What's the Story?

A film and tv location sound recordist / mixer based in Shropshire near Birmingham and the West Midlands.  I trained in Film and TV technical operations at Ravensbourne in the early 70's and started in studios when four track analogue was all there was. I have worked as a sound engineer in broadcast radio for most of my long career, working for Radio Luxembourg (London), Beacon Radio in Wolverhampton, BRMB Radio in Birmingham, and the Capital Radio Group. My roles included producing commercials, recording and editing all genres of music, documentaries, quiz programs and live event broadcasts. 

In the mid 90's my career diverted into IT, rising to Head of Infrastructure for the Capital Radio Group. I was based in Birmingham but covering the whole UK. In 2005 I left to form my own IT business but my love for recording sound never left and, in 2016, after working on a couple of short films, I used the location sound recording course at the NFTS to adapt my skills to recording sound for film, and so a new chapter began.  Since then I have worked as sound recordist and sound designer on independent short and feature films, corporate, live broadcast and documentary.

If you need an experienced set of ears, an easy going but professional attitude, with good technical skills and some great kit on your next project I'd love to talk. Interested in recording drama, documentary, reality and corporate.         

Credits

Documentary / Factual

I've been lucky enough to be involved in recording sound on some interesting documentary / reality shows for broadcast. My selection of Zaxcom kit ( see below ) allows me to travel light and be nimble and unobtrosive on location while providing very sophisticated capabilities and sounding great.

Ian Edwards film sound documentary birmingham west midlands

Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 (2022) BBC One

Watch on iplayer here

I recorded the master interview with Jay at his workshop in Telford, Shropshire. The documentary was brodcast on BBC One in 2022 and has been nominated for "Best Science Documentary" at the 2022 Grierson British Documentary Awards .

documentary sound recording Birmingham West Midlands

Spaghetti Junction 50th Anniversary: The One Show BBC1 (2022)

Presented by Richie Anderson I provided location sound for this One Show insert celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the construction of Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham.

sound recording documentary interviews solihull, Birmingham, West midlands

My Life - Leading the Dance: CBBC (2021)

I recorded interviews in Birmingham for this  documentary following 14-year-old disabled dancer Neisha as she works with choreographer Kate Stanforth to devise an artistic dance video with an industrial robot.

live location sound from Solihull, Birmingham, West Midlands

Cost of Living Special - Good Morning Britain: ITV  (2022)

I provided live sound from Solihull in Birmingham for interview inserts into a Good Morning Britain "Cost of Living" special, co-presented by Martin Lewis.

live sound recording from Weston Park, Staffordshire, West Midlands

Top Gear Gaming Show Ep4: BBC Online (2021)

I recorded live sound for an episode of this online show as presenters Mike and Julia compare real life drone racing with a video game. Recorded at Weston Park, Staffordshire. 

live sound location recording in Birmingham, West Bromwhich and Coventry.

Strike A Change: Online (2022)

Location sound  on a documentary for the Cyrille Regis Legacy Trust’s Strike a Change mentoring programme. The documentary features six students talking to their parents or a member of the community from a Commonwealth country.

location sound recording from the Royal Welsh Sowground.

Escape to the Farm: Channel 5 (2022)

A trip to the Royal Welsh showground to record a piece about the Smalholding and Countryside Festival for a future episode of "Escape to the Farm" with Kate Humble.

Corporate

A few of the corporate jobs I have worked on as sound recordist and which at the time of posting are available to view online ( Youtube / Facebook / Vimeo ).
Click the images to view (external links).

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

McCain and Family Fund: Gregg Wallace (2022)

Interviews recorded as Gregg Wallace visits a family in Oswestry, Shropshire  who have been helped by the charity Family Fund, supported by McCain.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Linnaeus: Customer Experience Film (2022)

In this edit the two contibutors from Avonvale vets in Warwick, West Midlands, were recorded by me on a day spent with customers and staff.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Meridian Audio:  The Next Generation Loudspeaker (2022)

Product explainer videos recorded in the reverb chamber that is Junction 1 1 Studio 1, Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

BMI Redland: Apprentice of the Year (2021)

Following the three day roofing apprentice training and competition recording interviews and actuality at BMI's training centre in the Cotswolds.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Labour Party: Ready for Life (2021)

Labour Party campaign film. I was sound recordist for interviews and a group discussion between students from Stoke-on-Trent and Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Big Property Services Golf Marathon (2021)

