Crew of the month

Chris Corner Sound Recordist
www.chriscorner.co.uk

Just back from the Scottish and British Opens at Loch Lomond and St Andrews and I can sit down and write for Northern Exposure's web page.

I started recording sound while at school, which feels a long time ago. In fact I recorded anything I could with what ever I could get my hands on. I even ended up with a glorious piece of North East engineering, a Ferrograph. At about that time I bumped into a BBC film crew, about "20 strong", out on a shoot in Hartlepool and I thought "that looks good fun".

In 1979 I joined Radio Tees in Dovecote Street Stockton, my first full time job! In their Sound department run by Chas Kennedy, now of Canford Audio, I was given a firm grounding in what being a Sound Engineer meant. After a few years I was attracted towards the glamour of Television and its pay packets, and moved north to Tyne Tees Television in Newcastle. This time under the direction of John Overton and, his Sound Department I learnt what sound recording was about when you had cameras getting in the way.

I was there for nearly 12 years and saw a company producing network shows for ITV and the start of Channel 4. The Tube, Highway, Friday Night Live, Razzmatazz were all weekly entries on the Time Sheet. They were good years and a lot of the current Northeast crews came from that background.

But good things don’t always last for ever, and in 1993 regional ITV was politically unpopular and was starting to fall apart, and I leapt into the freelance pool. Since then I’ve worked as a sound recordist in Film and TV, and as a sound engineer in outside broadcasts. My aim is to work in the North of England and be near my family, but as with all freelance careers I do end up travelling from time to time. To that end I work with many of the North’s independent production companies, Dene Films, Corona Films, Planet North, Northern Upstarts, along with National independent’s like Talk Back Thames on shows like Grand Designs and The Culture Show. The Outside broadcast sector has also been very busy, with companies such as NEP Visions, Telegenic and CTV providing a lot of Sky generated sport. With the start of the new season, and Newcastle back in the Premiership, the first football dates have already started to be passed around.

Being a sound engineer has allowed me to work in many different fields of our industry from Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials to Dene Films latest 3D film on Hadrians Wall. I have covered most sports and worked on documentaries in what feels like nearly everything. In 2000/01 I worked as a Sound Recordist on the main unit of a feature film called Spy Game directed by Tony Scott and with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford. This year brings the offer of another feature film in the autumn, so I have managed to have a varied time since those days at Tyne Tees. And its still good fun!So what next after all that golf, maybe a holiday.