knowledge about cameras, lighting, and the basic process of making a tv show. Usually a few months training would be required before any real responsibilities are given. In my experience anyway.

Hey QuadLeo thats really good information, thanks a mill, You obviously have worked in this field yourself I guess?

QuadLeo

No problem. I worked for a broadcast company for a while alright. I know there is a new OB company just starting up at the moment around Dublin I think. Keep an eye on iftn.ie.

dav nagle

QuadLeo wrote: »

No problem. I worked for a broadcast company for a while alright. I know there is a new OB company just starting up at the moment around Dublin I think. Keep an eye on iftn.ie.

OB does that stand for official broadcaster or something like that? I am probably making a bad guess. I will keep my eyes open either way, thanks.;)

QuadLeo

Sorry, OB stands for Outside Broadcast. A company that goes from one location to another with a tv truck / satellite truck broadcasting differnt things. Like a news crew, or a sporting event etc...

dav nagle

Eye see!:o

trackmixstudio

I am doing lots of post work these days.
The Irish independent film industry is HUGE!
I am finishing 2 projects this week for the Galway festival and have had to turn down 4 other projects because the deadline for entries is too close.
Since I became an Apple Certified Trainer for Soundtrack pro I have really got into the really "clicky" indie scene.
I taught a Soundtrack Pro course in Filmbase over the weekend which was sold out (6 people) and they were all there so they could learn to mix their own stuff because it is hard to find a competent post mixer who does not rip you off. They all passed too which was great!.
One feature I am just about finished got a quote from a popular Irish (no names mentioned) post house which was €30,000 if the project was film board funded and €15,000 if not!!!
Bear in mind that mixing for film is VERY different to mixing music.
Soundtrack pro is great because it links with Final cut and updates your mix automatically if any further edits are done after or while you are working on a project. One of the projects I am doing this week is getting graded somewhere else at the same time (in Color software) and at the end of the week the video master (referred to as picture lock), the grading master, and the audio master will all be merged into the finished film in Final Cut. The integration is fantastic.
ALL of the indie guys, and TV3 and Setanta are using final cut with RTE using Avid. BBC are switching from avid to FCP too!
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/03/bbc_factual_to_.html
http://www.bbcresources.com/about/archive/071203_fcp.html
Most audio post houses use avid and PT HD at present but it looks like there is a massive shift towards FCP even at the highest level of the industry (BBC) and with the compatibility between FCP and STP and Logic (xml format files), I think the Avid/PT monopoly is certainly on the way out.
iftn is a great site, as already mentioned, but also check out creativecow.com. It is chock full of info.
Michael

dav nagle

trackmixstudio wrote: »

I am doing lots of post work these days.
The Irish independent film industry is HUGE!
I am finishing 2 projects this week for the Galway festival and have had to turn down 4 other projects because the deadline for entries is too close.
Since I became an Apple Certified Trainer for Soundtrack pro I have really got into the really "clicky" indie scene.
I taught a Soundtrack Pro course in Filmbase over the weekend which was sold out (6 people) and they were all there so they could learn to mix their own stuff because it is hard to find a competent post mixer who does not rip you off. They all passed too which I was great!.
One feature I am just about finished got a quote from a popular Irish (no names mentioned) post house which was €30,000 if the project was film board funded and €15,000 if not!!!
Bear in mind that mixing for film is VERY different to mixing music.
Soundtrack pro is great because it links with Final cut and updates your mix automatically if any further edits are done after or while you are working on a project. One of the projects I am doing this week is getting graded somewhere else at the same time (in Color software) and at the end of the week the video master (referred to as picture lock), the grading master, and the audio master will all be merged into the finished film in Final Cut. The integration is fantastic.
ALL of the indie guys, and TV3 and Setanta are using final cut with RTE using Avid. BBC are switching from avid to FCP too!
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/03/bbc_factual_to_.html
http://www.bbcresources.com/about/archive/071203_fcp.html
Most audio post houses use avid and PT HD at present but it looks like there is a massive shift towards FCP even at the highest level of the industry (BBC) and with the compatibility between FCP and STP and Logic (xml format files), I think the Avid/PT monopoly is certainly on the way out.
iftn is a great site, as already mentioned, but also check out creativecow.com. It is chock full of info.
Michael

You are doing very well in this department Michael, not at all surprised considering your a frikking whizz on Logic. I am hoping to be called for an interview with Setanta as a pro tools operator. Fingers crossed

Sunn

best of luck dave

dav nagle

Sunn wrote: »

best of luck dave

Cheers Sunn