Film crew hire/Bristol/Sound recordist
Hire a sound recordist in Bristol. Clean dialogue, from someone who listens to the room first.
Sound recordists for interviews, documentaries, brand films and events across Bristol and Bath, from lecture rooms at the University of Bristol to a concert hall, a station and a ship. They mic everyone who speaks, hold the boom, deal with the traffic, the generators and the air conditioning, and hand over sound the edit doesn’t have to rescue. Local where we can; from across the South West, Cardiff or London where the brief needs it. £550 a day, paid to the recordist in full.
- 2,800+ freelance crew on our books across the UK
- 150+ of them in and around Bristol and Bath
- 54 five-star Google reviews
- 2 hrs for our team to read your brief, in working hours
Photos: Here Now Films, Keagan Henman, Hassan OUAJBIR and Nathan Riley
The role
What a sound recordist does on your shoot
A sound recordist, or sound mixer, records everything you hear in the film: the interviews, the dialogue, the room. They put radio mics on the people speaking, boom from above, mix and record it all, and listen to every take on headphones, so a rustle or a passing lorry is caught on the day, not in the edit.
Pictures can often be rescued in the grade. Bad sound usually means doing it again, or living with it. A lot of the places people film in Bristol are working places, a harbour, a station, a concert hall, a shipyard, and that’s why a recordist is the first person we add to a camera operator.
- Every voice clean. Radio mics hidden on clothes, and a boom for the natural sound of the room.
- Noise dealt with. Air conditioning off, fridges unplugged, doors shut, takes held for trains and sirens.
- Backed up twice. Recorded to two cards, with timecode matched to the cameras.
- Mics fitted with care. Explained to contributors first, and fitted by someone they’re comfortable with.
What’s included
What the day rate covers
In the day rate
- An 11-hour day, including an hour for lunch
- Radio mics on everyone speaking
- Boom for the room and for movement
- Mixing, recording and monitoring every take
- Timecode synced to the cameras
- Sound files and the sound report at wrap
On top, each on its own line
- Our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance, on the whole quote
- Their sound kit, at a day rate on its own line
- A boom operator, for drama or a big cast
- A second room to keep things quiet, if the building needs it
- Travel from outside Bristol, and mileage, parking and the Clean Air Zone charge where the day needs them, at cost
How our rates work, and the two ways to book: crew rates in Bristol.
Two ways to book
Crew hire or full production: who’s the producer of record?
One question sets the price: who’s the producer of record? Book a recordist for your own Bristol shoot, or have us take the whole film on, sound included.
Crew hire
You run the shoot.
10% + 2% booking fee and insurance, on everything we book for you: crew, kit and travel.
We do
- Find, book and brief the crew, and pay them
- Book kit, travel and hotels too, if you want them
- Send the full price before anything is booked
- One person to call all day
- Employers’ liability for the crew we book, and insurance on kit we hire in
You do
- Run the shoot, or your producer does
- The plan, the schedule and the call sheet
- The location, its permission and its public liability
- Responsibility for the production: you’re the producer of record
What the 2% insures: employers’ liability for every crew member we book, and the kit we hire in for you. Nothing else on the shoot. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote.
Full production
We’re the producer of record.
15% + 5% production fee, plus insurance and contingency, on the whole production budget. Quoted as a production.
We do
- Our producer plans it with you and runs the day
- Locations, permits, kit, studio, travel and hotels, booked and paid in our name
- Insurance for the whole shoot, public liability included, plus the risk assessment and the call sheet
- One contract and one invoice, so overseas teams need no UK company
You do
- The creative calls
- Signing off the plan and the budget
What the 5% pays for: our production insurance across the whole shoot, £10m public liability included, and the contingency.
Not sure which you need? If your own producer or director will run the day, it’s crew hire. If you want us to take the production on, it’s a full production quote.
On the day
A day with a sound recordist, call to wrap
Interviews with three researchers at Royal Fort House, built in 1756 and one of the University of Bristol’s filming locations, then B-roll and atmos in a lab. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- 08:00 Listen to the room The heating, the corridor outside, a lecture changing over next door: what can be switched off, booked out or waited for, and what can’t.
- 08:30 Set up Recorder and receivers on the cart, timecode jammed to both cameras.
- 09:30 First contributor A radio mic under a collar, a boom just out of shot, a sound check while the producer chats.
- 10:15 A hold The corridor fills as the lectures change over. Two answers asked again.
- 13:00 Lunch Batteries changed, files backed up.
- 14:00 Lab and atmos B-roll in the lab with the extraction left on, then a minute of each room with nobody talking, for the edit.
