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PODCAST

The Apple and Biscuit Show

Dr Neil Hillman and Jason Nicholas

Dr. Neil Hillman and Jason Nicholas, two professionals working in film and television sound, discuss the many ways sound is used in moving picture productions to engage, entertain, educate and inform audiences. The podcast covers a range of topics through interviews with industry insiders as well as academics and professionals in other fields who talk about the human understanding and perception of sound.

tv & film film interviews

All Episodes

01:16:44

#019 Jonathan Glazier: the heavy lifting behind light...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/10/24

Jonathan Glazier is one of the television industry’s leading lights in television Light Entertainment. Over a 40-year career, Jonathan has directed and produced some of the most popular TV shows, such as ‘Stars in Their Eyes’, ‘Gladiators’, ‘The Weakest Link’ and ‘Asia’s Got Talent’ (and he has the awards to prove it). He has the rare experience of firstly consulting to, and then leading, one of the BBC’s most historically significant and influential departments as the Editor of BBC Light

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58:26

#018 Mark Franken: On designing the tools that...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/09/29

Mark Franken is the double Emmy-winning creator of the sound editing software tools EdiCue, EdiLoad and EdiPrompt; products that since their inception in 2007, have come to be indispensable to dialogue editors, supervising sound editors, ADR recordists and re-recording mixers working in the sound for moving pictures sector. They are now the industry standard protocols for the organisation, exchange and delivery of post-production audio for film and television. With their time-saving capabilities,

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47:09

#017 Dr. Iain McGregor: Why hearing means...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/07/28

Dr Iain McGregor is an Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University, specialising in interactive media design and auditory perception research. His PhD in soundscape mapping examined how sound designers’ expectations compare with listeners’ experiences. With over 30 years of experience, he has worked across film, video games, theatre, radio, television, mixed reality, robotics, and auditory displays, exploring soundscapes, sonification, and human interaction. His patent Evaluation of Auditory

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59:52

#016 From Edgar Wallace to Wallace and Gromit–A Grand...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/07/01

In the last of his mini-series of three documentaries recorded on a recent trip to the UK, Neil visits the home of the National Film and Television School at the historic Beaconsfield Film Studios in Buckinghamshire. On his visit, he is given unprecedented access to the workspaces, students, lecturers and visiting professionals that make NFTS such a unique establishment. Neil talks to Stephen Holdsworth, NFTS Chief Engineer about the history of the site; Guy Hake, Senior Lecturer on the Sound

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56:47

#015 Dead Cats and Fish Poles—The Story of the Basket...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/06/03

In this documentary, Neil looks at the emergence of location sound recording for cinema and one of the significant technological developments that enabled this. Starting with the Italian neorealism movement of the late 1940’s, the desire for dialogue authenticity gained hold in 1950’s Hollywood films. This and the artistic truth of French New Wave filmmaking in the 1960’s led to the indispensability of the location sound recordist by the 1970’s and one of their important needs was met by the

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01:15:47

#014 Acoustic Ecology with Dr Jesse Budel

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/06/01

In this episode Neil and Jason speak with Dr Jesse Budel, a composer-performer, sound artist, academic and arts entrepreneur based in South Australia. As a composer, his works are for diverse media and spaces, ranging from concert works and installations to community and interdisciplinary collaborations. Jesse’s PhD research at the Elder Conservatorium of Music focussed on adapting soundscape ecology to creative process, resulting in a body of works responding to South Australian ecosystems and

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01:27:08

#013 Blast-off from Birmingham – The Story of...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/05/02

In this documentary, Neil travels back to his home town of Birmingham to learn more about what he considers to be the city’s best kept cultural secret – Grosvenor Road Studios: the family-run sound facility that came to be known as ‘Birmingham’s Abbey Road’. Still in operation today, the studios were founded 80 years ago by John Taylor, and his business partner Charles Hollick, to record music - which they did prolifically; as well as expanding into creating soundtracks and recording dialogue for

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01:19:39

#012 Reading others, understanding ourselves –...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/04/01

In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to behaviour analyst Michelle Mills-Porter, about the challenges faced by creatives: particularly freelancers who work in ad-hoc teams and find themselves having to adapt to others' behaviour. Through understanding our own driving forces, Michelle explains how we can realise the powerful potential within us all to reap the rewards of our own unique, valuable, and often transferrable, skills. Michelle is a compelling speaker, with an equally compelling back-story;

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01:30:12

#011 Dreamcatcher – composer David Lowe on ambition,...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/02/17

In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to the prolific British composer David Lowe about his rise to success and his musical milestones along the way—from work experience at BBC Radio Birmingham to composing the BBC theme that has heralded the corporation’s global news output for more than 25 years. With familiar theme tunes for internationally syndicated TV programmes such as ‘Grand Designs’ and ‘5th Gear’, unforgettable commercials for British Airways and DHL, and even a number one in the indie

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53:06

#010 (Pt. 2) The devil in the detail – Simon Hayes...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2025/01/22

In this episode (Part 2 of 2) Neil and Jason talk in-depth and ‘totally technical’ about the musical Wicked with the Oscar-winning Production Sound Mixer Simon Hayes and on set music editor Josh Winslade. We discuss the creative decisions behind Simon’s sound recording strategy, his timing and justification for switching to digital radio mics and the low-down on how a great relationship with the Visual Effects supervisor is so important in the quest for capturing the best possible performance from

