John Aldred Side3 by British Entertainment History Project

This interview with John Aldred was recorded on the 17th September 1989. John worked as a sound engineer, sound recordist and dubbing mixer in the film industry from 1937-1986. Worked in order at: Sound City (Shepperton), Denham, Pinewood, Army Film Unit, Crown Film Unit, MGM-Borehamewood, Shepperton and Rank Film Labs. Born in 1921 in Doncaster, son of a dental surgeon, educated at private school, wasn’t that interested in education and he was more interested in cinematography from a young age. His family moved to Middlesex, he left education aged 16 and got a job at Sound City (Shepperton) in 1937 on £1 a week as sound assistant/playback operator. The first film he worked on was Wanted. Here he worked with Vistatone (Marconi) sound equipment at Shepperton and worked with the producer John Baxter (who hired out a stage at Shepperton). His contract lasted six months at Shepperton after which he was made redundant. Through his father’s dental nurse who had a daughter in the wardrobe department at Denham he heard there were openings in the sound department: “…at a marvellous salary of £2 10s. a week”. He used Western Electric equipment at Denham. Worked as sound camera loader? At Denham he was involved in organising the Denham sound department (which consisted of 8 sound crews at that time) into the ACT union in 1938. The membership increased dramatically after a recruiting drive due to the excessively long hours and what he calls “elastic” approach to hours at Denham. At Denham he worked with Cyril Crowhurst who introduced night training classes to the sound department. Also worked with DP Field. Involved in productions such as The Thief Of Baghdad, Citadel and 60 Glorious Years. During the war he was in the sound department making The Lion Has Wings and In Which We Serve. In 1942 he joined the Army Film Unit at Pinewood. Worked as sound camera operator on The True Glory, Desert Victory, The Way Ahead. Recorded war sound effects in Western Europe during WW2 with Peter Handford. The stories about this experience are fascinating. He then joined the Crown Film Unit working under Ken Cameron where he worked on Western Approaches. Through A.W. Watkins he got an interview with Douglas Shearer (head of sound at MGM) in 1947 and was offered twice the pay he was on at Pinewood as sound maintenance engineer at the new MGM Borehamwood studios, after about two years he moved back into production as assistant dubbing mixer. Worked on various films, including Under Capricorn with Hitchcock, on 10-minute shoots. In 1956 he left MGM and moved to Shepperton as he could get over the union rate there, at this time the studio was very busy, employing 13 sound crews. He worked there until 1968 and was dubbing mixer on many films including The Innocents , Dr Strangelove,  Lawrence of Arabia. Then had a year contract with Paramount, then worked in Canada and freelance with Hall Wallis, then couldn’t get any work so he got a job as head of sound at Rank Film Laboratories. In 1980 he became involved with the British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society (BSKTS) and was involved in training courses and industry standards in sound. He retired from Rank Film labs in 1986. Tis is side 3 of 6