Audio Engineer – Nikki Haley’s Speech

During my first internship with the South Carolina Film Institute, I had been asked to be a part of a two-person team who recorded Nikki Haley’s speech to a roomful of Keenan High School students about the importance of “soft skills” for the workforce. She also discussed her childhood and “being different” in the south. It was a great speech. We also did not know at this point in time that the Charleston 9 was a week later, and then much later Ms. Haley would leave us to become UN Ambassador.

As I was the shorter of this two-person team, I had the responsibility of handling the controls, and listening for “pops” and noises. This was a difficult task, as I made a fatal error and wrapped the mic cord around the pole too tightly. When I had to indicate to my team member to raise the pole up to get clearer sound as Ms. Haley walked back and forth, the cord on my end got caught around my neck. The slightest move, including repositioning of cords can be picked up during a live recording. Because there was no chance to repeat this moment in time, I stood on my tip-toes and made the best of her speech in hopes of not ruining the audio.

I was very pleased that the audio was usable, and you can hear Ms. Haley’s speech starting at minute 7:50.

Despite the cord error, I am happy to have been a part of South Carolina’s history in this manner.

We captured enough of Ms. Haley’s speech for the Urban League documentary and I was provided relief.