"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur..." (Red Adair)
Studio SE2000, Samson VR88, plus Sony, Sure Mics
Mackie 802-VLZ3 Mixer
Sennheiser, DT100 and Sony Headphones
Pop Sheild
Adobe Audition 3, Audacity
Digital Media Workstation
|
Kevin Field is the manager of a Sony Radio Academy Award nominated (2011) radio project, a presenter, producer, voice over and event host based in Maidstone, Kent, near London.
Kevin currently manages an innovative award winning radio station called Radio Wanno, a radio project that empowers its isolated community and could benefit society as a whole. Radio Wanno picked up the radio catagory win at The IVCA Clarion Awards in 2010 for its ‘Safety in Custody Documentary’ and a Highley Commended for ‘An Interview with Stephen Fry’ – The projects team of presenters and producers has also won many Keostler arts awards for Radio Production. More recently the project has been nominated for a Sony Radio Academy Award based on work by one of the prison based presenters.
This website is about Kevin Field as a presenter, producer, writer, voice over and event host based in Kent, South East England, near London.
 Kevin Field
Kevin Field.
Event host, voice over, presenter and producer based in Kent, south east England.
Extensive experience of hosting events as a presenter on stage and in front of a microphone. Event Host from concerts, fun days, exhibitions, festivals to corporate and business events.
Voice over for commercials, naration, talking books, answer phone call handling service, Podcasts, and corporate video to radio imaging.
Presentation experience includes radio programmes in every time slot from breakfast shows to drive time. Production expertease at Breakfast and commercial production.
Event Host, Presenter, Voice Over based in Kent – Maidstone, Medway Towns, Rochester, Canterbury, London, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford, Chatham, Whitstable, Ramsgate, Goudhurst, Sittingbourne, Sheerness, Faversham, Dover, Deal.
Everywhere you look these days programme teams are utilising the IPad tablet whether it’s Jake Humphrey during Formula One coverage or Richard Bacon on radio five live.
In some respects it has replaced the good old clip board to hold important show content and pink sheets, and of course as a presenter or producer you can use it to manage the direct and immediate link with the audience through social networking possibilities.
More so though the BBC is finding ways to harness tablet PC’s that effect programme production teams and the end user.
For the viewer they recently tested with 300 viewers the TV Companion idea. It provides extra content as the programme airs via a second screen, a browser or an IPad tablet. It recognises that people use their laptops or Ipads while watching TV programmes.
TV Companion allows a viewer to access extra user content during the programme run time. The possibilities of this are huge, as a viewer you can only access extra content while the programme is on air and for the programme provider as an extra incentive to keep someone with you.
Imagine if you will the X Factor giving away a song performance of that night for free as an incentive for viewers / browsers. Imagine also the opportunity for advertisers and revenue generation linked to ‘on-time’ browsing of programme generated content.
Of course the BBC objective is provision of extra programme content as a pull towards the BBC’s additional online content. It was recently tested successfully with 300 viewers of their Autumn Watch programme. Watch this space for more form the BBC and copycat from commercial operators.
I can also see how this can be used with radio content as well, we have the rather excellent radio player, what if that could also give you additional content as a listener, an exclusive interview or version of a song recorded for a particular broadcaster.
The BBC is a superb place for innovation another of their ideas is using the Ipad with a Portable Production Tools.
The R&D team are building production tools and content platforms that are designed to work with the production teams in programme making. BBC software designers like Paul Harter, have been working on Portable Production Tools (PPT) for the iPad.
They are designed for production teams to use between filming and the editing suite, where during the production process and down time between the shoot and when the team get access to the editing suite. PPT provides an opportunity to edit on the move before getting to the main production studio.
The BBC decided to develop their own proprietary app and they built it from iOS libraries as opposed to using Apples IPad Movie software. This has provided an agile and exacting piece of software that allows production share content easily.
Using the PPT the production teams upload their rushes from the shoot to a central server along with metadata relating to the programme content. They can then push this to a 64GB iPad, which can cater for 200 hours of material. Content is encoded into H.264 and can be adjusted to improve quality and performance.
