Our Team
Craft excellence and quality is at the core of what The Sound Alliance stands for. We only use experts with enormous outside broadcast, recording, live music and theatre experience. With business continuity, scheduling flexibility and future development in mind we are always looking to expand our team, and are now at the point where we can call on a number of people to fill all key roles at any time.
In addition to advancing audio technology and techniques, we believe training and development is an important part of our role within the industry, and have sought out and involved young talent as a means of safeguarding the future quality and integrity of our craft.
Andy Payne
Andy Payne joined the BBC in 1983 and has been a Sound Supervisor for 24 years. He is in constant demand for his high professional standards and works closely with producers and directors to meet their ambitions. Andy is also comfortable engaging with musicians and performers and has been privileged to work with some of the world’s most established artists.
Recent highlights include; the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the BBC Proms season, the Glyndebourne Opera Cup for Sky Arts, the Mercury Music awards and Carols from Kings. Along with regular live service and event work there have been other interesting projects for Northern Ballet, Scottish Opera and Crystal Pite.
Andy has been leading the delivery of television sound for the BBC Proms for the last 20 years and pioneered 5.1 surround coverage for the BBC HD channel. At the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne, prior to production moving in house, Andy regularly delivered live sound for the BBC opera coverage. Over the course of his career Andy has been awarded two BAFTAs (with a further two nominations) and two RTS awards. He has also been a judge for the BAFTA Craft awards.
Matthew Charles
Matthew Charles is musically-trained and, with ten years’ experience as a professional orchestral and chamber musician, brings a thorough knowledge of the repertoire and genuine understanding of music to The Sound Alliance. Over the past seventeen years he has specialised in music based broadcasts including opera, pop, ballet, jazz, classical and sacred music projects, often working as music editor.
Matthew also has a wide range of experience as a guarantee engineer in outside broadcasts, and has been responsible for operating, maintaining and developing our specialist sound truck and related facilities for many years.
As a balancer Matthew regularly mixes events such as the BBC Proms, live royal events and services, as well supervising programmes such as The One Show and Sunday Morning Live, all with regular music content. Recent credits include: Stravinsky Double Bill with Scottish Ballet; Christmas Morning Service; A Lihna Curva for Rambert Dance Company; Services at Westminster Abbey for the Commonwealth, RAF Anniversary, and Battle of the Somme; Anthropocene for Scottish Opera and the Wedding Service of Princess Eugenie at Windsor.