The recording – the run up

On the weekend of the 29/30 January most of those associated with Supermarket Matters descended upon Cardiff with a simple mission: To record all of the vocals for the show.

The run up to this was a mass of organising and last minute problems:

Two of the final scripts were late coming in due to a catastrophic computer failure. All I can say is that the writer involved pulled out all the stops to make sure that the scripts were delivered in time.

I also had the mammoth task of going through all the episodes, ensuing continuity throughout and making sure the character and story arcs made sense. This, coupled with the fact that some of the episodes were running over, led to a few cuts which pained me to make.

In one script we lost a whole sub-plot as due to the changes following the read-through it had started to become out of place. Rest assured that it will be featuring in – the at the moment, theoretical – season 2.

Just some of the recording equipment. But look, four mics!

Two of the microphones we were meant to be using to record the show didn’t turn up. A couple of frantic calls with the company who supplies them ended with them couriering me their warranty swap out mics. At no extra cost – which was good for my wallet.

So... there may have been a little printing accident.

Printing! My gosh, all the printing. We needed copies of the scripts for all the actors, one for me and copies for the writers to make notes on. So much paper. So much ink. Thank you so much to all those who donated ink and paper. I am in your debt.

10am is early for writers and actors. They perked right up after some junk food. (Photo by Verity Smith)

So then the big day came. I rocked up to ITV Studios in Cardiff with a car full of equipment (and junk food – got to keep everyone’s energy up).

It is there where I met Sanj, the lovely man who runs i-choosemusic the company that has bought some of ITV’s old recording spaces. He showed us to our room and set about showing us the ins and outs of it all. He then left us to it.

ITV studios baby! We made it! (Photo by Verity Smith)