Phil Freudenfeld, sound editor and dubbing mixer, known for his work on titles including Line Of Duty, Ripper Street, Talking Heads, The Best Possible Taste and In The Hands Of the Gods, tells us about how and why he chose to become freelance.   

Freudenfeld started his career in post sound for film & TV quite late in life.  “I did not set off with a plan to work in sound for moving image at a young age. It was my love of Punk music, Ska and Dub reggae and the era of acid house & the Rave scene of the late 80’s & early 90’s that took me on a journey into sound for film and TV.”

The recession at the start of 90’s saw him unemployed & working in low paid unskilled jobs and whilst working in a brewery on a bottle line, he took a small loan out and bought an Atari 1040ST running Notator and a mixing desk plus some synths, such as a Novation Bass station, a Boss DR 660 and a Sony DAT player. “I started to create electronic music and collaborated with others and played some gigs. Eventually I thought I could and should learn more about sound engineering, to find a career path and away out from a factory floor.”

He undertook a course in audiovisual studies at the Bournemouth Arts Institute, using his recordings of his music from his DAT tapes for the interview. “I was accepted onto the course back in 98’. The BTEC course allowed me to explore film making and working with others on visual content, my passion for sound creation was now fixed on finding a career path to working within the film industry. From there I did a BA Hon’s degree on the Film & Animation course, specialising in sound again at The Bournemouth Arts Institute now called Arts University Bournemouth. The course helped open doors to possibilities and a future working in sound postproduction.”

A former tutor of his spoke about how postproduction facility De Lane Lea was looking for a runner. “I applied and got the job even though I wasn’t good at making coffee! I soon found myself working back to back on features, supporting the various in-house mixers and freelancers coming through the doors on various projects. Eventually I moved over to sound editing working on various TV dramas and indie features.”

As for favourite projects, he has several. “I have been lucky and grateful to have been part of some great projects, from working in the back rooms and studios of De Lane Lea’s Dubbing theatres, such as studio 1; on features such as ‘Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban’ to cutting the sound design for Series 1 of the BBC1 drama ‘Line Of Duty’ and more recently mixing and sound editing five episodes of Alan Bennett’s long running Series ‘Talking Heads’.”

One of his favourite shows to work on was the re-launch of ‘Ripper Street’ on Amazon. “That was lovely to work on and it was great to delve into Victorian London to do the sound design for that show. I went to the British Telecom archives where they kindly let me record some of their old telephones from that era to use on the show.” He also recorded sounds of the North Sea, for some of the scenes in ‘Ripper Street’, where the real ‘Hampton On Sea’ existed. “I like to think of those recordings as a connection to the show and its real authentic past; I enjoy recording my own sound effects for projects and try to do this as much as I possibly can.”

In 2009 Freudenfeld found himself facing redundancy. “I was fortunate though that same year to work on Tim Burtons ‘Alice in Wonderland’ so I had a good step into becoming freelance. For me I think it’s the experience of working in-house then becoming freelance which has allowed me to explore more areas of post sound that perhaps I wouldn’t have touched on. My freelance career and experiences in post sound have seen me working on TV drama’s, documentary’s, features, adverts as well as online content…etc, so I believe being freelance has developed my skill set where I can now bring those experiences to a team.”

Like many freelancers, keeping work coming in and avoiding the famine feast cycle is the biggest challenge along with being in the middle of a pandemic. “This Covid crisis is the biggest challenge to the film & TV industry since it started and of course many areas of post-production are being affected, be it at a facility or as a freelancer.”  However he has found great opportunities too.  “Meeting new people in the industry and being able to visit different facilities has been the greatest opportunity through being freelance, also pushing me as an individual to keep learning along with the opportunity to work in many different areas of post sound within the Film & TV industry such as a feature, a TV drama or a documentary, keeping my work varied.”

In his studio set up he works with 7.1, pro-tools ultimate, Ableton, Izotope RX & much more! “I like to use Ableton 10 in pro-tools via Rewire to manipulate sound effects and enjoy using Izotope RX8 to fix dialogue issues and clean out those unwanted frequencies.”

Looking forward, Freudenfeld says that the age of streaming is fully established and this has been highlighted more by Covid and consumer need. “I hope this will make a strong future for the continuation of film and TV content whilst allowing more creativity and independent productions, creating a vehicle to allow and explore diversity, inspire new film makers and individuals across the many disciplines within an ever evolving industry. In doing so, create and maintain jobs, be it as a freelancer or working at a post facility.”

As for anyone considering freelance in the current climate, he says “If you have no choice, perhaps you have sadly been made redundant due to the crisis, of course bring your skills, but if your working in a facility and perhaps you were thinking of going freelance prior to the Covid crisis then, right now I believe this is not perhaps a great time to go freelance.”

As for those starting their careers he says “Don’t give up, keep your dreams alive, keep making sound, practice using old films, watch online tutorials, keep abreast of the technology and software being used, read online journals. Make connections with people you know in the industry, reach out to those you don’t know. Try although I’m sure right now under Covid restrictions to get some work experience, or a  job as a runner! But make sure your coffee is bad!”

www.freud-sound.com