Today’s lecture was presented by Helen McCarron, a careers and employability adviser, and Claire Butler, a student enterprise co-ordinator.

They taught us about freelance and self-employment, and the ways in which the university can help graduates begin such careers. A report from the Creative Skillset Workforce stated that 30% of people working in the creative media industry were freelance.

One of the most important points given within this lecture was on the subject of taxes. As a freelance worker, it’s important to register with HCMR as a ‘sole trader’ within three months of earning money/starting your business. Tax should be paid every 3st of January and 31st of July. Sales records should also be kept for at least 5 years in case they’re ever needed to be reviewed. Tax will only need to be paid if you meet an annual threshold which is £11,500.

Pros of freelance work:

• Be your own boss.
• Set your own work schedule.
• You can work on a variety of projects – portfolio working.

Cons of freelance work

• Income is uncertain.
• No security (sickness, maternity/paternity, holiday, etc.)
• Start-up costs can be difficult to acquire.

The university offers a few workshops to help manage businesses. Some of which can teach you how to do accounting and book-keeping. It’ll be wise of me to learn such skills in case my ‘Vin McLo’ project ever becomes more than just a hobby.

The Lecture

Lucy Mitchell is a freelance sound editor and pre-recorder mixer. She makes sound for television and has worked on shows including Eastenders, Top Gear and The Voice UK. She stated that working in the audio industry relies on two things: good technical knowledge and communication skills.

She discussed some useful skills that she regularly applies to her work. firstly, she talked about editing voiceovers. It’s important to have dialogue synced perfectly to the visuals. Every syllable must match the lip-movements of any characters seen on the screen. It’s also important to remove breaths and lipsmacks, and to smooth over any clicks. Next, she talked about music. It’s important to cut music to shot changes within films. Crossfades/transitions between music and musical parts can be hidden behind other sound effects.

She also talked about sound effects. Sound editors must make reasonable decisions on when certain effects should be mono or stereo. most often, distant objects would be best suited in stereo (or at least their reverb would). If you render an effect, always keep the original unedited audio file as well in case any alterations have to be made. In some scenes, it might be best to use as few sound effects as possible – less is more. It all depends on what the scene is and what kind of a mood you’re trying to portray.

How might this lecture apply to my audio project?

I’ve learned some good skills on cleaning vocal tracks. These will certainly help me edit my vocal recordings.

The Lecture

Lol Hammond is a music supervisor. As a music supervisor, Hammond has creative control over the choice of music used within films. This means that, when given an early cut of a movie, he decides when and where music should be used whether it be an already existing song or an original background piece.

Each time Hammond decides on a piece of music to be used within a film, it is his responsibility to start negotiating with publishing-companies and artists, working out how much money each party should gain in royalties, in order to gain the permissions required to legally use said music. Sometimes artists might not want their work to be associated with a film he’s working on. In these cases, it’s up to Hammond to either convince the artists to change their minds, or to decide on a different song to be used entirely.

If Hammond decides that original music should be composed for a film then it will be his responsibility to hire musicians and a composer. To save money, Hammond will often hire Eastern European orchestras as many of them will work for less money compared to some British orchestras. He will also sometimes hire a small group of musicians that can be layered to replicate the sound of larger groups.

How might this lecture apply to my audio project?

Hammond’s money-saving technique in which he hires as few musicians as possible has given me a few ideas. When talking to singers and instrumentalists, I should ask them if they can play any other instruments as they might have other skills that I can put to use. I must make as much use out of each guest instrumentalist as I can.

The Lecture

Luke Pickering is an assistant audio engineer working under the award-winning Paul Epworth at The Church Studios, London. After graduating from the University of Lincoln, Pickering spent a few years gaining work experience and saving up money before landing a job at The Church Studios. He modestly stated that he got the job because he was simply lucky; being at the right place at the right time. He applied to Miloco for work experience when The Church Studios just so happened to be in need of staff. However, it’s important to note that his experience in music production and working in a studio environment, as well as his hard efforts to find work, are what actually got him a job at The Church Studios. In other words, he made his own luck.

Pickering explained how the people at The Church Studios work under a form of hierarchy. He himself started working at the studio as a runner, serving drinks and keeping the place tidy. After weeks of working there, the staff there recognised his dedication and trained him to become an assistant audio engineer.

Pickering stated that studio work is best to be perceived as a service rather than a creative industry. The producer, and artists who use the producer’s studio, will have control over all, if not most, of the creative process. All other staff will simply have to complete given tasks and work to meet the producer’s standards.

Not much of this lecture can apply to my current audio project, however, it has taught me a lot about the other side of the music industry. Whereas I’m mainly working under a creative process, producing my own music, there are careers in which you can make music for other people; careers where an understanding of technology and teamwork will outweigh creativity. One point that I will certainly learn from is that it is important to make your own luck. When promoting my music, I shouldn’t expect my Facebook followers to do the promoting for me. I must push my work out to the public in order for it to be heard.

The Lecture

Jez Riley French is an experimental sound artist who specialises in field recording. He travels around the world to record various sounds of which he uses to create art for a variety of exhibitions and installations.

Throughout the lecture, French gave many examples of types of microphones and how they can be used. With a contact mic, he has recorded the sound of ants eating an apricot, a hazelnut on fire and wires vibrating. As absurd as these examples may seem, some could easily be used within other a variety of films. The sound of vibrating wires, for example, resulted with some laser beam sound effects that could easily be used in a sci-fi piece.

Different microphones can also be combined to record more ‘full’ sounds. For example, when recording the sound of waves lapping on a beach, a hydrophone placed under the sand could record the lower crashes of a wave. Combine that with the sound picked up by a condenser mic and you’ll have recording with a fair amount of low and high frequencies.

French mixes his works with the spaces where they’ll be presented taken into consideration. He often visits the spaces prior to presentations in order to take note of their acoustic properties and the ways they might affect his works (e.g. add reverb, boost lower frequencies, etc…).

French stated that technology is the least important aspect of sound and music production. Although your choice of microphones and other equipment can help open many possibilities, the most important element is your creativity and the methods you choose to record and edit sound.

How might this lecture apply to my audio project?

Should I choose to use some sound effects or background sounds within my music, this lecture has certainly given me some knowledge on how I can record such sounds first-hand. It’s also important for me to take the ways in which people might listen to music into account. With many people listening to music through various quality speakers and headphones, I’ll have to make sure that my mixes sounds pleasing across various outputs.