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Some Tips From My Last Location Sound Gig

TUGELA SKYE

I have this weird love-hate relationship with location sound. It’s still a relatively new area of expertise for me, but there have been some amazing, and not-so-amazing experiences. I recently went on a trip with a well-known film producer, Timothy Hay from Hellmot productions. It was a last-minute adventure, and I must admit one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. So, I thought I would tell you a bit about the trip, what I learnt and what I might do differently next time.

So, the gig was as follows: Tim was the winner of the My Rode Reel competition the previous year and this year he decided to go all out for his second entry. I was contacted by a friend of a friend of a friend (because we all know that’s the only way to get work in this industry haha!), who asked me if I was free to do a gig in about two weeks.

We were going to hike up to Tugela Falls (the highest waterfall in the world), stay overnight, and capture some truly beautiful footage. Would I be interested in going? My answer was a simple “HELL YES!”

So, I got acquainted with the gear, the nature of the job, and what was required of me and took off on the adventure of a lifetime.

Here are the things I faced, and tips on what you might need to consider for your next location sound excursion:

When doing a location sound recording gig that’s going to be in the middle of the mountains, make sure you take the right camping gear!

I found myself having to share a one-man tent with another girl, we froze through the night and I totally forgot to bring simple things like a coffee cup. Yes, we had to be very careful as to how much weight we were carrying up the mountain (it was hellishly steep), but things like correct hiking boots would have saved my feet a few weeks of blister recovery.

No matter WHAT the film producer says, make sure you take extra cables!

This was a funny one – when working with videographers, or anyone else for that matter, and you haven’t had a chance to check the quality of the cables beforehand, just bring your own in case. We had a faulty cable running into our Zoom recorder and it meant we couldn’t use all the mics we had hoped to use for the film. This made room for error as we were relying on a limited feed for our takes. If something went wrong, we didn’t have backup feeds. So, just tuck them in a pocket if you must but take extra cables with you!

Make sure you are familiar with the gear.

I knew what I was doing but had never used the model that was provided. So, before the gig, I spent some time on YouTube simply making sure I had a good idea of simple things, like where the menu button on the recorder was. Trust me, you don’t want to look like an idiot when you go ask the DOP where to find the menu button on a piece of gear you should be proficient at.

Take as much wind protection as possible.

I’ve never experienced as much wind as I did at the top of that mountain, if it hadn’t been for the wind protection we brought with us, everything would have been ruined. Even if you don’t think it will be windy, take it with you.

Don’t be afraid to tell the DOP that it was a dud take.

The worst thing happened – we were taking a shot for the climax of the film. After a few takes and struggles, we got the take.

Everyone cheered.

I said, “Guys, we have to do it again.”

When they asked me if I was sure, I hesitated. For a moment I was embarrassed that I was the one killing the buzz after that amazing take, but I knew professionally that I needed to do my job, and I needed to do it well. I, very assertively said, “I’m sorry but you’re going to have to do it again, we can’t fix this in post.” And I am so glad I did.

Take in the view

We walked with 20-30kg bags on our backs, shooting in between scaling up cliff faces, and you know what – every time I got a chance, I looked around me and took it in. I was in awe. I couldn’t believe how magnificent the view was, and that I could justify this as “work”. The people, the place, the purpose – all exceeded expectations.

Be realistic with your post-production limitations.

So, because it was all done about a week before we had to submit the film, we had about 3 days to do all the audio post-production editing. I spent those three days doing nothing else. I had to know when to say, “this is the best we can do for this part.” But I also had to not be afraid to say, “I don’t think this will work here”.

Do push-ups.

You may laugh but carrying a boom mic for two days straight can take its toll. Make sure you get your upper body in good condition if you don’t want weeks of residual backache.

After about a week of filming and editing, we did it! And the feeling was SO good. I couldn’t put into enough words how much I enjoyed the experience – the early 4 am starts, the relationships and banter, the late nights editing, and the lasting connections made.

So, next time you go on an exploration-style sound recording gig, keep in mind these things, and good luck with your adventure!