Once content is on the tablet, the editors, directors and other production staff can pull, cut and edit the material as they see fit, including shifting scenes into thumbnails in preparatory for the editing suite. They can also include notes in Meta form to annotate specific edits. After which all the details can feed into the main edit suite into Final Cut Pro and Avid.
If you watch the show ‘Mongrels’ the ‘Muppet’ inspired comedy about dogs and animals you’ll have seen a show that used this new PPT editing tool.
The question has to be what were the production teams doing with their down time before the PPT came into effect? And has it improved edit times and final production of programmes.
I wonder if the BBC R&D team will develop ideas for radio production, I can think of several instances where a PPT tool could be useful.
I’m told pitch is everything when it comes to doing voice over work. Chatting with a voice coach who explained in some detail how the voice box works it became apparent how in the past I probably out strain on my voice.
Image if you will a balloon and the rubber end where the air flows out. You must have done the thing where you squeeze the rubber rim to get different sounds out of it.
This is a good way to think of how the vocal chords work. As air passes through the balloon rubber vibrates and the pitch of the sound from the balloon changes as you tighten or loosen the rim.
Your vocal chords are similar, tighten your chords and you can get a high pitch, relax and you get a lower tone.
The damage comes from the extra tension in the throat muscles because of the stress you create around the vocal chords.
To find your ideal pitch and where your voice is at its strongest you can perform a neat little trick. Try to create the following sound, as if you are answering in agreement in a conversation, ‘um-hmm’. Do this several times and then try saying the word ‘one’. If you alternate with the ‘um-hmm’ practice you’ll eventually find your ideal pitch.
Another interesting point I learned from the voice coach is that as you get older your vocal chords lose their elasticity and can’t vibrate at the same speed, in fact the vocal chords allow a greater amount of air through as you get older, which explains why some perfectly healthy octogenarians can seemingly run out of breath when speaking in a way that appears to be perfectly normal.
I’m off for a bit of ‘um-hmm’.
The Eurofair with the Kent Food and Drink Festival always take pride of place in Canterbury’s event calendar, and I was chosen once again to provide my dulcet tones to cover the event, to provide commentary, to provide what I call ‘Event Animation’.
The Eurofair is an event that is a must-visit annual for many and took place on 23 to 25th September 2011 in the Dane John Gardens, staged by Canterbury City Council in partnership with Produced in Kent. Many make an annual pilgrimage from far to get hold of the fine produce and take in the atmosphere and flavours.
As the event host (or compere if you prefer) my services provide an aid to keep things moving, keep the visitors in the know about what is on site, when things are happening.
It also benefits the traders by helping to return a healthy profit in their pockets. That’s not me waxing lyrical about what I do, feedback from the producers and traders at the event always tell me that ‘Event Animation’ helps the tills to keep on ringing.
It was a real pleasure to talk to the visitors and food producers from Kent and further afield. We were blessed with sunshine throughout, unlike last year when we were soaked as the heavens opened up, whereas this year the fine weather helped wet the appetite for a fantastic festival of food and drink.
Event Animation is as thus – professional event host, professional PA and an event action plan for the Event Animation. To find out how I could apply ‘Event Animation’ to your event feel free to contact me info@kevinfield.co.uk
The planning started back in April, although it seems at tad longer to be honest and yet yesterday we arrived at the culmination of all that planning and now it’s all done. The 32nd Maidstone River Festival along the river Medway streaming its way through Kent’s County town arrived at a natural end with a spectacular fireworks display.
It was fun getting the audience to scream and shout in the warm up before the fireworks lit up the Maidstone night skyline. It seemed to me that all where there to enjoy it as a family event.
It is true to say that there are a few idiots who cause a few problems, like the fellow next to the toilet block who was completely off his trolley and sang incessantly into a loud haler, or the women who got so drunk that she’d lost her mobile phone and decided to sit on the verge of the roundabout just in case it might creep back into her handbag.
In the main though it was a fantastic event enjoyed but almost all who attended. I enjoyed it tremendously – for my part I was event host – come photographer – come all round mucking in person, and it was great fun, although I was tired an exhausted by the time I got home at one the next morning.
As event host I shared the task of keeping people in the know about what was happening when and where through event animation.
