General Presentation/Logistics Questions

LOL. No worries. All responses fascinating, thanks.

Geez. We are always rambling on here about "Barco" screens and Newswalls and newsroom rotas and intro music and where Jeremy Thompson is at the moment, et al........................but this whole issue of sound is an entire thread on it's own! It's actually a very scientific subject, as I'm starting to realise.

All this stuff about the internal workings of microphones picking up sound only from one direction and pressure zones and microphones which are shaped like door stoppers (look at the attachment in the post above) and so on.............it's akin to jet engine technology.

Therefore, being as equally crucial to television news broadcasts as the pictures actually are: are sound engineers or operators (whatever they may be called) paid as much as vision mixers or picture editors (whatever they may be called), or whatever the equivalent role is for the vision element of a studio broadcast?

Whilst not a standard, crews I send out get the following on average:

Camera Op: £350
Sound Recordist: £325

Based on a 12hour day, but it can vary £300 - £425 depending on the production.

Baring in mind camera kit is charged separately but a sound recordist would be expected to come with his own kit, which means it's paid a fair chunk less than the camera operator, despite (IMO) both jobs being just as important. Alas most productions don't see it that way and would "one man band" more and more and do away with a sound recordist altogether!

Just to add to the backup mics conversation, there are studios/areas of studios with no desk (stand up positions). In such cases I've seen mics hanging from the ceiling which are then available when the lapel mic fails, they're very noisy and unselective but are good enough to get you through until a better alternative can be provided.

Some studios have a radio hand-held stick mic standing by for backup use too, they're particually useful for when you're interviewing someone who's mic has failed.

In my experience you'd only fade up the standby mics (whatever they are) once the main mics have failed - particularly in a busy newsroom set. If you have both the main and standby faded up at the same time (even if one is a bit dipped) you'll often end up with a horribly open sound - and potentially some nasty phasing issues as people move.

Normally the standby mics would be faded down (or in some cases on the secondary input of the desk channel that carries the main mic) and only used (or switched in manually) when needed.

Yep - the floor manager or floor sound assistant will often have a radio stick in their back pocket as a standby on OBs or in studio shows where it isn't possible to have standby mics.

Is this the same set? (saving space with spoiler tags)

Going on from the discussion about microphone problems yesterday, they've got them right now on the Snooker, complete with interferance, microphone changes and weird acoustics. It'll probably be on the iPlayer later - it's an interview with Judd Trump just after it started on BBC2 so shouldn't be hard to find.

It's not the same set, no. It might be the same studio - the Six o'clock news grab came from an era before BBC World existed and as I think noggin posted above, news used three studios with three different sets in them for their main broadcasts. I believe by the time BBC World started, domestic news was all being done from N2 and N3 and BBC World occupied N1 exclusively.

The Six had one studio, a separate studio housed the "burnt umber" One O'Clock set, with the Nine O'Clock "fish finger" set opposite. And John Craven's Newsround perched on the edge of the Nine O'Clock desk during the day. They swung the cameras round into position in that second studio, depending on the broadcast.

I got a chance to tour those studios with Peter Dorling, who was head of news at that time.

Sorry - just catching up on a few pages back in this thread.

That monitor faced where the floor manager stood, so they could see when the studio was off air and walk behind the desk to hand over new script pages. There was a talent monitor between the two main camera positions.

The day I watched the Six going out, Sue Lawley told the floor manager that he should hand the papers to them from the front of the desk, rather than walking round. They didn't like this idea in the gallery, and told the floor manager he should only walk round the back.

I remember being surprised that this suggestion was raised - by then they had been doing the Six from that set for a number of years!

You've been in the same room as Sue Lawley? In the presence of greatness! What did she say tp you and did you beat up the rogues in the gallery who disagreed with Sue's suggestion to the floor manager? Was she on with Witchell?

I assume scripts were always printed on bright yellow paper to avoid glare under the lights?

"The Six Oclock News, from the BBC. With Sue Lawley and Gavin Scott."

You're right - scripts are generally printed on coloured paper because of the glare from studio lights, often yellow, but it does vary from centre to centre. There are also different colours for different sorts (or drafts) of scripts. In news, there will often be 'spare' (or standby) stories for use if something doesn't make its slot or if extra time has to be filled. Headlines might also be on a different colour. All to aid finding a story in a hurry!

On other forms of tv programme, different coloured scripts represent different drafts of the whole script. The whole crew work from the same colour so they are all up to date with the same draft.