Andrew Godsall – What Was Pebble Mill?

Dave Baumber

Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission

Dubbing mixer, Dave Baumber, sadly died on Wednesday 6th August, of a brain tumour.

Dave was a legendary dubbing mixer, and one of the best in the business. He had great skills, and if he said something couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done. Anyone working in any production team was always delighted if Dave was available to mix their programme. Dave worked originally for the BBC in London, and was head hunted, when Pebble Mill opened, to move up to Birmingham and work primarily on drama.

I was talking today to Phil Thickett and he told me a story of working with Dave. Phil, was seconded from cameras to find out more about different departments and spent a couple of weeks with Dave, in dubbing, on Boys from the Blackstuff. Apparently what used to happen at the beginning of each day of the mix was that director, Philip Saville, would come in to the dubbing area and run his hand along the entire collection of BBC sound effects on disc, and select one at random. He would then hand the disc to Dave, and give him a side and track number. The challenge was for Dave to incorporate the chosen sound effect into the final mix. Dave was extremely creative about how to use the sound effect – sometimes slowing it down or speeding it up, or even playing it backwards, but he always managed to get the effect in, and for it not to stand out to anyone listening to the mix – the sign of a real professional!

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:

Peter Poole: ‘Dave was at the top of his craft. He was a lovely man and a perfect gentleman. I will never forget his help when I joined the BBC. He was an inspiration to me. He will not be forgotten.’

Andrew Godsall: ‘I worked with Dave on and off between 1978 and 1981. He was a positive, ‘can do’ person who had that great mix of positive criticism of the institution we all worked for. He was forward thinking and looking, and respected by all his colleagues. He knew about team work and knew when to work and when to play. The dubbing theatre at Pebble Mill was a creative and fun place to be around.
Around that time Dave had just moved out to the country and loved growing veg and living the Good Life. What a great guy. May he rest peace.’

Philip Morgan: ‘I was honoured to work in the record room for Dave at Pebble Mill and at Oxford Road when he came up to mix a dub there as well. He was a real professional and always helpful and (reasonably) tolerant of my mistakes and lack of knowledge. In the 1970’s film dubbing was very much a mechanical and analogue process. The bays (Perfectone) would rock’n’roll and stop and start with a “graunching” sound – the Assistant Recordist in the record room hoping that all the splices on the mag tracks held and that ‘drop-ins’ on the record track would be imperceptible. When Dave was faced with inferior soundtrack materials he would grumble that editors would go out with the same standard they came in with – but then he would somehow work his mixing magic and raise the standard anyway!’

Ray Lee: ‘I first met Dave at Lime Grove when I was in Film Maintenance, and I believe Alan Dyke was the senior dubbing mixer. Dave one day rang down to say the fuses had blown in the “Keller” a flatbed 16mm trnasport with 6 sepmag tracks and two optical tracks. It was a 50min programme due to be aired later, that day, and about half way in. I went armed with a pocket full of fuses, powered down and replaced them. Fortunately when repowered all appeared to be well, and the tracks still appeared to be in sync when the transport was relocked. If they had had to wind back to the top and resync on the leaders, there was some doubt as to whether the programme would be ready in time for transmission.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘I remember particularly working with Dave on location in Morecambe bay. He was fun and professional. Great guy.’

Eurwyn Jones: ‘I also worked with Dave in the Dubbing theatre as a projectionist along with Stan Treasurer. He was a true professional and perfectionist and tackled heavy drama dubbing with such skill. Film editors came from different regions just to have him dub their productions. If Stan was still with us I’m sure he would agree with all the comments here wholeheartedly . It was a pleasure to know him.’

Murray Clarke senior: ‘So very sad. On my first television drama All Creatures Great and Small, Pebble Mill gave me Dave as a BOOM SWINGER – just to keep an eye on me and advise me!!! He’d been a Dubbing Mixer for years by this time. A lovely gentle man.’

Personnel Department Memo

Memo from Mary Mallet in Personnel to film editor, Charles White, about the need to produce his birth certificate due to joining the BBC Pension Scheme.

I particularly like the sarcastic tone of the first line!

Thanks to Charles for sharing the letter, and keeping it safe!

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Page:

Louis Robinson: ‘In the awful, awful days of the bloodbath that was the “Pamela Armstrong Show” Mary Mallett saved my sanity. Caught between two warring factions of management, she convinced me not to resign and leave. For that I am forever grateful.’

Mary Sanchez: ‘Hey! I worked on Pam Armstrong show ! Hilarious ! I’d only been at the Beeb a few weeks and this show was a real eye opener!’

Stuart Gandy: ‘Andy Tylee was the ‘personnel officer’ which was what they were called in those days, who I was assigned to when I joined.’

Marie Phillps: ‘Yes Stuart – Andy knew every member of staff he was responsible for and introduced many innovations including Career Development amd workshops for we “penpushers” to better understand the pressure and timescales faced by programme makers
I loved my morning Vision Mixing ! He gave me lots of confidence and is owed much by many. Still my Second Son!’

Andrew Godsall: ‘That is fabulous! I recall my first personnel officer at the BBC back in 1977. I was 18 and had no idea that I could just behave normally and didn’t have to bow and scrape to authority…she told me how she hadn’t really wanted to recruit me as she thought I should have gone to university instead! Then we talked about jazz and how much she loved it. Hardly any work talk at all!’

Pete Simpkin: ‘They certainly don’t make them like Mary in this sophisticated age!!’

