Confessions of an Audio Tech, Part 1

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.

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.

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.

One of the places MythBusters has taken Jepson is the Alaskan wilderness for the Alaska Week special.

There was ton of video work during the dot-com bubble days. Silicon Valley was hot. Between the breakthrough technology, twentysomethings making way too much money, the initial public offering (IPO) parties being covered by news, and the dot-coms hiring production houses and crews to make videos, it was crazy busy. Everyone wanted their products covered, and at the time there were not enough skilled people to cover it all—especially audio techs. Everyone wants to be a camera operator and no one thinks of being an audio tech. I love it. You get to hear everything that is being said when the red light is on and when it's off.

Because there were so few audio techs, I was an apprentice on a fast track. Even though I didn't have experience as an ENG audio tech, I had been recording music for years and I learned on the job. I quickly got to go from a PA to utility (glorified PA) to an A2 to an A1. No one was going to complain because they needed someone, anyone, with any understanding of gain structure to ride the levels correctly.

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Confessions of an Audio Tech, Part 2 I have been working as an audio tech on MythBusters since 2005, and without hesitation, I can say it has been one of the most wacky, nail-biting, educational, demanding, and just plain hysterical jobs I have ever had... Confessions of an Audio Tech, Part 3 My audio rig for MythBusters is what is known as a 602 setup: two Sound Devices 302 mixers linked together. I really love this rig because it has 6 channels, it's still lighter and slightly smaller than some 4-channel mixers...

In all my years as an audio tech, I have only been asked for a résumé once. Every job was word of mouth. You either do a good job and play well with others or you don't get the calls. That introduction to Cael Hazard of Magnetic Image Video was the most important moment for my career. Magnetic Image Video is Northern California's largest rental house. Everyone on its staff was super friendly to me, and they knew their gear inside and out. People would talk about the talented staff that went through there as attending "MI University." As a PA, I would go out on jobs and watch and ask questions of its staff. Hazard referred my services to other quality production houses such as Beyond Pix Studios and Total Video (now Total Media Group) and various independent producers. All combined, I started having a lot of work and was really enjoying it. The Bay Area has many talented and interesting people in video production, so it was always fun and educational.

If anyone asked me what college to get into for video production work, I would say, "Don't!" Work as a PA or intern at a quality production facility and get real-world experience. Don't get me wrong; college is a great for raging keggers, snogging, and the study of Kierkegaard. But if you want to learn how sound is done for a documentary, assist a professional audio tech who specializes in sound for documentary. If, on the other hand, you want to be the next Spielberg, I would definitely say go to USC, UCLA, or NYU. Great teachers, endowments, and contacts.

Next time: life on the MythBusters set.

Matt Jepson is a freelance audio tech based in the San Francisco Bay area who has worked on MythBusters since 2005.