Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1474752
Fall 2022 – LOCAL695.ORG 35 to NCIS I never would've imagined that a television show I day-played on almost twenty years ago would still be going. And, I never would've imagined I'd currently be sitting in its produc- tion mixer's chair. Frankly, I never imagined still having quite this much fun recording audio. To consider myself lucky is an understatement. That show is NCIS; the original one-hour flagship that has spun off a few other versions over the years. by George Flores CAS to NCIS My Journey Back in 2003 when the show first began, Sound Mixer Kenn Fuller was at the helm. Kenny's Boom Operator Dirk Stout and Sound Utility/Boom Jaya Jayaraja did that first season. I came in a few times to utility, working their Saturday units and helping out on the set to set live A/V feed, which is still done today. The second season, Sound Mixer Steve Bowerman arrived with Boom Op Tom Thoms (1950-2020) and Utility/Boom Jeffrey Hefner. I became one of their go-to's, working on everything from the audio playback, to sitting in Steve's chair to second and double-up units. Currently, my team is Boom Operator Gail Carroll-Coe and Utility/Boom Jeffrey Hefner. Season 19 of NCIS is completed, and we are scheduled to return for a Season 20. Not a typical run by any means, and I do feel my journey to here is a combination of positive persistence, a handful of luck, and mentorship along the way. When I was a kid, I was addicted to television and fascinated with recording music and interview programs off the radio. Voices, catch-phrases, and songs that repeated again and again via TV reruns, Top 40/rock radio, coupled with feature films you'd sometimes see in a theater multiple times (and later watch on television), gave my Generation X a cultural signpost of not the greatest era, but the most quotable. This fits right in with my chosen field, which is essentially listening to and documenting words. The words that come from performers may not be all that significant on the day, but they may have an impact to someone experiencing those words & actions months or even years later. This was woven into my childhood psyche, so how can I not seek to be a part of it, this strange sonic environment.