The raft races were particular fun, I was at the finish line on The Maidstone Bridge while my colleague Ian Tucker was sat in the middle of the race on St Peters Bridge. It was also great to chat with many of the people who had come along to join in with the fun. I aim to edit up some of the recorded interviews into a digital story of the day at some point soon.
It was a long day starting at 7 in the morning and finishing at around mid-night, the event host part was from 10am until 10.30pm with a few natural pauses along the way. At twelve and a half hours you can see why we shared the work load.
The Maidstone River Festival is a superb event organised by a group of dedicated volunteers who have given up a great deal of time to bring joy for others and for that they have to be applauded. It is a shame though that it has to make way next year for the Olympics, and as one twitter poster pointed out @maidstonerf ‘I’m not interested in the Olympics so why should I miss out because of it”.
As an event host I love a challenge.
It’s that time again for messing about down by the river, actually for me it will be messing about on the PA down by the river. This Saturday I’ll be providing ‘event animation’ across the PA at The Maidstone River Festival. I’ll be working alongside Ian Tucker, who is a veteran at this river festival lark.
Event animation does what it says on the tin, it informs the visitor to your event of what’s happening where and when and also provides a flavour of the event atmosphere and keeps you in the know about safety and public amenities.
This year we are challenged with encouraging the visitors to move around the River Festival site and its spread over a fair distance, all easily walkable. This is more down to the ergonomics of Maidstone and a testament to many different groups getting actively involved with the event; it also gives the visitor lots of variety.
Have a look at the community walk site we have set up or download the River Festival Map.
Community Walk Website
Maidstone River Festival Event Map 2011
We’ll also be looking to interview people at the event, so don’t be surprised if you find me popping along with a microphone for a quick chat.
What’s also good is the weather looks like it’s going to be behaving with some sunshine and no rain on the cards, one of the vital ingredients for a great event. I hope to see you there, listen out for me and Ian the PA.
Working at radio stations has given some very interesting moments and taken me to some intriguing places and situations over the years, some I would be happy to share with you, and others perhaps I can not.
More recently I have been managing a unique radio project which has challenged my thoughts but has also given me a great deal of life changing moments.
 Today, because of the work I have been involved in recently I was fortunate enough to share a day with my partner as guests of the Queen and Prince Phillip – to stand a few feet away from Her Majesty and Prince Phillip, who by the way looks amazingly well for his years.
We were lucky enough to be at Buckingham Palace for the Queens garden party. I say lucky because some of the people who were there had wonderful stories that had led to their invite.
Some had been close to loosing their lives while at war for our country, others amazingly generous people had stalled their own ambitions to give their time to help people in need and then the very kind hearted individuals who started charities to help those that need help when at their most vulnerable.
It brought to mind the recent words of a media mogul who eventually realised the preverbial had hit the fan, it was a humbling moment.
I don’t have rose tinted spectacles nor am I naive not to understand that beyond the gates and gardens of Buck House, beyond the gentry and tea cakes and people who attended this event that there is a world of strife and hardship for many. However it was special to meet people who do something for reasons rather than personal gratification, money or fame. I met some people who were indeed special and I am thankful for the life journey that being involved in radio in whatever form continues to bring me.
Working at radio stations has brought me to some very interesting places and intriguing situations over the years, some I could share with you, and others perhaps I can not.
More recently I have been managing a unique radio project that has turned my life inside out and hopefully brought change from the inside out.
Today, because of the work I have done with the radio project I was fortunate enough to share a day with my partner and to meet the Queen or at least stand a few feet away from Her Majesty and Prince Phillip, who looks amazingly well for his years.
We were lucky enough to be at Buckingham Palace for the Queens garden party. I say lucky because some of the people who were there had wonderful stories that had led to their invite.
Some had been close their lives at war, other amazingly generous people who stalled their own ambitions to give their time to help those in need and the very kind hearted individuals who started charities to help those that need help when at their most vulnerable.
Working at radio stations has brought me to some very interesting places and intriguing situations over the years, some I could share with you, and others perhaps I can not.
More recently I have been managing a unique radio project with Media for Development that has turned my life inside out and hopefully brought change from the inside out.
