He got me at the beginning, when the music started and he said “This is dedicated to my Mum...for all the times I made her cry...I didn’t mean to...”

Now I don’t think I cry easily but my eyes definitely felt damp. My throat felt constricted. As I listened to the song I wanted to blub and spent most of the song trying to contain my emotion.

This clean-cut, good-looking young man was singing a song about how his biggest regret was making his mum cry ‘Over and Over’ and how he wanted to do something to make her really proud. It was all the more poignant because of where he was singing it.

I was sitting in the Grade II listed chapel at HMP Wormwood Scrubs where I’d been invited to a short concert by The Irene Taylor Trust ‘Music in Prisons’. The charity had run a week-long project at the prison for inmates on collaborating to write songs, culminating in this performance. The prisoners had chosen their own themes for the songs, written the lyrics and worked out the tune. They called themselves The Exquisite Poets.

Audiences have been complaining about bad sound on TV programmes for many years. They complain about intrusive background music, strong accents, too much sound effects, low levels...the list goes on.

When you listen to a documentary made 20 years ago and then one made recently, you’ll notice that earlier documentaries had a lot less background music added. Bearing that in mind, programme-makers must tip the balance towards the story being told and hearing the narrative clearly, not a high-level of music which aims to imprint an emotion on the viewer.

Danny Cohen, BBC One’s Controller, launched a campaign this month to guide programme-makers to producing the best audio they could. I produced seven films for this campaign which was hosted on the BBC College of Production website, representing my final piece of work for the website before bowing out. They are called Clear Sound guides and are really, really useful. I urge anyone interested in making TV programmes to watch them, whether you’re just starting out in the business or a veteran film-maker.

This winter I’ve been working as a Producer making up to a hundred short films for the launch of a brand new BBC website aimed at the TV and Radio production community – www.bbc.co.uk/collegeofproduction

The videos are tips-based and short and sweet. Some are made by trainers, giving practical advice on such skills as self-shooting or recording; others offer personal insight to the various production jobs you can do, like a Production Manager or 2nd Assistant Director.