Review of Behind the Sound Cart

 

If you are looking for a master class in production sound, Behind the Sound Cart: A Veteran’s Guide to Sound on the Set by Patrushkha Mierzwa is just that.  From gear to career development this book covers it all.  With her many years of experience as a Utility Sound Technician (UST), Mierzwa provides more than tips and tricks.  Packed in each chapter is a guide to best practices and the reasons why.

Behind the Sound Cart is divided into chapters based on topics beginning with an overview of the UST’s duties.  Also known as 2nd Assistant Sound, they work on everything sound-related not covered by the Mixer or the Boom Operator, even then the UST might have to use a second boom, or even cover for the mixer.  In light of how flexible the UST must be, it makes sense to use them as a focal point for a guidebook on production sound.  Mierzwa has the reader follow her footsteps through nearly every scenario a UST might face.  I cannot believe I ever set foot on a set without Behind the Sound Cart.

Mierzwa stresses the importance of safety with every chapter.  Current events show us that this emphasis is always necessary.  However, safety is not just protection from a dolly running you over:  heat, stress, and fatigue can also be deadly.  Don’t skip the sections on first aid and COVID protocols either.  Gear cleaning and maintenance fall into this category as well.

From cover to cover, Mierzwa leads by example of professionalism and integrity.  Do not expect this book to be full of celebrity anecdotes.  Part of being a respected UST is respecting the cast. One might expect a book on the basics of production sound to be dry without juicy gossip, but there are plenty of stories and jokes peppered through each chapter.  Attached in the appendices are forms, paperwork, and other documents used throughout the film production process.  Those alone are worth the price of this book.  Refreshing is the way Mierzwa uses “she/her” as the default pronouns over “he/him.”  Sure, a more neutral pronoun like the singular “they” would be optimal, it allows one to imagine a film crew that is more diverse than the “industry standard.”

I recommend Behind the Sound Cart to anyone looking to succeed in the film industry.  That includes early career professionals, as well as students and production assistants.  I would even recommend this book for fledgling directors and cinematographers.  Patrushkha Mierzwa has put a career’s worth of information into a manageable package, and it should be in every production sound engineer’s library.

Department Heads,  Please Don’t Forget Your Sound Mixer

 

This year, I had the privilege of being back on a set during a time where set work still isn’t prevalent. Was I scared? Yes. A pandemic is still going on. But, this is the first film in a long time where I wasn’t a part of the sound department. Post or set! This was also the first feature I had ever worked on. A daunting task to be a part of the assistant director’s department as well! I learned some things about being back on a set. That included how much I could help the sound department when problems arose.

One of the main things I learned? The Sound Department is still overlooked (both post and set). Yes, a film is a visual medium but bad visuals don’t take you out of the moment as much as bad sound does.

I recently had a meeting with some department heads from the film and gave my own insight (what little I have) about the sound department and what they can change for their next feature. Our sound mixer wasn’t invited to the location scouts. Something I did not know until halfway through filming. He was just as new to each location as I was! Which meant he wasn’t always prepared for what sounds and problems the locations would bring. A noisy/echo-y locker room which most definitely will be looped later. Many consistent sounds at locations that couldn’t be turned off at all or weren’t thought of on the location scouts. When at the post-filming meeting, the department heads were genuinely surprised that a sound person should be brought on scouts or even thought of. I know I’ve had my share of location managers tell me “Don’t worry! The location is super silent!” only to get there and there’s a loud water boiler that can’t be turned off, chickens and roosters galore in the backyard, etc. I’ve even had weird high-pitched noises from set recordings that no one knew what it was and I was asked in post to fix it. Always better to fix it on set than in post. BUT, I do understand that some locations you just have to deal with. Could be due to budgets or any other number of reasons. I get it. It’s better to know what those problems are before even filming so you can save everyone the headaches or what could happen.

Why the emphasis to try and work with your sound person and get a clean recording instead of just fixing it in Post?

