MUSIC+SOUND AWARDS TALK TO...
DAVE POOLE, SOUND ENGINEER
JUNGLE STUDIOS
January 2016
What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently? It has to be the Duracell Star Wars commercial. Like going to watch an old favourite band, all you want to see are the hits. This is what Duracell delivers from the off. A Duracell powered Lightsabre fires up, emitting the unmistakable, loin-stirring hum. Next we see the camp, flamboyant C-3PO standing next to R2-D2. Then what follows is a flurry of iconic characters, sound effects and 'that' theme music. Filling your screen and speakers alike. Never has an advert for batteries excited so much!
What’s the most recent piece of tech you’ve bought and why? It’s not so much a piece of tech I have recently bought, as a piece I have dusted off and brought out from under the bed. I’m speaking record players here, more specifically the classic Silver Technic SL 1200’s. The ubiquitous DJ deck is virtually featureless, but, also flawless and indestructible. The direct drive turntable allows vinyl to be thoroughly mangled and manipulated and beats to be matched for hours at a time.
Desert Island Disc? I’ve recently become obsessed with all things D.I.S.C.O particularly anything associated with the legendary Paradise Garage club and resident DJ Larry Levan. (Interesting Paradise Garage facts – it was named after its origins as a parking garage & served no alcohol). At the top of my Desert Island Disco Disc List would be: Richie Havens – Going Back To My Roots. First a sublime piano intro, then, prepare to melt when Richie’s vocals drop. My luxury item would be one of my recently dusted off Technics to slap this record on!
What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started out. There are no more cassette tapes. Clem Fandango now has a beard.
If there was one thing you could change about your industry, what would it be? Stop wasting Sushi.
What one piece of advice would you give someone relating to approaching sound in their project? If you are recording for TV don’t leave the sound as an add-on to your project. Make it a priority from the start and save yourself some pain later on.
There’s a fire in your studio and you can save just one thing – what would it be? It would have to be the high power Genelec 7071A Subwoofer from our cinema room at Jungle Studios. 120db’s worth of delicious room-shaking bass.
Have you worked on anything in the last year that you’re really excited about? The most interesting spot I worked on recently was the Oculus Rift launch for the Fiat 500x. The spot was created in 360 VR at Framestore, and we designed the soundscape. The most effective element of this for us was being able to lock the audio to the position of the visual elements. So turning away from the car meant the sound stayed where it should be relative to your head movements. Every person I saw who took the headset and headphones off afterwards had the same "blown away" look on their face. It's brought a new meaning to "immersive" for me.
