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MillimeterConfessions of an Audio Tech, Part 1
Sep 23, 2009 12:00 PM, By Matt Jepson
How to land the gig.
As an audio tech for MythBusters, Matt Jepson has been behind the scenes for many interesting episodes. For the sonic boom episode (pictured), Jepson recorded the Blue Angels flying 100ft. overhead as the team tried to see if the sonic boom would shatter glass on the ground. "Yes the ground shakes when that happens!" he says.
What do Bill Gates, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Madden, John Travolta, the Raiderettes, Sheryl Crow, James Lovell, Joan Baez, Anthrax, and Joe Montana all have in common? I shoved my hand up all their shirts and wasn't carted off by the police.
I am a freelance audio tech based in the San Francisco Bay area. I work predominantly in television, documentary, and corporate video production, doing any thing from single-camera run-and-gun to multicam global satellite uplinks. For the last 15 years, I have had front-row seats to see artists, politicians, CEOs, entertainers, criminals, and major sport events. I get to see it edited and unedited.
Get in the van
I got into this business because I can pack a van well. I was a student at San Francisco State University at the time and was asked by a friend if I wanted to be a production assistant (PA) on a documentary about Buddhism in the West. I showed up a bit early at the rental house where the crew was meeting, Magnetic Image Video, and packed the gear in the van. The manager of the rental house, Cael Hazard, liked the way I packed the van and asked if I ever wanted to go out on other shoots. The answer was, "Yes!" That day, I went to Spirit Rock Meditation Center to spend some time listening to monks, then I went to their organic gardens on the coast and ate an amazing lunch they prepared, and got paid a couple hundred dollars for the day. "I'm in," I said. For a kid in his early 20s, that was an easy decision. The other really cool thing for me was that, as a TV junkie, I had watched a lot of TV and now I got to see how it was made.
Timing is everything
As everyone knows, when you work in video production, if you show up exactly at the written call time, you're 15 minutes late. It also helps if you are in the right place at the right time with the right skills. For me, it was having recording skills during the dot-com bubble days.
As I said, I was attending San Francisco State when I started out as a PA. I was an inter-arts major. This was a unique art major where the student could combine art disciplines. Mine was a combination of film, screenwriting, and music. I had been making jungle and house tracks for dance labels and doing a bit of composing for commercials. The video PA thing was a side gig for fun and extra cash.
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