In this episode, Neil and Jason talk to Russ Hughes, who founded the Production Expert blog nearly 20 years ago. Now it attracts over 7 million viewers a year: and all of them drawn to the Expert website by the blog's justifiable reputation for trustworthy, relevant and topical free content for audio-post and music studio professionals.

Five years ago, in the midst of Covid, Production Expert ran a survey to capture the financial health of freelancers in the professional audio industry. Five years on, it has just published its latest survey – and with the number of respondents almost doubled, it makes for sobering reading…work patterns have shifted, costs have risen and maintaining a steady income is clearly taking more effort than it once did.

At times, this is a frank and revealing conversation that makes for difficult listening (please note this episode does contain a reference to suicide); particularly as Russ dives into the survey and lifts the veil on what the true cost is to current craft creatives, in terms of their financial, physical and mental health.

About the presenters:
You can find out more about Russ Hughes's work here and here. The Production Expert website is here and you can read the 2026 Production Expert survey here.

Details about Neil Hillman and Jason Nicholas's work as dialogue editors and mixers and how to contact them is here.
Details of our 1-to-1, training and coaching programmes for ambitious media professionals are available at:
https://www.drneilhillman.com and https://soundproducer.com.au/coaching and www.soundformovingpictures.com

Details of Neil's books, including his best-seller 'Sound for Moving Pictures', are available here.

Technical notes:

Written, produced and presented by Jason Nicholas and Dr Neil Hillman – IMDb
Recorded using the CleanFeed remote recording system
Programme edited by Neil Hillman and Jason Nicholas

YouTube fair use disclaimer:
Where copyrighted material appears in episodes of The Apple and Biscuit Show, it is used under the 'fair use' guidelines of the Copyright Act: i.e. "Use of these clips follows Fair Use laws regarding commenting and criticizing", where Fair Use allows for the unlicensed use of copyrighted material for purposes such as Commentary, Criticism, Parody, News reporting, Teaching, Scholarship, and Research. In instances where copyright or credit is questioned, please contact us directly to discuss receiving credit, or removing the featured content.

Over a 30-year career, UK indie Producer and Director Pip Piper has Produced nine feature documentaries, including 'Mountain Biking: The Untold British Story' and 'Bicycle', both with two-times BAFTA winning director Michael Baig-Clifford; directed six feature documentaries, including the music industry trilogy 'Last Shop Standing', 'The Vinyl Revival' and 'Long and Winding Road'; and Exec Produced three more. He also Produced the critically acclaimed drama feature 'The Insatiable Moon'.

But Pip has also been busy in other areas, too; for 30 years he has run the One Small Barking Dog charity; spent 16 years running production company Blue Hippo Media; 10 years as the Chair of the West Midlands Producers Forum; 10 years teaching an MA in film distribution and marketing; and he has run three film festivals.

Pip has a new feature documentary coming to British cinemas in March 2026, called 'Jo In The Water'. It was filmed throughout 2025 and it follows Jo Bateman, an Exmouth-based sea swimmer, who became a "reluctant activist" campaigning for clean water in UK rivers and seas when the dumping of millions of litres of raw sewage by her local water company impacted her physical and mental health — a familiar story all over the UK; and such has been the impact of the documentary, on March the 2nd, British MPs attended a special screening of the film at Westminster.

For his work in highlighting social issues to bring about awareness and change, we might fairly describe Pip as an "active activist".

About the presenters:
You can find out more about Pip Piper's work here and here; and a selection of his films can be found on the Vimeo on Demand site, for instance here and here.

Details about Neil Hillman and Jason Nicholas's work as dialogue editors and mixers and how to contact them is here.
Details of our 1-to-1, training and coaching programmes for ambitious media professionals are available at:
https://www.drneilhillman.com and https://soundproducer.com.au/coaching and www.soundformovingpictures.com

Details of Neil's books, including his best-seller 'Sound for Moving Pictures', are available here.

Technical notes:

Written, produced and presented by Jason Nicholas and Dr Neil Hillman – IMDb
Recorded using the CleanFeed remote recording system
Programme edited by Jason Nicholas

YouTube fair use disclaimer:
Where copyrighted material appears in episodes of The Apple and Biscuit Show, it is used under the 'fair use' guidelines of the Copyright Act: i.e. "Use of these clips follows Fair Use laws regarding commenting and criticizing", where Fair Use allows for the unlicensed use of copyrighted material for purposes such as Commentary, Criticism, Parody, News reporting, Teaching, Scholarship, and Research.
In instances where copyright or credit is questioned, please contact us directly to discuss receiving credit, or removing the featured content.

Jonathan Glazier is one of the television industry's leading lights in television Light Entertainment. Over a 40-year career, Jonathan has directed and produced some of the most popular TV shows, such as 'Stars in Their Eyes', 'Gladiators', 'The Weakest Link' and 'Asia's Got Talent' (and he has the awards to prove it). He has the rare experience of firstly consulting to, and then leading, one of the BBC's most historically significant and influential departments as the Editor of BBC Light Entertainment and International Formats. Today, he works with global clients as diverse as CBC and NHK and creates formats for widely different cultures from 'Suka Lattew' in Malaysia to 'How Normal are You?' in New Zealand.

But Jonathan's remarkable television career started in the sound department at the famous ATV Elstree studios. Jonathan explains how this background has been the foundation of his incredible career.

About the presenters:
You can find out more about Jonathan Glazier's consultancy company here

Details about Neil Hillman and Jason Nicholas's work as dialogue editors and mixers and how to contact them is here
Our 1-to-1, training and coaching programmes for ambitious media professionals are available at: https://www.drneilhillman.com and https://soundproducer.com.au/coaching and www.soundformovingpictures.com

Details of Neil's books, including his best-seller 'Sound for Moving Pictures', are available here

Technical notes:

Written, produced and presented by Jason Nicholas and Dr Neil Hillman – IMDb
Recorded using the CleanFeed remote recording system
Programme edited by Jason Nicholas

YouTube fair use disclaimer:
Where copyrighted material appears in episodes of The Apple and Biscuit Show, it is used under the 'fair use' guidelines of the Copyright Act: i.e. "Use of these clips follows Fair Use laws regarding commenting and criticizing", where Fair Use allows for the unlicensed use of copyrighted material for purposes such as Commentary, Criticism, Parody, News reporting, Teaching, Scholarship, and Research. In instances where copyright or credit is questioned, please contact us directly to discuss receiving credit, or removing the featured content.