Pete Bailey is a highly experienced location sound recordist, whose significant list of credits includes Hollyoaks, Being Liverpool, The One Show, Captain America, ITV's Good Morning Britain and the Oscar nominated The Voorman Problem.In this interview, he describes his influences and work in the industry, and also offers some advice for aspiring sound professionals.
Pete Bailey Production Sound Mixer
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Tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Pete Bailey, but on location people always shout, Pete on sound'.
I live in Warrington, between Manchester and Liverpool, and I attended the School Of Sound Recording (SSR) where I learned audio engineering and techniques. I originally wanted to get into music production, but as I was coming to the end of my course I was asked by a local filmmaker if I could record sound on a short film. I felt completely out of my depth, but the same audio principles applied so I said yes and loved every minute of it I never looked back.
I got a loan, bought some kit, and spent my first twelve months doing a mix of post-production and location sound on around 80 productions. I always struggled to network with other soundies , so I spent my time researching techniques and equipment. I then decided to do the BBC location sound course, where all of my self-learning was thankfully confirmed.
Since then, I've worked on a bunch of commercials, dramas, features and documentaries such as, Hollyoaks', Don't Tell The Bride', Lorraine', Daybreak', Being Liverpool', The One Show', Captain America' and CBBC Dramas. I also recorded the sound on the Oscar-nominated Voorman'.
I currently work as a location sound mixer on Good Morning Britain for ITV, and have been doing so for the last 6 years.
Sitting in my friend's room at the age of 14 listening to the loudest bedroom stereo on the planet, I knew that I had to get involved in sound.
How did you get into the industry? Sitting in my friend's room at the age of 14 listening to the loudest bedroom stereo on the planet, I knew that I had to get involved in sound.
I was a bedroom DJ who then became a nightclub promoter and a club DJ, and thought by the age of 21 that it would be a good idea to study sound engineering and start producing my own music. So, I quit night club promoting and DJing for a while to study.
During the time on the course I did at the SSR, I managed to build a basic studio in my house and recorded bands in my spare time for a bit of cash to put towards more kit. During my course, we touched on post-production sound and I was captivated; I couldn't believe there was a job out there, doing sound effects for films. It was an instant decision for me. I found a guy in my college who was already working on an actual film, and asked if I could help him with sound design. I kind of took over the project! Nevertheless, the director loved the work I did and asked me to work on his next film. I was in!
What is a typical day like on assignment? Well I've been working on Good Morning Britain' (a morning news program) for 6 years now, which means getting up very early. Typically, it's a 2am to 3am start. We are on location for 5am, ready for the program to go live at 6am.
News is an ever-changing production. I always have to be prepared for whatever the story is, never knowing if we are going to be outdoors or indoors. It could be floods, extreme weather, sports, politics, court cases or it could be something nicer, like the world's biggest mince pie (true story; and no, I didn't get a bite, although I did ask). So, working on the fly is an everyday event and sometimes a little sketchy.
For example: we were supposed to do a Live OB from Moss Side this morning (you know where this is going) and the second we set the camera up, just 5 feet away, a group of lads ran off with it. Needless to say, we didn't broadcast. I hadn't got my sound kit out of the car; but poor Geoff the cameraman is kicking himself.
I work in a small crew consisting of just me, Geoff the cameraman and Katy, our correspondent. We used to have our own satellite engineer with a sat truck, but now we have our very own that both me and Geoff operate and set-up each morning.
We all meet on location with the satellite truck at 5am and discuss how we're going to shoot that morning. During set-up, I hand out radio comms to the crew so we can hear the directors/producers in London, and we also do a vision and sound test with the technical director there.
Nowadays, being in a different location every day in ever changing conditions, the one thing that takes the most punishment is my Rycote. Wind, rain, or snow, it takes it all and holds its ground.' Pete Bailey
My biggest technical challenge as a location soundie happened early in my career when I worked on a film entirely based on Mount Snowdon in sub-zero temperatures.
What challenges do you face? My biggest technical challenge as a location soundie happened early in my career when I worked on a film entirely based on Mount Snowdon in sub-zero temperatures. Not only was it bitterly cold, but we had such strong winds that the shoot was almost cancelled. You can imagine the battle I had with the wind on my mics
I was using a second-hand Rycote windshield system that was given to me by a previous production. I'd had it for years, and it was already beaten up pretty badly when I got it. The previous owner had obviously held it too close to some lighting as most of the hair was singed.
To combat the wind, I used a Rycote Softie on my mic and then put that inside my beaten-up Rycote system. I lost some of the higher frequencies, but I had almost zero wind noise. I later got an e-mail from post-production sound (which never happens!), praising me on capturing such good
