Location Sound Specialist Trevor Cunningham Talks to Pulse News

Many Pulse Graduates go on to work with some of the top artists and Multi Media companies in the world. We will check in on our Pulse success stories and find out what life is like post Pulse.

Location Sound Specialist Trevor Cunningham Talks to Pulse News

Trevor Cunningham is one of Pulse Colleges first set of students to graduate from our Audio Courses. He has over a decade of experience in both studio and location sound. Having started in studio sound recording, he quickly found his feet as a location sound specialist for some of Ireland’s high profile television companies.

Currently working on 'Far Away Up Close’, this was not Trevor's first major foreign trip, having worked for a number of years on the 'No Frontiers' series. He also was the primary sound recordist on the series 'Who's Afraid of Islam?' also produced by Animo Television.

Trevor is without a doubt, one of the best exponents of his craft and we are delighted to feature him as this month’s Pulse College success story.

Q1. Background: Who you are, where you’re from, where you are now?.

I grew up in Dundrum and now live in Stepaside. I went to primary school in Oatlands college in Stillorgan and then on to Newpark in Blackrock. While at Newpark I used to play bass in various bands and during transition year I got work placements and a summer job at the old Windmill Lane Studios, and when I first walked into the studios and the control room I thought "Yep, this is for me" and that was it really... also helped that AC/DC were recording there at the time.

Q2. You have been working in sound for over a decade now, but you initially studied electronics in College. What made you change career paths?

After my leaving cert I went on to do electronics in college, but it wasn't really for me... too much maths. I think! I was still interested in sound and the studio life and I saw an ad somewhere for this new college Pulse recording... I can't quite remember, it was 16 years ago!... so I applied and that was it.

Q3. You started on your venture into sound with Pulse College. What connected you to Pulse and what did you find the most beneficial part of studying at the college?

Pulse was very different then to what it is now. I think there were only maybe 20 or 30 students at the time. I loved it as we were all friends including Tony, Naomi and Aidan, so we had as much time with tutors as we needed, and as much hands on experience with the equipment as required... the encouragement they always offered was enormous which led to great confidence, which was fantastic.

Q4. How have the skills you learnt in Pulse translate into the work environment?

During the course at Pulse I was lucky enough to get a job at Ropewalk Studios, which later became OFI Studios in Ringsend as an assistant engineer. With the help of the guys in Pulse I was able to combine the two... so what I was learning at Pulse combined with the real life situations at the studio proved to be invaluable.

Q5. Did you find that the Pulse College qualification opened doors?

Well it did, and that was before I had even got the qualification, so am always proud and grateful to have it on my CV, and even more so now when you look at the wonderful facilities they have and what they have achieved.

Q6. You started you career in Studio Sound. Tell us about that experience.

Well as I mentioned earlier, I started working in studios while doing the course and I think the first session I worked on was with Aslan.. so that was an eye opening introduction to the whole process! I worked and learnt from a lot with some great bands, producers and engineers during that time, particularly Chris O'Brien and Tim Martin. It was also the time of 2 inch analogue tape machines, splicing tape and certain open reel digital formats... Pro Tools was still in its infancy... There were a lot of long hours and late nights, but great fun and a great grounding to have.

Q7. What made you move on to location sound?

I'd had an interest in location sound, it was about 2000 and I was finding the studio world becoming quieter at the time, there just seemed to be less work. I had a few friends who were cameramen and did location sound, they had being asking me to try it, so I did. For about a year I was doing both studio and location work, but location work eventually won out in the end.

Q8. You have worked on No Frontier’s, Irelands leading travel programm. Tell us a bit about that, you must have experienced amazing locations.

I am very lucky to do what I do and make a living from it. I know it sounds like an old cliché but every day is different. The variety of people and crews you work with to the people and subjects you film always keeps it interesting.

One of the big perks with location sound if you are lucky and fortunate enough to experience, as I have been, is the travel. It’s taken me all over the world, from filming Travel shows and other magazine type shows in the earlier days, to filming documentaries.
A few of the locations include to date, most of Europe, the United States, The Middle East, Asia and Africa which I love. Getting to experience places and cultures where the average person doesn't really get to, such as Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, East Timor, even filming silver back gorillas in the rainforests of Uganda, and so many other places. It is always an amazing, humbling and sometimes sobering experience and I am very grateful for it... you get paid, which is a bonus.

Q9. From travel to comedy with Killinaskully both very different styles in terms of sound. What was that like?

Most of my work now is mainly Documentary and Drama work, it's nice to have a mix. I suppose the main difference between the two from a sound point of view, is that with Documentary work, the crew would be alot smaller, usually just a cameraperson/DOP, a sound recordist, a director and maybe a presenter if required. Having a good personality is a must and being able to get on with people, as you might find yourself on the road or around the world for anything up to a week to 5 weeks or maybe longer. You obviously spend alot of time together, sometimes in some extreme places and situations, so a good bond between you is very important. Although Documentaries are scripted to a degree and you pretty much know what the plan is for a day, there are those situations where anything can happen....and does, you just go with the flow which is usually always fun.

Drama / Film work is pretty much always scripted so you know what's going to happen on any given day, so depending on the project they can be a little more relaxed and you can have more control over situations.

Long before I would even step on set for this type of work there is alot of pre-production work to be done. This would involve visiting the locations to be used on the project to see any problems that could arise from a sound point of view, be they exterior or interior locations and there can be many.

Meeting with the different department heads such as the Camera dept / DOP is a vital part of sound. How he or she intends to shoot certain scenes, how they intends to light them has a very important impact on sound. The Wardrobe dept for instance, what the actors will be wearing for any given scene, the type of fabric involved all effect sound... microphones don't like certain fabrics! Editorial dept. or Post Production and their requirements such as how they want sound rushes delivered after each shoot day, e.g. format, frame rate, sample rates and so on all have to be taken into account. What the Directors requirements might be, reading through the scripts to see how many actors are involved in a particular scene, if it is to be shot exterior or interior and how best to approach it to enable you to capture the best sound possible for a given situation... basically ironing out any problems that could arise during the shoot.

The sound crew is also bigger on these projects, I would always have a Boom Operator and maybe a 2nd Boom Operator/Trainee... a good Boom Operator is so important to a location sound recordist, without a good one you're in trouble.

There could be 40+ crew working on these projects between various departments and all jobs are intertwined so that it runs smoothly so again a good personality is important.

Whether its Drama, Documentary or Television, one thing they all have in common is that sound is invisible on picture so a lot of it comes down to puzzle solving and figuring how best to capture it which I enjoy.

Q10. What exciting projects have you got coming up next?

It's been a busy year so far, I finished a Documentary in Dingle based around Dingle and the film festival down there which was directed by Geoff Wonfer who also directed The Beatles Anthology series.

At the moment I’m mid way through a 7 part Drama series with Pat Shortt and going well so far, after that I have series 3 of The Apprentice on which I am the sound supervisor, and then maybe a Documentary out in Iraq and Kuwait with the American military.

Q11. Any advice for Pulse Student about to embark on their career?

I would say to meet as many people as you can in whichever area you have an interest in, be it Studio, Location, Post etc.

Gather as much experience as you can, and that combined with the qualifications you have will give you the confidence to achieve.....and be patient.

Watch, listen...and be nice!