- 17:30 Wrap Mics collected, files and the sound report handed over.
Which kind
Which sound set-up do you need?
The kit and the crew change with the number of voices, how much they move, and what the place sounds like.
Interview kit Two or three voices £550 a day
A recorder, two or three radio mics, a boom and headphones. Enough for most interviews and corporate films.
Best for interviews, testimonials and talking heads.
Multi-mic and desk feed Panels, podcasts, events
More channels, more radio mics, and often a feed from the venue’s desk, agreed with its team before the day. If you’d rather record in a studio, Films at 59 has podcast studios at its Cotham Hill base.
Best for panels, podcasts and conferences.
Documentary rig Following the action
A bag rig with radio mics and a boom, following the action and the conversation, on the Harbourside or through St Nicholas Market.
Best for branded documentaries and observational filming.
Mixer and boom operator Dialogue with movement Quoted on the brief
A mixer at the cart and a boom operator on the floor, for dialogue scenes with movement.
Best for drama, adverts and anything with a script.
Camera-only sound Nobody listening
Mics plugged straight into the camera, with nobody on headphones. It works until it doesn’t.
Fine for a quick vox pop; risky for anything you can’t do again.
What it’s for
What people book a sound recordist for in Bristol
Interviews in offices
Office floors by the harbour and round Temple Meads, with air conditioning that never quite switches off.
Events and concerts
Bristol Beacon and the city’s venues: several mics, a feed from the venue’s desk, and a backup of both.
The universities
Researchers and students at the University of Bristol and UWE, interviewed between lectures.
Heritage and the harbour
The SS Great Britain at Bristol Dockyards, M Shed and Princes Wharf, where the harbour is part of the sound.
Documentaries and customer stories
Workshops, kitchens and market stalls, from St Nicholas Market to Gloucester Road: real places with real noise.
Recent work
Sound on our jobs, and how we crew Bristol
Crew and production support · Alderley Edge, Cheshire · 2025 and 2026
Radio mics on court, a boom for the sit-down
Truth or Padel for The Athletic, owned by The New York Times: a padel match with a question riding on every point, then a seated interview. We shot the pilot on a private court in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, in April 2025, with a producer, two camera operators and a sound recordist, and went back to the same court a year later for another episode. The pilot set the rules for every shoot since: both players on radio mics through the match, inside a court of glass and mesh, and a boom for the sit-down.
How we crew it · Bristol
Recordists brought in, and Bristol’s noise
Our Bristol list is shorter on sound than on camera, so some of the recordists we book come in from across the South West, Cardiff or London, with their own kit and the travel on the quote before anything is booked. Whoever comes, the recce is for sound as well as light. Near Temple Meads that means trains; on a street it means Bristol Film Office’s code, which wants generators baffled or built into vehicles and engines off on arrival. At a venue we ask for a quiet room and a feed from its desk, and where the room next door is busy, we book that too.
Before you book
Things to know
The day
- 11 hours, including an hour for lunch.
- Overtime at card rates, agreed with you before it happens.
The location
- Tell us what’s nearby: the railway, a main road, building work, the room or the floor next door.
- We ask the location to switch off what can be switched off before the day, and agree the room, the power and any desk feed with a venue’s team.
Filming in Bristol
- Bristol Film Office asks for at least £5m public liability and a full risk assessment with every application.
- On a Bristol street, its code wants generators baffled or built into vehicles, and engines off on arrival.
- At Temple Meads, filming runs on weekdays from 10:00 to 16:00 or 20:00 to 06:30, with Network Rail’s permission (checked October 2026).
Paying and changes
- Nothing to pay until you confirm the recordist.
- 50% by card when you book, 50% on receipt of the final rushes.
- Every line on the quote: day rate, booking fee, kit, travel.
- Moving the date? Tell us as soon as you know.
- Cancellation terms are on every quote.
What our insurance covers
- Employers’ liability for the recordist we book: £10m.
- Kit we hire in for you is insured. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote.
- Nothing else on a crew hire. Public liability, the location and your own kit stay with you, and your venue will want your certificate. When we’re the producer of record, our policy covers the shoot.
£550 a day
APA/Bectu card benchmark (sound mixer): £541–668 a day.
| Day rate, 11 hours | £550 |
| Booking fee, 10% | £55 |
| Insurance, 2% | £11 |
| One day, before kit and travel | £616 |
The 2% is employers’ liability for the recordist we book, and cover on kit we hire in. What it covers
You won’t pay anything until you confirm the recordist.
- 50% by card at booking, 50% on the final rushes
- Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours
- Every line on the quote before anything is booked
Or call us on 07412 543822.
