01. Broadcast Sound Engineers

Keith Mayes is a Sound Supervisor with many years of experience working in most forms of Broadcast and at many events around the world. Keith discusses the Sound team – sound supervisor who does the mix plus is in charge of the whole team, the “guarantee”, and crew as well as the needs of the millions (of TV viewers) v the needs of the few (studio audience) – guess who wins? Imagine – at football matches there could be 16 mics just for the ball hits! Plus crowd mics and all the presenter/interviewer mics. Or 54 ball hit mics on a golf course… The sound supervisor is responsible for not just the sound for the audience – they are responsible for all the communications between the team – which can amount to many dozens of people, all on wireless comms. So not only are you listening to multiple sound sources all the time, but you’re also constantly watching multiple screens – “we have 24 screens on the ladies tennis – and that’s a small truck!” The picture is the most important thing – not what’s going on on stage. This is why most TV mixes of music are vocal-heavy – the camera is focussed on the singer most of the time.