Steady as she goes

Well it seems a little too good to be true really, it all seems to be going rather well. It's true we are filming everything twice (!), but this is new to both me and Bob (the cameraman) and we both want this to be as good as it can be.

Still having sound problems. Some of them I can tweak on the computer, but the fundamental problem is that the radio mic is far too sensitive at the mic end, and introduces far too much noise at the receiver end. Even with no batteries in the transmitter there is still a buzz. I've been on to the supplier again this week. Fortunately he remembered our last conversation, so there was some context and history to my predicament. I wish I'd taken him up on his offer of a refund last time - I've had it over two months now.

Well he was reluctant to give me refund, and I don't blame him after this long, but has offered me a different sort - it is VHF rather than UHF. I gather that it means it will be more prone to interference from taxis, but I don't expect that to be a huge problem round here. If it solves the problem I'll be happy, and if it doesn't he'll take them both back. I think that's a very fair offer, actually.

I've had a real live sound electronics engineer round this week, too. "That's not right", says he, "Get on to Canford, they'll sort you out." So I rang Canford Electronics up in Tyne & Wear, and was answered by a very helpful chap called Paul, an ex-BBC sound engineer, who obviously knew his onions. He even sent me a sample wind muffler called an "Overcover", which is basically a piece of fur fabric the size of a 10p piece and a piece of double-sided sticky tape! But if it solves the wind problem, then I only have the Noise to fix. If this second mic doesn't cure the problem, I'll simply ring up this Paul guy and tell him to send me what I need and bite the bullet. There is no point in putting in all this work and expecting to be able to sell a professional product if it sounds like a home movie, is there?

Now, I've saved the best bit till last.

I have a sponsor! I can't say who until the paperwork is done, but they are a very reputable manufacturer (so I don't have to pretend to like them!) and as well as supplying kit, they are happy to promote my DVD within their trade magazine too. I'm really pleased. It feels like someone else really believes that this can work, too. I just hope I don't let them down.

So, it's steady as she goes. We are averaging about 10 minutes finished footage each week, and I'm not unhappy with that. I daresay Christmas and New Year will disrupt that a bit, but that can't be helped.

Finally, thank you to all of you who have sent messages of support, they really are most welcome and greatly appreciated.

Cheerio for now.