Richard Hastings-Hall began his talk introducing himself as normal; he’s been at the BBC for the last 25 years working in TV and radio as a dubbing mixer. Then he showed a slide on his powerpoint presentation which comically flew off the screen of some plus-five-hundred credits he has, including: Top Gear, Countryfile, How to look Good Naked, Sky at Night, Doctors, To Buy or Not to Buy… The list continues. Based in BBC Birmingham now, Richard seems to enjoy his job a lot.
As a dubbing mixer, Richard explained in simple terms what he does. He basically makes the soundscape for TV and radio. In TV, he explained he gets given a guide recording, which you get from recording on location when they film it. For example, if there were a scene in a park, he would get sent what they filmed, alongside a guide audio recording. He then sits there and modifies the audio, adding background noise, re-recording bits, and placing them correctly to make sure what we hear fits perfectly to what we see on screen. I’ve known for the best part of my life that in big Hollywood blockbusters the sound effects are just that – effects. But I didn’t know they have to re-record all of the dialogue, and even in programs where you wouldn’t think the sound is particularly important, there’s a dubbing mixer just like Richard EQing each presenter’s voice or creating the noise of door shutting from scratch. It’s so seamlessly complex and has really made me think about broadening my potential career aspirations.
It was great to learn about this kind of job in the industry, as the general vibe of people who attended (without being too judgemental and myself included) seemed that they were more interested in their music, whether that be producing, performing, just playing or wanting to be famous. There was a good reaction and it was unfortunate we ran out of time so quickly as there were many more questions to be asked. Realistically quite a high percentage of us music technology students won’t be earning a living solely off our own music in the future, so it’s great to have lecture off a man in a field that few of us would of even considered. Opening our minds to other options will fill our wallets I suppose!
Claudia Waller, Level 3 Music Technology student
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