Reviews
What clients say about our crews
Straight from our Google Business Profile.
Book a sound recordist in Bristol.
Tell us how many people are speaking, where, and what the place sounds like: a station, a road, a busy hall. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Check availability
The whole crew
Every role in Bristol, booked the same way
One brief, one quote, every role on its own line. Our day rates in Bristol, paid to the crew member in full:
Production 06
- Director From £500
- Producer From £450
- Production manager £504–627
- 2nd AD £355–448
- Production assistant £400
- Runner £245
Camera 07
- DOP From £850
- Camera operator £529–656
- Focus puller £461–575
- Clapper loader £355–448
- Steadicam operator From £950
- Gimbal operator £529–656
- Drone operator From £750
Data and playback 02
- DIT £527
- Video playback £334–518
Sound 01
- Sound recordist This page £550
Hair, make-up and costume 02
- Hair and make-up £398
- Costume £519–694
Art department 02
- Art director £675–878
- Set builders £341–512
Post-production 01
- Editor From £350
How our rates work: crew rates in Bristol. Or start from a set-up: interview crews and units in Bristol.
Production support
Everything around the crew
Good sound starts at the recce. The Bristol guides cover the locations, the permits and the rest of the shoot, each on its own line of the quote.
02
Locations and permits
Bristol Film Office, Bath Film Office, the harbour, the bridge and the drone rules.
03
Studios and set builds
The Bottle Yard’s stages, green screen and blackout studios, and set builds.
Questions
Hiring a sound recordist in Bristol: questions
How much does a sound recordist cost in Bristol?
Our sound recordists are £550 for an 11-hour day, including an hour for lunch, paid to the recordist in full; the APA/Bectu card for a sound mixer sets £541–668. On top go our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance: £616 + VAT for the day. Their sound kit goes on its own line.
What does the insurance on a crew booking cover?
Two things. Employers’ liability for every crew member we book, up to £10m, and insurance on the kit we hire in for you. That’s what the 2% pays for. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote. The 2% doesn’t insure the rest of the shoot: public liability, the location, your own kit and anything you book yourself stay with you, because you’re the producer of record. If you’d rather we were, it’s quoted as a full production, and our insurance covers the whole shoot, public liability included.
Are your sound recordists local to Bristol?
We’re a crew agency with 2,800+ freelance crew on our books across the UK, 150+ of them in and around Bristol and Bath, so we can scale a crew from one person for a morning to a full unit for a week. Our Bristol list is shorter on sound than on camera, so some of the recordists we book come in from across the South West, Cardiff or London, with their own kit, and the travel is on the quote before anything is booked. Where a local recordist fits the brief, we book them first.
Do your recordists bring their own kit?
Yes: a recorder, radio mics, a boom and headphones, priced at a day rate on its own line. For more channels or specialist radio mics, Films at 59 hires sound kit in Clifton and at The Bottle Yard, and runs ADR and sound post at Cotham Hill and foley at Brockley Studios.
How many radio mics do I need?
One for each person speaking at the same time, and a spare. For a panel of four and a host, that’s six.
Can you deal with a noisy Bristol location?
Mostly. We ask for air conditioning and machines to be switched off, choose the quietest room, and hold takes for trains and sirens. Near Temple Meads that means trains; at Bristol Dockyards, where the Albion Dockyard is a working shipyard, the day’s work. Tell us what’s nearby when you book, and we recce at the hour you’ll shoot.
Can we record at Temple Meads?
Yes, through Network Rail. Bristol Temple Meads is a Network Rail managed station: corporate and commercial filming is £750 an hour for up to ten crew, two hours minimum, plus VAT, on weekdays 10:00 to 16:00 or 20:00 to 06:30, with up to £10m public liability (checked October 2026). Under five working days’ notice adds £500, and running into the peak isn’t allowed.
Can we record on the Harbourside or in St Nicholas Market?
Yes, with permission. City Docks, the Harbourside and the council’s markets, St Nicholas Market among them, are permitted through Bristol Film Office, which asks for at least seven days’ notice and £5m public liability. The harbourside exterior fee is £178 plus VAT for a crew of up to ten (checked October 2026). We recce the spot at the hour you’ll shoot, so the sound is what you’ll get on the day.
How far ahead should I book a sound recordist in Bristol?
Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Good recordists get booked first, so the earlier the better. For filming on council land, the notice is the Film Office’s: at least seven days, with a letter to neighbours and businesses seven days before. Under seven days, someone from the production has to speak to them in person, or permission may be refused (checked October 2026).