michael

What’s in a team- Michael Martin

What’s in a team- Michael Martin

At Tyrell, it is one of our most dearly held beliefs that people buy from people – namely people that they like, respect and trust. So, that is why we are always proud to sing the praises of our exceptional team at every opportunity, because we know that it’s our multi-disciplined experts, with their wealth of experience, that ensure the success of our business and the satisfaction of our clients.

Recently, we’ve been getting to know our expert team a little bit better to prove that we really are the best in the business. This week we’re learning more about Tyrell Support Engineer, Michael Martin and how his passion for technology led him to Tyrell’s door.

Name: Michael Martin
Job title: Support Engineer
Miles on the industry clock: 11 years

Michael’s experience within the media industry is impressive. With a career currently spanning 11 years, which has taken him to the other side of the world and back. Michael has had the good fortune to work with some of the world’s leading broadcasters and gain some invaluable skills along the way.

So, where to start? After graduating as an electronic engineer and starting work in Ireland as a junior engineer, Michael then emigrated to the land down under and began working in traffic monitoring projects in Sydney for a company called Redflex. This was an ideal job for Michael as it allowed him to visit the length and breadth of Australia, including many places off the beaten track; fuelling his passion for travel and adventure. The travelling perks didn’t end there either. The role at Redflex took him on exciting trips to a small town in Saudi Arabia for a month and Kuala Lumpur on another niche project. However, despite this excitement, Michael sought to broaden his horizons within the technology sector and turned his attention to the media industry.

Luckily for Michael and driven by his obsession with technology, his skills were very clearly transferable to the media industry so, when the a role came up at Channel 7 in Sydney, he jumped at the opportunity. Starting as a Broadcast Engineer right in the centre of Sydney in Martin Place, famous for having its studio exposed to the public on the street, was an incredibly exciting time for Michael. Attracting some very big names in entertainment, Michael was fortunate enough to witness Coldplay record a number of songs in the studio, something which was a real pinch-yourself moment for the entire crew. Not that it was all a dream come true however, as with the notion of celebrity usually comes a relatively large amount of stress. Michael vividly remembers Coldplay insisting upon showing up with two articulated trucks worth of equipment, with extra 3 phase power that had to be routed in along with lots of extra tie lines for their own audio equipment. He stresses however that the thrill of being able to stand right next to them as they played was well worth the headache in the end.

Whilst working at Channel 7, there were many major infrastructural changes which Michael was involved in including a full gallery revamp and video router change over. There were some major learning situations too, like when the team had a catastrophic power outage to deal with. The backup generators failed, and Michael was one of two engineers onsite that had to frantically deal with the fall-out. Plus, there was a terrifying evacuation when the Lindt café was held hostage by a terrorist and the team were forced to setup a temporary studio elsewhere using the sat van as their playout.

Soon enough, the time came for Michael to make the move home, which luckily coincided with a position coming up at the BBC. Even though this meant a long commute between Dublin and Belfast, Michael was still delighted to gain the opportunity to work for the most well-known broadcaster in the world. There were some impressive projects going on at the BBC at the time, which he felt was lucky to be involved with, including the setup of their new VR studio, allowing him to work with Viz and Shotoku engineers. For Michael it was fascinating to see how the VR environment worked and see first-hand the precise measurements needed for the tracking cameras to move around objects in the VR world.

Inevitably however, the commute became too much, and Michael went in search of work locally to Dublin, which is where his journey with Tyrell began. Having been aware of Tyrell from their work with the BBC, Michael came across the role of Tech Support Engineer and after a very promising meeting with Declan, he was convinced that this was the right company for him.

Michael admits that there was a lot to learn by stepping into the reseller world at Tyrell and is still constantly learning every day. But needless to say he is enjoying every minute of it. Michael now mainly deals with post production and animation clients and has fully immersed himself in the tools and technology involved in these industries. Michael is also very fond of the variety of the role and the fact that he gets a great overview of what’s happening in the industry, through working with almost every-single media company in Ireland is a huge bonus.

Outside of Tyrell it’s no secret that Michael is interested in all thing’s technology related, but it’s his love of cars and travelling, namely combining the two into epic road trips, that really takes the top spot in his heart.

If you want to know more about Michael and how he helps Tyrell customers with his expert industry knowledge and experience, follow him on LinkedIn where you can find out what makes him and us tick.