Dave Baumber – What Was Pebble Mill?

Early PSC cameras – Ikegami

Photos by John Burkill, no reproduction without permission. John Williams on camera, Steve Saunderson assisting, Dave Baumber on sound.

Producer Phil Franklin in foreground, John Williams on camera.

Phil Franklin

The pictures were taken on the RAC Rally in 1985 in Clipstone Forest, near Nottingham, on the morning of Tuesday the 26^th of November. The cameraman is John Williams, the assistant is Steve Saunderson, the sound recordist is Dave Baumber and the producer, Phil Franklin.

The camera is almost certainly an Ikegami HL-79D and the recorder would probably have been a U-Matic in the bag over Dave’s shoulder.

The live transmissions, usually 10 to 15 minutes after 2300 hrs, were done by OB truck CM2, which was based at Rally Headquarters in the Albany Hotel in Nottingham, so Phil Franklin and VT editor, John Burkill were probably taking a short trip out to see a rally car in a forest. There was one mobile edit van, which was built for the rally, and it followed the event round the country and fed cut items back to CM2. The attached pictures of a machine rigged in CM2 would seem to confirm that the PSC format was U-Matic.

The Ikegami camera was developed for news gathering but was quickly adopted for handheld studio and OB work.

At the time, PSC style shooting was still done mainly on film, but this was the start of the transition to video. There were lots of experiments with different cameras, recorders and crews and this was one combination.

True PSC didn’t really take off until the Betacams and Digibeta came along, a bit later. They had the recorder built into the camera, making it much more like a film camera in terms of handling and the sound recordists made a sigh of relief.

The Ikegamis were used extensively at Pebble Mill for music acts and on jibs for drama. When the first one arrived, there was such excitement that it was used before the necessary adapter box to use it with TV36 cable was ready, outputting its pictures down a BNC cable. So the building’s sync pulses had to be synchronised with the camera (rather than the other way round) to avoid a picture roll every time it was cut to. This reached ridiculous heights, James French remembers, on a gardening item at the back of Pebble Mill for the live Pebble Mill at One. Not only was the building synced with the camera but the whole BBC network was synced to the building. There was a large cardboard sign attached to the Ikegami saying, “DO NOT SWITCH OFF!”

Thanks to John Burkill and James French for writing this post.

Top Gear team – late 1980s

Photograph from Tom Ross, no reproduction without permission.

The Top Gear team proudly showing off their new electronic camera kit – complete with Top Gear sticker, late 1980s. Included are Dave Wilkins, cameraman; Tom Ross, producer/director; and it looks like Dave Baumber on sound.

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Andy Frizzell: ‘I think that may have been the Top Gear Special in Spain, Hispano Suiza Rally. Could have been me taking the picture.’

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Sir Terry Wogan 1938-2016

Dave Baumber (sound) with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Vanessa Jackson (producer) with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Steve Saunderson (camera), Vanessa Jackson, Gail Herbert (PA), Michelle Furey (AP) with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Dave Baumber (sound, crouching), Michelle Furey (AP) Steve Saunderson (camera), Vanessa Jackson, Gail Herbert (PA), ?, ?, with Terry Wogan (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Terry Wogan, Vanessa Jackson (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Terry Wogan, Dave Baumber, Vanessa Jackson (photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission)

Terry Wogan died today (31st January 2016) after a short battle with cancer.

“It’s very sad that Terry Wogan is no longer with us. I remember an old BBC special, an hour of watching fireworks and fronted by Tel! He actually made it sound exciting. I only worked with him once in 2002, but I took these in September 2004, when the BBC opened Europe’s most modern, state of the art studios, promising the people of the Midlands broadcasting security for the next 25 years at least. Of course, that was a lie. But none of us knew that then, not even Terry who was presenting here a Points of View special. On camera, Steve Saunderson, producer Vanessa Jackson. Sound is by the late, great Dave Baumber. Gail Herbert is in there as well, as is Michelle Furey. Just 11 years ago.”

Paul Vanezis

“I remember this shoot well, especially how patient and generous Terry was with members of the public who were continually asking to have their photo taken with him – the rest of the production team certainly weren’t as patient about that! I used to really enjoy writing the Points of View script for Terry, it was very easy to get his voice in your head as you were writing. I also loved the way he would look over the script in a couple of minutes, and ‘Terryise’ it – changing the odd phrase, so that it sounded like he’d written it in the first place. I also remember Gail Herbert, who was the production assistant on Points of View for many years, saying to me that Terry Wogan was someone she considered a real star – and she was right, he really was!”

Vanessa Jackson

John Bland and Dave Baumber

Photo by Peter Poole, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows film editor John Bland, with dubbing mixer Dave Baumber in the background. It would have been taken around 1980.

Pebble Mill at One at Legoland

Photo copyright Roger Guest, no reproduction without permission.

These photos were taken at Legoland in Copenhagen. It was part of a Pebble Mill at One programme recorded in April – May 1983.

The team all travelled in a Patterson’s coach and included Steve Weddell, John Smith, Jane McLean, Marian Foster, Jack Rook, Mary Clyne, Mike Bloore, Dave Baumber, and myself.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Keith Brook (Scouse): ‘Mike Bloore is trying to figure out which end is which of the videotape!! The recorder was called a VR3000 if I remember rightly.
Ian Dewar and myself started that operation.’

Ray Lee: ‘Yes it was an Ampex VR3000 and had large rechargable batteries which might last for one tape if you were lucky. It produced a very basic monochrome playback, which really did little other than indicate something was on the tape. It was very noisy, as the head assembly was mounted on ball bearings, unlike the airbearings that were used in all the full size machines. Little chance of assessing sound quality, but maybe that was recorded separately on a timecode linked tape machine. I don’t know details of how it was used in the field, but did have to attempt to repair it a few times. ! Very quicly replaced by the VPR10 1″ machine for these type of productions.’

Jane Clement: ‘I seem to recall they went to Freetown Christiania as part of the trip – the big hippie commune in Copenhagen – is that right Steve N Weddle and Jane Mclean?’

Jane Mclean: ‘Oh just look at us Mike Bloore! Yes Jane, we did indeed and I was petrified. They had lots of huge dodgy dogs. I went for a wee under a bush and two dogs charged me midst flow. The owner stopped them just before they reached me by which time I was wrecked. Ian Dewar had to give me medicine from his hip flask.’

Steve Weddle: ‘Heavens yes, Christiania, the hippy commune right in the heart of Copenhagen which proclaimed itself a free state. As I was the nearest thing we had to a hippy – long hair and a duffle coat – I went in to hold discussions with their leaders to see if they would allow us to film in their break away state. They eventually agreed, giving me a promise that our safety was assured. As if! No sooner had we started filming than we were greeted by a break away faction brandishing sticks and bricks, demanding our immediate departure from the site, or else. A tense few minutes ensued until my contact there won the day and we were allowed to carry on filming. And good on John Smith for holding his nerve. Plus I do remember that incident of the dog in the daytime, Jane. I seem to recall the Danes having a weird thing for Alsatians. But that’s for another time!’