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01:18:26

#010 (Pt. 1) The devil in the detail – Simon Hayes...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/12/31

In this episode, (Part 1 of 2), Neil and Jason talk in-depth and ‘totally technical’ to the Oscar-winning Production Sound Mixer Simon Hayes, and on set music editor Josh Winslade, about their complex and unique playback and recording arrangements for capturing live vocals and authentic performances from lead actors Cynthia Erivo and Ariane Grande; as well as providing an insight into how to keep Jeff Goldblum happy in-between takes (and it partially involves jazz…). This is the most

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48:21

#009 Mark Deeks on The Sound of (Heavy) Metal

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/12/12

Dr Mark Deeks is someone who likes to challenge our assumptions about music, and in particular Heavy Metal, which he suggests has more than a passing resemblance to folk music (as someone with a Ph.D. from researching Heavy Metal music, he’s able to say). But not only is he a Heavy Metal performer with his band Winterfylleth and as a solo artist, he’s also a piano teacher, a musical director for various professional artists, as well as a conductor for ensembles as diverse as workplace choirs and the

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01:12:17

#008 Maestro: Stephen Griffiths on the sound design...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/11/25

British Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer Stephen Griffiths is responsible for some of the most intelligent and entertaining soundtracks of the last two decades or more, seamlessly moving between multi-million-dollar movies and high-end television dramas. In this episode Neil and Jason are in conversation with Stephen about his role in helping to create one of the most complex yet subtle soundtracks of the recent era, the 2022 movie, TÁR. In this thorough exploration of the film’s precise

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40:48

#007 (Pt. 2) Signal To Noise Is Everything – Simon Hayes

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/10/30

In this episode (part 2 of 2), Neil and Jason talk to the Oscar-winning Production Sound Mixer Simon Hayes about the work-ethic he learned from filming with his father, Production Sound Mixer John Hayes; other Production Sound Mixers that have inspired him; the importance of a life lived outside of the film business (to both your health and your finances); and his close and long-standing friendship with the film director, Guy Ritchie. And stay tuned to hear how Neil throws caution to the wind and

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01:06:57

#007 (Pt. 1) Signal to noise is everything – Simon Hayes

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/10/24

In this episode (part 1 of 2), Neil and Jason talk to Oscar-winning Production Sound Mixer Simon Hayes about his demanding work on location film sets and deep-dive into Simon’s philosophy and approach to modern location recording techniques. We discuss the importance of a fully-digital signal chain, the understanding with directors he establishes at the beginning of each project and the very different considerations he applies to recording and mixing musicals such as Les Misérables, Cats and Wicked

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01:19:26

#006 Making film sound sing – Nina Hartstone and John...

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/09/20

In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to the Oscar-winning supervising sound editors and sound designers, Nina Hartstone and John Warhurst, about their work and specifically, in-depth about the sound design considerations for the feature films Les Miserables, Gravity, Cats, Bohemian Rhapsody and the documentary of David Bowie’s life, Moonage Daydream. Whilst the David Bowie vinyl album cover of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars boldly stated, “To Be Played At Maximum Volume” (which we caution

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57:31

#005 What did he just say? – Mike Thornton

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/08/26

In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to ‘Mr. Loudness’, Mike Thornton, about the issues of television programme loudness and dialogue intelligibility. Why is the background music too loud? Why can’t the viewers hear what the actors are saying? And why are films so loud in the cinema? In a comprehensive and compelling journey starting with radio transmission concerns in the 1930s, to the present-day woes of broadcasters and streaming platforms, Mike’s accessible and understandable explanations

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42:22

#004 Happily ever AFTRS - Andrew Dean

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/08/14

In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to emerging Australian sound designer Andrew Dean about his work, in particular the award-winning films ‘Mud Crab’ (written and directed by David Robinson-Smith), ‘Gorgo’ (directed by Veniamin Gialouris) and the forthcoming feature film ‘Salt Along the Tongue’, (directed by Parish Malfitano), that Andrew sound designed and mixed. Andrew describes his journey from working in a Bathurst multi-screen cinema, then studying for a music degree, moving from recording

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54:54

#003 It's time to start listening – Julian Treasure

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/07/16

In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to Julian Treasure, the author and presenter of several of the most viewed TED Talks of all time, including ‘How to Speak So People Want to Listen’ which has been viewed more than 150 million times. A self-proclaimed ‘listening evangelist’, Julian shares remarkable insights into the ways in which conscious listening brings about positive change both in personal and professional relationships, how low-cost acoustic considerations for classrooms deliver remarkable

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35:04

#001 Bring it all Back Home

The Apple and Biscuit Show ·

2024/06/15

In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to American indie filmmakers Sebastian Pigott and Lizabeth Yandel about their latest film, Bring It All Back Home as it nears completion. They delve more deeply into the challenges Sebastian as the director and Lizabeth as the sound editor faced in production and then subsequently in post-production. It's an experience to inspire all filmmakers! (Explicit language) Mentioned in this podcast: Bring It All Back Home: trailer here - https://vimeo.com/830991977

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21 results

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