Film Sound Transfer Suite

Photos by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

These photos are of the Film Sound Transfer Suite, G07, from the 1970s, at Pebble Mill. The machines in the lower photo are sep-mag recorders.

The following information was added on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Pete Simpkin: ‘Sep-mag was a boon to Regional TV news especially as it enabled proper independent editing of sound and picture at speed. The news stories were shot on cine film which had a magnetic coating along the edge onto which the location sound was recorded by the camera. After processing the magnetic strip, sound was transferred to separate magnetic film track, the same 16mm guage as the picture, and then the editors could drop in overlay shots whilst the sound was continuous on the sepmag. If there was time, dubbing and mixing of commentary and effects would be possible, but there was rarely time for this. As telecine operators, we had the challenge of ‘locking -up’ or synchronising the sepmag track and the picture film on the two machines for transmission. Time had to be built in to the programme running order for this to be achieved, but with things happening at speed, it was not unknown for the locking to fail and one of the reels could run wild and cause much mayhem! Happy days!’

Peter Poole: ‘Pete has described the sound process for regional TV news. Com-mag audio quality is only suitable for speech recording. Network and other regional TV progammes were shot on a crystal controlled film camera. The sound was recorded on a Nagra tape recorder. To ensure synchronization a pilot tone is recorded with the audio. In the transfer suite the pilot tone is synchronized and the audio is transfered to the Sep-Mag film. Sound transfer was originally carried out in the dubbing theatre record room. With the increasing film production this system became unable to cope. A dedicated transfer suite was set up in room G07. Pebble Mill was the first and probably the only one to buy PAG recorders. They were made in the UK and cheaper than the Perfecton recorders. The PAG machines had poor reliability. The breaks would often fail. Watching 2000 ft. of film being thrown across the room was not a good experience! They were eventually replaced by Perfecton machines.’

Andrew Godsall: ‘Those PAG machines had a meccano like quality about them. I turned up at Pebble Mill not long after GO7 was set up and it was just a conference room with equipment plugged directly together if I recall. It had domestic type cassette players and tape recorders as well as the PAG machines and a Nagra. But it was treated with respect and produced great results. Eventually the room was hard wired and connections appeared on a jackfield. It had a window on to the outside world and that could make it a good place to work.’

Andrew Godsall in Dubbing Theatre Record Room

Photos by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

There are a couple of photos of Andrew Godsall in Pebble Mill, Dubbing Theatre record room in the 1970s. You can see some sep-mag film on the right-handside of the photo. Andrew was an Assistant Recordist at the time, making transfers of location recordings on to 16mm mag for the film editors and assistants to match up with the 16mm film. Andrew can even remember that the telephone extension number was 2048!

Attachment Allowance Claim Form

Thanks to Giles Herbert for making this 1988 Transfer/Attachment Allowance Claim Form available.

Staff going on Attachment (when staff were transferred temporarily to another department, often in another building elsewhere in the country) would fill in these forms to claim the allowances they were due.

The Attachment scheme was a great way for staff to develop, and try out departments and jobs they might always have wanted to work in, but without either the member of staff or the new department having to commit permanently to the arrangement. It allowed many members of staff to move from into more challenging positions.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:

Andrew Godsall: ‘I didn’t do attachments at Pebble Mill but did two when I was in London. It was just a great system that allowed you to broaden your horizons in all kinds of ways. It was really forward thinking and one of the best things about being a member of BBC staff.’

Steve Dellow: ‘Hmm…sounds like an good excuse to go in my loft and dig out some T&DE forms, and some of John Malby’s excellent Radio Links planning sheets! Sched A anyone?! My favourites were the Cash Advance forms! ‘

Fiona Barton: ‘What about leave forms – remember when we got bisque (sp?) days? And ERR forms…extra responsibility reward – when did they go?’

Bex Pitt: ‘I used to work for Relocation Unit in Cardiff when it transferred from London. It inspired me to move to Pebble Mill!!’

Stuart Gandy: ‘and remember the cash office on the 6th floor where we often used to collect the results of these forms.’

Andrew Godsall: ‘Oh there were disturbed meal break forms and short turn around between shift forms too….what were they called?’

Stuart Gandy: ‘It was an MHW, meal hour work-through.’

Peter Poole: ‘ERR is extra responsibility reward. It’s paid to staff working at a level above their job description.’

Dave Bushell: ‘As I remember, ERR was calculated by some esoteric formula which meant that even is you were a Technical Assistant standing in for the DG, you only got about an extra 45p a day.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘When I was an engineer I once was away from base for three days covering a cricket match and whilst there had to record the audition of a would-be commentator. In those days each recording had to be accompanied by a recording report . I duly filled this in including the mileage details base to OB site in miles etc.and including the details of the mileage. I missed a tiny box labelled ‘shared’ (with the OB) so when expenses received it my boss was reprimanded for letting me loose on exes for three days including two overnights for a twenty minute recording! Happy days!’

Gail Herbert: ‘Attachments – weren’t they wonderful! I had a terrific year in London at TVC in 1980 working for costume allocations. It was a great place to be then, so vibrant, & I met some lovely people who I sadly lost contact with over the years. Even got to visit the Top of the Pops stuido on a regular basis and stand next to the likes of Rod Stewart. TVC was under seige on those days but it was great fun. And yes, Jimmy Savile was creepy!!!’

Peter Poole: ‘I remember the “Stop Knocking” form. This was given to anyone doing noisy building work. They then had to stop work for the duration of the recording session.’

Susan Astle: ‘We, in make up and costume, had loads of disturbed meal break claims! Susie Bankers.’