In article ,
Iain M Churches wrote:
To me, an engineer designs or fixes things. I'm an operator. I operate
all sorts of sound equipment. And proud to be called just that. I fix
the broken bits of my kit at home - later. Wearing a different hat ;-)

You're the old school, Dave:-) Not image conscious:-)

I don't have to prove anything to myself. I'll happily take a day's work
rigging a studio then clipping mics on the talent and sit quietly standing
by while someone else mixes. And still love a day on a Fisher boom -
although I'd be the first to admit I'm not as good as I once was, through
lack of practice. And grams work has come suddenly rather back in fashion.
If it's the sort of show where music and FX can be put on there and then,
I'm rather cheaper than dubbing suite time. ;-)

Two of the most skilled mixers I have ever had the pleasure to
with had the lowly job title of Gram Operator at the BBC.

In the good ol' days any current TV mixer would have started out tracking
booms and rigging, then 'move on' to boom operating, then grams, then
mixing. You learnt your craft slowly.

IMHO, nothing like going through all the jobs that as a sound supervisor
you're going to 'supervise' while mixing.

It's something I really don't like about at least some 'film school'
graduates. They expect to be Lighting Directors etc without starting as -
and learning how to do it well - a camera assistant. Same with sound. They
say "I'm a sound recordist" - but ain't got a clue about boom operating.
And I hate with a passion the use of personal mics unless they're the only
option. Which they very rarely are.

Rant over. My new TV has just arrived and needs setting up. A back
projection Sagem using DLP technology. Lets see if it's as good as it
looked in the shop. If not, it's going back and I'll get a CRT one as I
intended. ;-)

--
*Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.