Gareth Bull Talks Sound on Poldark

When it comes to period dramas like Poldark, it's easy to notice the hard work of the men and women who created the gorgeous costumes, sets, and props. Just as vital to creating an authentic setting is the work of the sound department, though if they're doing a great job, it's easy for them to go unnoticed.

Technicolor Creative Services, London provided full colour and sound post for Poldark, and whether it's through foley or ADR, they will have worked on each of your favorite scenes in the series. They were under a fair bit of pressure, too, after the BBC had many complaints about mumbling and poor sound in last year's Jamaica Inn (which was not a Technicolor-designed soundscape, you'll be happy to know).

Gareth Bull, Technicolor London

Gareth Bull, Head of Sound, shared what it was like to work on Poldark:

‘From the outset, we knew that Poldark required a rich and vibrant mix. Having the beautiful wide landscapes of Cornwall juxtapose the claustrophobic interior mine scenes gave us the perfect opportunity to enhance the environments and create different moods using our soundscape.

Poldark has a wonderfully written script, and we were aware throughout the mix of the necessity to understand every word of the story. We worked hard to ensure intelligibility was prioritised throughout, whilst the depth and detail of our atmosphere and sound FX were maintained.

The beautiful sequences shot by the Cornwall coast came presented specific obstacles for sound. The cliff tops were prone to heavy winds, and the location microphones could also pick up the sea wash. Where possible we used noise reduction software to recover the original audio, however in some cases the actors come into our Lexington Street ADR theatre to revisit the scenes and record replacement audio.’