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C A S Q U A R T E R L Y S U M M E R 2 0 1 6 21 could find. Within a few weeks he felt prepped, and after a second interview, he was successful in being accepted to the trainee program. He was sent to the BBC engineering facility at Evesham, just outside Birmingham. For almost 60 years, the BBC trained employees in all areas of production at this center. Today, it still offers courses but in a much more limited manner. Here, he was taught in such basics as the physics of sound and electronics. He also learned the BBC's approach to all areas of broadcast sound, including manually synching sound effects in radio dramas on vinyl, mic'ing techniques, editing 1/4" tape, operating Fisher booms, and mixing radio drama. Upon completing this course (and a subsequent radio operator course in London), he was assigned to the audio department in Belfast. It was there that he met his mentor, "Dixie" Deane. At that time in the early '80s, television dramas were shot on video when work- ing on soundstages, and were shot on film while doing location work. Deane was the lead drama sound mixer and was responsible for the production mix on many dramas to come out of Northern Ireland. Devlin expressed his interest in drama and Deane took the time to explain his methodology of working, and offered the possibility that Devlin could be included in future projects. A typical sound crew for a BBC television drama would have four people: one mix- ing, two operating Fisher booms, and a fourth similar to utility. Deane gave Peter the opportunity to start as the utility, and eventually moved up to sec- ond boom, alongside his regular drama crew of first boom Tony Dobbyn. One production Devlin was particu- larly proud of was his boom work on Danny Boyle's first directing televi- sion project, Scout, with actors Stephen Rea and Ray McAnally. Since it was shot on film, sound was handled by a different department within the BBC. The recordist was Peter Lindsay, who was then on staff at the BBC. Lindsay would himself go onto a freelance career with a fine body of work and several BAFTA nominations. Devlin would also credit Lindsay with being a mentor to him in those early years. Devlin explained, "I can't speak high- ly enough about those people that I worked with and touched my life. It was there that he met his mentor, "Dixie" Deane. At Peter Devlin's first mentor, Dixie Deane, on set in the '80s. There was sound supervisor John Lunn, who was respon- sible for many of the music shows that were produced at BBC Belfast. As one of his assistants, I was able to watch techniques used in mixing the orchestra one week and Tammy Wynette in a country concert the next. John was kind enough to share his knowledge. His calmness and amazing sense of humor in the most difficult production situations had a profound and lifelong effect on me. "One of the great opportunities of belonging to an audio unit in a region like Northern Ireland was that you had the opportunity to work in so many areas of sound. From music to news and current affairs, from boxing to soccer and rugby, it was indeed a tremendous training ground." Devlin continued, "It was a great thing to be able to work in all those different areas of sound before deciding to focus on film work."