Production Audio
Written by Michael Sujek
Working as a production sound mixer in Los Angeles, where it’s consistently sunny, it’s possible to take the weather for granted when recording audio in the field. But what if the job is recording audio for a documentary in the Arctic, like for Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” where there’s the incessant pounding of salt water? Or how about recording a reality show during the rainy season in Washington State? Getting clean audio can be difficult in good weather, but harsh conditions can present unique challenges to production sound mixers in the field. Luckily, there are some products that can offer protection for productions in need.
Written by Larry Sands
Recording audio while on location when you can’t really control the environment is hard enough –– with all the occasional breezes, traffic, pedestrians and other various noises that come with the territory –– but working in bad weather can wreak havoc for filmmakers and their crew, as an environment that just won’t cooperate can make a difficult shoot more stressful.
Written by Gordon Meyer
If you ask people in the production biz what’s meant by the term “HD audio,” you’re likely to get very different answers. For an exhibitor, it might mean a state-of-the-art 7.1 channel surround system. For an engineer, it could be a major upgrade to a mixing board. But for Arthur Roberts, it means having an edge over his competition to get gigs.
Written by Gordon Meyer
Audio Specialist Scott Harber does a lot of work in scripted entertainment for both big and small screens alike, including the TV shows “Rescue 911” and “Desperate Housewives” and the upcoming feature 30 Minutes or Less for Columbia Pictures. But his real passion is for the documentary films that have taken him all over the world, such as Bill Maher’s Religulous and the Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentaries Borat and Brüno.
Harber and his colleagues shot Cohen’s comedic films as documentaries, as Cohen and his director, Larry Charles, had specific story points in mind and felt that the films were in many ways 21st-century versions of the classic TV show “Candid Camera,” in which unsuspecting real people were sucked into absurd situations for laughs. “[Borat and Brüno] were docs,” says Harber. “It was me and two cameramen standing in a room with Sacha and whoever he was with.”
Written by Gordon Meyer
Earlier this year, veteran Soundman MacAulay Flynt joined Writer/Director Heather Hale’s production crew in North Carolina to shoot the indie thriller Insecurity, starring Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Emmy-winning Actor Edward Asner and rock legend Meat Loaf. The film is about an organized crime family’s attempt to infiltrate the Witness Protection Program in order to kill the assistant district attorney who’s prosecuting a murder case involving a prominent member of the crime family. The plot’s complex cat-and-mouse game features a number of action sequences.
Written by Scott Jason Farr, CAS
Capturing production sound is tough enough in controlled settings without adding outdoor elements into the mix. The challenges faced when working indoors, on a set or controlled locations around sunny Southern California are multiplied a thousand times when you go to remote locations like the Sahara, Arctic or North Sea.
Written by David John Farinella
Orloff had to find ways to adapt to the smaller budget, location and process issues that are inherent on an indie production. “I like it,” Orloff admits. “I think it keeps your perspective a little more honest. What’s the saying? Necessity is the mother of invention? That’s it in a nutshell.
Written by David John Farinella
When Erik Magnus, CAS interviewed with the producers of the TNT show “Leverage,” he heard that they wanted to do things a bit differently. “They wanted an in-house workflow, and that meant they wanted to use HD all the way,” he says. “It was shot with up to three RED cameras, and I recorded the audio digitally on a Fostex DV824 multitrack DVD-RAM recorder.”
Written by David John Farinella
Production sound mixers working on any kind of shoot are destined to find situations that are less than acceptable, but the brave souls who work on reality television shows have to be the unluckiest of the bunch. The job challenges they face are countless, and include talent not trained in the art of talking into a microphone; hostile and uncontrollable locations; and on-the-move shoots where one must always be camera-ready..
Written by By David John Farinella
Capturing audio in the field for broadcast is possibly one of the most challenging jobs in the production world, especially when the tracks are slated to be used for newscasts. Michael Englehaupt, director of engineering at KPIX and KBCW, says that the use of analog gear...
Written by David John Farinella
Mixer Nick Kolias has been on all sorts of shoots around his Seattle home base, working for clients like NFL Films, indie film and television production companies, and a number of local advertising agencies. While each shoot has its own set of unique challenges, any commercial set is an opportunity for Kolias to practice the tricks of his trade.
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