I wish that I could say that the life of a professional Production Sound Mixer consisted only of sitting around on a large, Hollywood feature film set while being obscenely overpaid. But more often than not, we actually have to work for a living and that often entails mixing low budget "reality" television (video shot for cable, etc.)

Most articles that deal with Production Sound Recording for video/film tend to cover microphones and recording/mixing techniques. I am not going to cover audio from the Sound Mixer's perspective, but rather from the contributions of other Departments. Why should other Departments care about improving audio? After all, except for Editing, the sound is not their responsibility, right?

Good sound and picture does not happen by accident nor on its own. It requires concerted efforts from all the production executives (producer, director, production manager) as well as from members of the crew. Success in every aspect of filmmaking hinges upon decisions made early on during the pre-production process.

From location scouting, crewing, and dealing with rental houses, this series covers essentials of the pre-production process.

Hardly a day ever passes that the FilmTVsound staff is not besieged with phone calls from novices and students wanting to know how to get started in Production Sound, or from professional mixers crying the blues over how they got screwed over on their last gig. So for the benefit of some of our younger and less combat experienced readers, here are some personal views on how to survive as an up and coming free-lancers.