Today, because of the work I have done with the radio project I was fortunate enough to share a day with my partner and to meet the Queen or at least stand a few feet away from Her Majesty and Prince Phillip, who looks amazingly well for his years.
We were lucky enough to be at Buckingham Palace for the Queens garden party. I say lucky because some of the people who were there had wonderful stories that had led to their invite.
Some had been close their lives at war, other amazingly generous people who stalled their own ambitions to give their time to help those in need and the very kind hearted individuals who started charities to help those that need help when at their most vulnerable.
I don’t have rose tinted spectacles nor am I naive not to understand that beyond the gates and gardens of Buck House and the gentry and ‘normal’ people who attended this event that there is not a world of strife and hardship for many.
However it was special to meet people who did something for reasons other than personal gratification, money or fame. I met some people who were indeed special and I am thankful for the life changing journey that I have been involved with in recent times.
Music promoters are a hardy lot – imagine staging a music festival, you attract the big acts, sign up the sponsors, sell out the tickets and after paying out all the bills you’re off towards the money – well sometimes, its not quite that simple or as smooth running.
However there is a renewed optimism among some promoters and festivals or should I say a re-born ideal that is cutting its cloth accordingly for our cash strapped times.
When you want something to work it is always said it is best to keep it simple and in festival-land that is booking good big name acts, invite a paying audience or perhaps the few who still have a bit of spare cash and then fill up a field and have a party.
The Hop Farm Music Festival based in Kent is one such music festival and this year staged over three days, it was going to be two – more on that in a moment.
The idea is to go ‘back to basics’ which means no sponsorship, no VIP area, activities and entertainment with the funfair and live music. I know live real music – I’m bored of playback and overlay acts, give me real musicians anytime.
Also a nice touch is that children under 12 are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult, which is good for two reasons, it becomes more ‘family friendly’ and costs you less in the wallet. Tickets are reasonably priced at £170 for the weekend or £70 for the day.
The site has the usual food concessions, yet and importantly, you can take your own food to save money and you can camp on site if you want to.
As for the line up it was already looking good with headliners including The Eagles and Morrissey on Friday and Saturday respectively, you’ll also see Brian Ferry, Brandon Flowers, Iggy and the Stooges and Lou Reed, but now they’ve added Prince to headline on Sunday.
Vince Power, the festival organiser, had been negotiating the deal for six months and said that “Prince is one of the biggest artists in the world,” he added, “so to get him to the Hop Farm is incredible” and he felt “humbled” to have pulled it off.
So wait a second Prince at The Hop Farm in Kent, it’s a bit of a coup isn’t it.
The Hop Farm Music Festival takes place from Friday 1st until Sunday 3rd July, find out more and book tickets from http://www.hopfarmfestival.com.
Last year You Tube along with directors Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald invited thousands of people around the world to upload videos from their lives to You Tube and to take part in ‘Life in a Day’ that day being July 24, 2010.
They hoped to start a historic cinematic experiment to create a documentary film about a single day on earth. The resulting film is out in July 2011.
Those who have seen it said it made them laugh and cry, and what is interesting about this project is that it is real, nothing is staged for the film, no fake ‘can you do that again only way is Essex’ scenes – simple and real life. After all there is nothing more interesting than real life. Pick a busy hi-street, take a seat and watch and you’ll see some interesting things unfold in front of you.
I remember talking to an old chap who used to sit in Leicester Square Gardens in London I asked him why he sat there all day, he said that it was much better and eminently more entertaining than TV or film; you see the world go by in just a few hours, he told me some interesting stories about life that passed his seat.
I’ll be interested to see if Ridley Scott can keep me engaged for an hour and a half, watching the trailer below I feel a sense of intrigue. I hope that it has a world perspective and not the US world introspective.
That said it is truly a stunning concept – ask people to record and upload their videos about a single day in their life and then edit them together into a film, I hope the concept turns into a stunning film, and the critics say that it has. Have a look below at the trailer…
I was in Poland when I first heard of the news of the earthquake in Japan; I then travelled back through Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. In each country on radio and TV you hear of the work and hours that search and rescue teams from each of these countries were putting in to help those stricken by the catastrophe.
