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I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to spend each day outside – listening to and recording captivating stories by contributors to some of the marvellous docos I have worked for, or watching artisans do their thing, hand crafting some amazing objects and discussing their inspirations and of course travelling this beautiful country with exceptional chefs as they source produce and make clever use of it in their cooking. I say this because I spent over half my life in dark rooms for 12+ hours a day mixing other people’s sounds in some of Sydney’s great audio post studios. I always envied the amazing camaraderie I saw in location crews as I spent hours synching rushes (youngsters can look that process up!)

So almost 15 years ago now I made the decision to head back “outside” and specialise in location sound recording. A few of my studio friends considered me quite mad for doing so but I now detect a note of envy when we chat over a beverage of recent jobs we have all been working on. One of the many benefits I have learned from years behind the mixing console, is what is required in post to put the finishing touches to a mix and how sounds sourced “on the day” can save hours of time and heartache for the mixing engineer. As a result of this background, I am very lucky to be referred to a production by the post engineers as they know that their job will be a little easier as a result! I am still very much in touch with my mixing past and have just recently finished mixing the latest series of Surfing the Menu; Next Generation as well as contributing location sound recording.

I stay in touch with my sound mixing brethren and have ended up working collaboratively with them to ensure that they have everything they need come mixing session time. It is an awesome combination as we get to talk formats, workflow and additional sounds beyond the dialogue component that can make the difference in the final mix.

Let me help make your sound mix a little easier and put me in touch with your post engineer before the shoot. Chances are we have already worked together and we can make sure that nothing is missed come shoot day!