So there I was, sitting in my state of the art multi track-recording studio surrounded by hi-tech buttons and wondering what on Earth was going to happen next. It was January 2nd 2000, my first official full time day at Red Sock Productions. How did I get here, did I know what I was doing, was it all a big mistake and was the bloody phone ever going to ring?- And that’s when it did!
Reaching across the desk I gingerly pick up the instrument, take a deep breath thinking, it’s taken 20 years to get this far don’t blow it now!
“Hello Red Sock Productions”
Back in the early 1980’s while studying electronics in college a friend of mine announced he was setting up a pirate radio station and asked me to help with the transmitters. Now it was well known to everybody at the time (except me that is) that anyone who had anything to do with pirate radio eventually ended up on the wrong end of a microphone, and guess what- as soon as I got that coveted Degree I instantly embraced a future in hi-tech-engineering… as a DJ!
Soon I discovered the world of Commercial Production. I guess I had all the necessary attributes; a good voice , acting ability along with a creative flare in writing and the technical skills of a sound engineer. Life was busy.
I was broadcasting and producing at CBC Radio Clonmel; on Saturdays I did the afternoon show on Crystal City Sound in Waterford, and somehow managed to find the time to produce commercials for those stations as well as WLR and Dungarvan. That’s when I got a call from ERI in Cork (only the biggest pirate radio station in the area) with a polite invitation to take over their production department. I considered the offer in depth as I drove at 70mph towards that City by the Lee.
ERI was great fun and introduced me to a whole new world of radio production with exotic and unheard of tools such as music libraries
and sound effects. (no more coconut shells and armpit fart noises then)
But alas all good things must come to an end and by 1989 so did all the pirates, something to do with obeying the law (hadn’t heard that one before) So I set up my own Consultancy Business, lectured at the RTC (now CIT) as part of their PR course and went back to school to get my teaching Dip in Acting from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (L.A.M.D.A.)- posh huh!
A couple of months later four ex-journalists from the Cork Examiner (as it was then) got the new Local Radio license for Cork City and approached me to write and record the Jingle package for Radio South, and train the broadcast staff - I was back in the saddle again!
To cut a long story short (you only get 30” in Commercial Production you know) I stayed on as part of the Management Team and Head of Production for the next ten years. The Station had by then grown into Cork’s 96/103FM and was the most successful in the country.
I had kept up my independent production business since the CBC days and by 1996 this had grown into into a very busy sideline (about to get busier).
In April of that year I officially formed Red Sock Productions and the rest as they say is history! Why Red Sock? - That’s not for the Internet, but if you want to buy me a pint some night!!!!!
The amount of work that flowed in pleasantly surprised me. Not just Radio stuff but TV, Corporate Video, Creative Writing, Seminars etc. I had picked up a lot of awards in Radio and Theatre along the way and suddenly discovered I was well respected in the industry. (Oh God I had become respectable!)
It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger - HELP!!!!! Finally something had to give; not enough hours in the day.
Girding my loins (can you say that in public?) I told my boss I would see him through the Christmas rush and then I was heading for the hills.
Red Sock was about to go Solo!
So there I was, sitting in my state of the art multi track-recording Studio….....
And the Phone call? It was from an Advertising Agency, a big one, telling me they were sending business my way.
Thanks lads (you know who you are) your timing was perfect!
Good grief, it’s 2009, where did the last 10 years go? I still have my hair, my wife and my 3 children, but alas the God given authority of an omnipotent father figure has slowly ebbed away, to become the slightly shabby form of “the old man” to a bunch of unrecognizable teenagers whose only utterances apart from the odd Neanderthal grunt, are “No” and “Wallet”!
And my goodness hasn’t the world changed! Technology has gone into overdrive! Not so long ago I had to travel to Dublin to meet clients and do strange things in studios - not anymore, Its all video conferencing this and ISDN that. I hardly leave the studio now, just sit like a hermit slaving over a hot mixing desk. We bought a little place in France some years ago and thanks to all the technical stuff, I can sit in the sun and still be at work. I spend 8 to 10 weeks in France most years and dont miss the rain in Cork at all!
And then there’s this thing called a recession. I try to tell the youngsters (anyone under 40!) that we older folk have been there and done that back in the 70’s and 80’s and it’s really not all its cracked up to be (in fact it’s shite!) but they still insist on having one. I guess they were feeling left out!
Just as well I like beans on toast and I’m told one can still sell a child for medical research, so we’ll get on just fine.
Still picking up the odd radio award I’m glad to say. The Radio Advertising Awards committee even invited me to be a judge not so long ago, so of course I won everything that year!
The studio is now full of new buttons, it’s all digital, all computerized…..................and frankly all beyond me. I miss my old cassette deck!
Back then when you hit the “On” knob, the thing lit up you knew it was working. Now the thing lights up just fine, but little screens tell you there’s a wrong word clock or a sync alignment procedure not correctly followed. But hey look on the bright side, it may be knackered…...........but it looks impressive and cost a shitload!
I’ve had some fun and interesting projects over the years. One of my favourites was re-recording the Knack’s mega hit “My Sharona” to the lyrics of “My Corona”. It involved recording the music from scratch with a new arrangement and producing a talented bunch of singers. Check out the results on the work sample and let me know what you think (try to keep the swear words to a minimum).
The work has changed a lot though. Back in 2000 it was almost entirely about full radio production, now I spend as much time writing creative copy, planning corporate DVD’s, working on IVR systems and just doing voice overs for someone else to produce. Recently I produced a voice over session with Brian McGuigan (he of McGuigan wines fame) in an ISDN live link up with Brian in Sydney, a producer in London and me in my studio. I was well impressed I can tell you, but when I tried to impress the teenagers at the breakfast table, I was told “it’s only a glorified phone call Dad, get over it!” - Welcome to my life!