Craft Interview Wu Tianjun-Rightway Audio Consultants Ltd.

Read what Wu has shared his experience of being a sound engineer.

1. What inspired you to go into audio industry and how did you become such an experienced sound engineer?

“What motivated me to engage in this field, to be honest, I was inspired by my father. It can be said that I followed my father and became a sound engineer.

My father was a projectionist in the army when I was young. After, he was sent to Beijing, where he was in charge of sound in the Engineering Corps Cultural Troupe. He recalled that the ‘audio system’ was called ‘effect’ at that time.

I grew up playing in the auditorium, often watching my father work and dig into a pile of equipment that I didn’t know. Day by day, I was unconsciously influenced by him and was attracted by those electronic things.

I started my ‘creative career’, trying to make the battery bulb into a flashlight, or disassembled the recorder and assembled it again. I quite enjoyed my ‘career’, and those little things had companied my whole childhood.

When I entered junior middle school, I often looked through my father's magazines, such as the radio, they became the keys that opened the door to my new knowledge of this industry. So I began to save my pocket money to buy parts and materials, trying to invent some little things. It was probably at that time that I laid the foundation for my career in the future.

Until high school, I began to take regular courses about sound engineering. At that time, the industry had already introduced foreign equipment, but the manuals of these machines were all in English, which was quite difficult for me to comprehend.”

Wu did not give up, but consult to the experts in the agents whenever he got free time.

For further in-depth study, he also borrowed lecture notes from the teachers of film academy, and refer to a variety of textbooks and magazines in the library.

After entering the university, Wu majored in English for Science and Technology, which helped him a lot to learn the knowledge of advanced equipment abroad.

After graduation, Wu joined the department of stage design of art troupe in the army. At the beginning, he learned from the teachers in the PLA General Political Department Drama Troupe, which was the the highest drama group in the Chinese art world, where Wu had learned a lot of skills in sound engineering.

“Timing and volume are important in a show, I need to control them properly according to the rhythm and emotion of the performers, everything has to be ‘just right’.” Said Wu

2. What have been some of the challenges in your career so far?

“Although I have been in the industry for more than twenty years, I still had met some challenges when I just got into this industry. After staying in the troupe for a year, I officially joined the Armed Police Headquarters Cultural Troupe. There were lots of types of performances, including singing and dancing, drama, opera, orchestral music, alomost 100 performances each year. So it is difficult to handle all of these.

There is no successful performance without details. For example, how to load and unload the equipment, what is best place to deploy the speakers, and the console in which position can both see the stage and can not affect the viewing effect. This is what is now called 'systems engineering'.

Once during the performance in the army, after several shows finished, the power of the lavalier microphone suddenly broke down, and 5 sets of them could not be used. I remember there were more than 1,000 people in the venue at the time, and it would have been impossible for the actors to shout completely at the top of their voices, and if only using handheld microphones would also affect their performance and the way to use the props.

I immediately found some ropes to tie up the handheld microphone and hang it around their neck. Although it might look funny, it effectively solved the problem.”

Unexpected situations may occur in any performances, and it is the time to test the learning ability and thinking ability of a professional sound engineer.

3. After more than 20 years in the field, what do you think drives you to stay in this industry?

“Our industry contains many uncertainties. There is no relatively routine and fixed working place, and that’s why I can’t spend lots of time with my family and friends. But they still support my career all the time. I think it may because they are also engaged in work related to the cultural industry, they know ‘the rules’ of this industry, so they can understand me very well.”

Rightway Audio Consultants Ltd.

Craft Interview Wu Tianjun

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