Neil Hillman

Neil Hillman joined UK broadcaster Central Independent Television in 1982, after graduating in Electronics from Aston University, working initially as a Studio Sound Technician and then progressing to Senior Sound Technician. Over the next 8 years, he was responsible for studio sound operations, Fisher Boom operating, PA mixing, live News mixing, Electronic News Gathering (ENG), Electronic Film Production (EFP), film sound post-production, video sound post-production, location film sound recording for drama and documentaries, location video sound recording for magazine and current affairs, Outside Broadcast (OB) operations and audio equipment maintenance. He left Central TV in 1990 to become freelance, and has subsequently held responsibility for providing audio for almost every UK broadcaster as either a studio Sound Supervisor, an OB Sound Supervisor, a Dubbing Mixer, or as a drama Production Sound Mixer, or a documentary location Sound Recordist. Neil founded UK audio post-production facility The Audio Suite in March 2002 to take account of his increasing amount of work as a Sound Designer and Dubbing Mixer; but continued to enjoy working outside of the mixing theatre as a Sound Designer / Sound Supervisor / Sound Mixer on Outside Broadcasts, and also as a drama and documentary Sound Recordist on location. Over the next 10 years he steered and grew the company to achieve million-plus sales and over 500 IMDb credits. In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious Royal Television Society award for 'Best Production Craft Skills'. In 2012, Neil successfully transitioned The Audio Suite from a commercial post-production facility into a unique Sound Design practice and in 2015 it expanded further by opening an Australian office. In 2019, the feature film 'Scott and Sid', one of many feature films recorded on location by Neil, won 'Best British Film' at the National Film Awards; and he has over 1,000 IMDb credits, across 150 titles. Neil Hillman operates as a 'Free-range and Organic' Sound Designer / Supervising Sound Editor / Re-recording Mixer for feature films, utilizing both the Australian and UK Audio Suite sound design studios, and as an Outside Broadcast Sound Supervisor (A1) (Audio Director) / Audio Mixer. He is also experienced in looking after commentary feeds for Host Broadcasters, often within a large CCR environment at major sporting events. This Commentary Supervisor role has included responsibility for foreign broadcasters visiting English Premier League games, engineering Commentary and Talkback circuits for BBC 'Match of The Day' at BT Sport games, as well as operating as an Audio Director on Australian Boxing, Cricket, Netball, Rugby Union and Rugby League. As a Re-recording Mixer he has mixed on Fairlight Prodigy II and DaVinci Resolve Fairlight consoles, as well as Protools and Neve DFC boards; whilst as an OB Sound Supervisor / Audio Director he has mixed on a variety of units, from small Yamaha 01v96, DiGiCo and Calrec Brio desks, to the larger Calrec Blue Fin and Apollo consoles, the Lawo mc² 56 console, and for live sports presentation, the Allen+Heath S5000 mixing board. He has been engaged for prestigious events such as the London 2012 Olympics and London 2012 Paralympics, the Rio 2016 Olympics, the Tokyo 2020ne Olympics and Paralympics, and the Glasgow 2014, Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Neil is not just a highly-experienced practitioner, but additionally he is an academic, an author and a speaker: see drneilhillman His Ph.D. concerning emotion in sound design was completed within the University of York's Department of Theatre, Film and Television, presenting a thesis entitled 'A new sound mixing framework for enhanced emotive sound design within contemporary moving-picture audio production and post-production.' The resulting book from his Ph.D. - 'Sound for Moving Pictures: The Four Sound Areas' - was published by Routledge in April 2021 and the book's companion website - soundformovingpictures - was launched at the same time. As well as teaching undergraduates, delivering and marking post-graduate modules during the time of his PhD at the University of York, and supervising Ph.D. candidates, Neil has been a guest lecturer and an invited speaker at many other institutions; presenting his thoughts through talks on sound, strategy and business in places such as the BBC Academy, Birmingham City University, the Birmingham Conservatoire, the University of Gloucestershire, the University of Staffordshire and the University of Ulster; as well as the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) Brisbane and Queensland University of Technology (QUT), in Australia. In 2022, he became Principal of the Sound for Moving Pictures Academy, a new online, live teaching portal for both industry newcomers and established sound professionals; and importantly, the Academy also delivers specialist courses that preach and teach the often untapped creative power of thoughtful sound design, for the benefit of picture editors and picture-focused directors. The Sound for Moving Pictures Academy is proud to be a Blackmagic Design Certified Training Partner for DaVinci Resolve. In early 2024 Neil started writing, producing and presenting 'The Apple & Biscuit Show' podcast with dialogue editor colleague Jason Nicholas, and the episodes discuss the many ways sound is used in moving picture productions to engage, entertain, educate and inform audiences. The podcast is curated to cover 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. Notable guests include sound Oscar-winners such as supervising sound editor Nina Hartstone, sound designer John Warhurst and Production Sound Mixer Simon Hayes. 'The Apple & Biscuit Show' is available on all the usual podcast platforms, and at soundproducer/podcasts