Early in his career, Rumsey worked as an editor and sound recordist on Terence Davies’ Children (1976 – the first part of what would become the award-winning Terence Davies Trilogy) and sound recordist on Bill Douglas’ My Way Home (1978). Rumsey was again one of the sound recordists on Peter Greenaway's 1980 feature The Falls and Greenaway would subsequently co-edit Rumsey's 1981 drama The Pledge, for which Michael Nyman composed the score.
