Shocking. Look at the state of this lapel microphone? It went over to Ireland in the summer to record a lady who wanted to learn to ride a bicycle. It returned looking like a bad case of spaghetti wrapped in black seaweed fighting with a gerbil. One of the many roles I have in the daily toil is looking after the recording kit. My orderly mind quite likes having things neatly put away on shelves in boxes, properly labeled and ready for the off. When I arrived in the department three years ago, this was one of my first jobs - for the kit cupboard looked like a nerdy teenagers bedroom who has lost the electronics plot. I'm sure for years the kit room door was just opened and whatever it in the hand of whoever, was simply hurled into the carpeted abyss. I took me three months to get to the other end of the room and it was only 10 feet long. Skip loads of obsolete electronic stuff was sent off for recycling, mini disc recorders - who used them ever? Some of it was so old it went to a London props company for set dressing period dramas.
Today I received the above lapel mic and a box containing, and I quote - STUFF! That stuff turned out to be three Canon SLR cameras, two Canon G series compact cameras and a gimbal. Expensive stuff in my mind, but all unceremoniously hurled into a cardboard box. I spent my lunchtime regaining control of the lapel mic, gently snipping away layers of gaffa tape and cleaning the wire with a damp rag. I love doing this side of my work, sound and all that is. As I grappled with the enormity of the task, I chuckled thinking of the poor lady who while recording her faltering steps on a two wheeled cycle fell into a ditch twice. Apparently the recordings are fabulous, as she tumbled into the mire. I'll let the producer off then, for returning the kit looking like a bad case of spaghetti wrapped in black seaweed fighting with a gerbil.
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