While in Germany I saw a report on the British effort to help and a piece about a ‘Breath’ search Border Collie dog that had cut its leg on the debris during the search and that this little dog carried on searching with his masters at his side and a bandage on its leg.
Once home I found the story of the collie on the Daily Mail website alongside a superb write up by David Jones. More so it speaks of the bravery of many who were involved in the Tsunami and something at-least positive in a small measure of a story of a young teacher and his family in the UK waiting desperate of news of his safety.
The photographs are also astounding; I do hope that there is someone there for the teams who went out to help when they get home, because the pictures tell the story etched on their faces.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366673/Japan-tsunami-earthquake-British-teacher-hero-Robert-Bailey-saved-class.html
Here’s a show I’ve been thinking about doing for a while, just need a station to do it on…
Sunday Morning Chill
Well known songs that do not offend, chilled, relaxed and sometimes toe tapping. Classic tracks form the last 40 years, with a preference of the 80’s, 90’s. The listener will be the person sitting down during or after breakfast with a cup of tea, coffee possibly with newspaper or surfing the internet, they may be getting ready for the rest of their day.
The tracks are chilled yet up beat with no wrist slashers as such, it should be about positive and recognised songs that people would say “haven’t heard that in ages” or “I could listen to that again”.
Artists and songs include David Grey – Sail Away with Me, Curtis Stigers – I Wonder Why, Desree – Life, Lighthouse Family – Lifted, Tasmin Archer – Sleeping Satellite, Tracy Chapman – Fast Cars, Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Jackie Wilson Said, The Cure – Friday I’m In Love, Dire Straits – Money For Nothing, Stretch – Why Did You Do It.
The presentation and links: these are simple minimal. They’ll contain some fun anecdotal in style stories – not linked topically but relatable. Listener can contact the show to share what they are doing on a Sunday Morning – this will reinforce the listener pattern to the show – people who listen to this are like me.
Do get in touch If you’d like this show on your station.
|
Latest Activity Sept 2011: Event Host at The Eurofair with The Kent Food and Drink Festival.
Sept 2011: Executive Producer of Radio Catagory Winner at The IVCA Clarion Awards 2011
July 2011: Event Host at The Maidstone River Festival
May 2011: Sony Radio Academy Award Nomination in Best Community Radio - Executive Producer.
February 2011: New website designed for Octopusy Catering Limited. www.octopusycatering.co.uk
February 2011: New website designed for Blue Parrot Publishing. www.superstar-staff.com.
January 2011: Radio Wanno - Entered the Sony Radio Academy Awards in the Best Interview and Best Community Programming sections.
November 2010: fieldMEDIA - Voice Over for the Hops and Downs Audio Trail for Produced In Kent.
September 2010: Media for Development - At the IVCA Clarion Awards Radio Wanno is the Radio Catagory Winner and highley commended.
September 2010: fieldMEDIA - Provide event hosts and event animation at The Eurofair with The Kent Food and Drink Festival 2010 - Kevin hosts the event.
August 2010: Media for Development - Radio Wanno wins Platinum Keotsler Arts Award for Radio Production.
August 2010: Kevin's provides event interviews at The Maidstone River Festival 2010.
July 2010: Kevin hosts The Purple Monkey Stage at The Maidstone River Festival 2010
May 2010: Producer Robbie Vincent's Sunday Morning Soul at Jazz FM curremtly with Greg Edwards since Oct 2008.
March 2010: Marcus Miller Interview entered into Arqiva Awards - Produced by Kevin Field
Jan 2010: Radio Wanno entered into Sony Radio Academy Awards.
Dec 2009: Produced Marcus Miller Interview Exclusive for Jazz FM
Nov 2009: Canterbury Christmas Lights Switch On Host and Compere
Sep 2009: The Eurofair and Kent Food and Drink Festival Event Host
Sep 2009: Radio Wanno wins Gold, Silver and Highly Recommended in the 2009 Keostler Awards. Kevin manages the Radio Wanno project.
Aug 2009: Herne Bay Festival - Rock Around The Clock Stage Compere
|