A dawn to dusk golf marathon raising money for prostate cancer. Location sound was recorded "on the run" at the Cotswolds Golf Club in Oxfordshire.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

BAe Systems: iCase Awards (2021)

I recorded the interviews with Jithin Kannanthara and Mathew Storey from  Birmingham and  Cranfield Universities explaining their entries into  the BAe Systems iCase Awards.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Winston's Wish: Liam's Story (2019)

A touching story made by Azara Media for Winston's Wish, a charity that supports children bereaved by suicide. Filmed at a school near Coventry.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Nova Innovation: Investment Opportunities (2019)

A promotional film for Nova Innovation based in Edinburgh aimed at potential investors. The sequences I recorded  are intercut with archive material, you can hear the difference ( hint: my audio is better ).

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Crafting Futures: Jahday Ford (2019)

Part of the "Why I Make" film series for the British Council. Made by DGS Media profiling glass blower Jahday Ford, recorded at The Red House Glass Cone in Stourbridge, West Midlands.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

Neolith at KBB (2018)

Neolith is an Italian company importing granite surfaces to the UK. this was filmed on their stand at the Kitchen Bathroom and Bedroom show at the Birmingham NEC in 2018.

Corporate film sound recordist Cotswolds

It's Kushti to Rokker: Hard Road to Travel (2019)

One of a series made by the Rural Media Company in Hereford for Travellers Times Films to promote mental health awareness amongst the traveller community.

Narrative

Some of the narrative titles I've been involved with as sound recordist, boom op, sound designer, or all three. Most of these films have been nominated for or won awards including Best Film at the Birmingham Film Festival 2019 for "Hello Darlin".
Tap or hover the posters for more info.

Testimonials

Some nice things people have said about me and my film and tv sound work after very little persuasion.

Gallery

Some behind the scenes shots showing some of what I do.

Gear

"The right mic in the right place at the right time"

My rig is based around the Zaxcom Nova, a compact, lightweight and power efficient audio mixer / recorder from a leading US manufacturer.  Highlights of this machine are it's sixteen record tracks, six analogue inputs, and, with the two receiver modules I have installed, up to eight channels of built in digital wireless. The Nova uniquely features the Zaxnet remote control system enabling rapid set up and adjustment of wireless transmitters from the mixer.

This makes for a very powerful and portable system. I am able to move quickly from location to location and have worked in the tiniest of spaces. This rig is perfect for documentary and reality work while being totally capable of handling corporate and narrative.

In addition to my Zaxcom kit I can feed timecode and audio to up to four cameras, and have a growing range of microphones ( Sennheiser, Neumann and Sanken ), booms, stands, sound blankets etc perfect for every occasion!

To sum up, it sounds great, it allows me to be mobile with quite a sophisticated rig and work fast even in confined spaces on set, and carrying it all around won't break my back!

Seen here on set for "Mudlark"

Showreel

This showreel from 2018 shows some examples of my work both as a sound recordist and sound designer. Please check back shortly as I'm working on an updated version of this with a lot more material.

Contact Me

Location Recording

Location sound recording for narrative, factual, documentary and corporate.

Sound Design

Post production re-recording, foley, dialogue edit, audio cleanup, mixing and sound design.

 Please do get in touch to chat through your film sound requirements. 
I have Enhanced DBS and am a BBC external supplier.
I am based centrally in Shropshire and have easy access to Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond.

Location sound recording in the West Midlands serving Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, location sound mixer in Oxfordshire. Film sound recordist in Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Sound Recordist in Birmingham, Worcester, Hereford, Gloucester, Stafford, Birmingham and the Black Country. and travel UK wide. Post production sound, sound design, mixing, restoration and clean-up  operating remotely for anyone anywhere!

An Aside

Accounts Software

One of the hardest parts of being a freelancer is keeping track of finances. When I first started freelancing I had real problems with cash flow, I wasn't getting paid becuase I wasn't invoicing in a timely manner. It causes your clients problems if you invoice when they've closed their books on a project, and I found using spreadsheets became a nightmare as soon as I got busy. Happily I had an IT consultant in my business (me) so I looked for a solution and came up with Kashflow. Now I invoice accurately within a day or two of a job finishing and know what's been paid and what hasn't. Completing company accounts at year end is so much easier too. if you want to try Kashflow for free follow my affiliate link below!