Well, you also want to preserve the actor’s performance as much as possible. Sometimes bringing them in for an ADR session won’t always give you back the performance they had on set. Since I worked as an assistant director on this feature, it was also my duty to help our sound mixer with whatever problems had arisen. That should always be the case with sound mixers. Different departments should be working together since a sound mixer or their team can’t fix or do everything by themselves. Another department sound mixers should work with are costume designers. Our sound mixer and costume designer didn’t have the time to chat with each other so they had to wire up actors without any prior knowledge of any problems that could have been fixed. I always had a production assistant ready to go on a run for things such as batteries or moleskin for the sound mixer. Though, we did work night shoots which also need to factor into production. Not a lot of places are open in those wee hours of the night. That means things need to be bought earlier or you’d have to wait till the next day and that can’t help anyone.

A simple way to start noticing the sound at a location is to stand in the middle of a room or area, close your eyes and listen to all that is around you. The refrigerator, the a/c blowing inside or the unit outside, walk around and hear how loud your footsteps will be on set, etc. Also, check to see what the power situation will be for different departments. A set I was on required us to run cables through windows which meant those windows had to stay open. Not ideal for sound at all. This also means you have to make sure all movement must be halted from other departments that are near set and that can be a tricky task when you’re limited by budget and time. Another thing is to allow the sound mixer to get that room tone in each place that is filmed. It doesn’t take long but it can be so helpful in the long run.

I can go on about things to be thought of when you, as a sound mixer, have to work with on a set. But, I truly hope that other departments can accommodate or help as much as they can because it’ll help. Let the other departments know that you’re not trying to be ‘fussy’ or the like. You’re trying to get the best sound possible for them. Support one another! I have no idea when this almost ‘anti sound mentality came into play on set but, we all need to work and support one another, or else the final product of a film won’t be as good as it could possibly be. We’re all working together to bring multiple peoples’ ideas to life and we genuinely want that final product to be the best it can be. So other departments, please work with and not against your sound team. It may just save you some money and headache later.

For a very detailed article about this topic.

Check out: “An Open Letter From Your Sound Department”

 

SoundGirls Launches Initiative for Members Working in Production Sound

Film is one of the most powerful forms of media in our society.  Historically, it has been controlled by a specific privileged group of people, but now is a critical moment of change in human culture.  More and more it is recognized that diversity of thought would create a healthier society and world. For this to be accomplished, we need diversity among the people who produce films.

SoundGirls is on the front line of this change. Fewer than 5% of sound professionals are women, and SoundGirls works to increase that percentage.  Starting in 2013, as a grassroots organization for women working in audio and we have grown into an international organization with over 6,000 members and chapters worldwide.

One of the barriers for women and non-binary people entering this field is access to work-experience and mentors. Last year, SoundGirls Productions was launched to proactively create employment and mentoring for women, non-binary people, and marginalized groups in sound.  We provide sound services and work-experience for live events in the Los Angeles area. This initiative will not fall under SoundGirls Productions, but under the mission of SoundGirls, and will provide members wanting to work in the film industry real-world experiences working on film shoots.  To further these aims, we are gathering a pool of location-sound gear that members can borrow to work on film shoots to gain valueable work-experience.

It is our hope to find audio manufacturers and members who support our mission and will sponsor SoundGirls by donating gear.  We need industry-standard microphones, mixer/recorders, and wireless lavs, as well as boom poles, bags, cables, timecode devices, and accessories. Soundgirls is a non-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible.

If your company would like to donate, please get in touch with us, and we will coordinate shipping and invoicing.  Your donation will be put to good use and greatly appreciated. soundgirls@soundgirls.org

The SoundGirls Team

Equipment List

We are happy to accept b-stock, demo units, used equipment, or monetary donations

Lectrosonics

Sennheiser

Sanken

Sound Devices

Deneke

DPA Microphones

Zoom

Zaxcom

Microphones

Windscreens / Shock Mounts

Boompoles

Bags/Harnesses

Other Gear

 

The Importance of Good Production Sound

From a post-production perspective

In a tv show or movie, the dialog is the core of the mix. Music, sound effects, and Foley add interest and excitement, but it all fundamentally works around dialog. Dialog is typically how we learn the characters’ names, their relationship to the other characters, and what challenges each character faces. We learn what the story is about and watch that story develop through dialog.

You could argue dialog is the most crucial element of film and tv sound. You can remove sound fx or music from a movie, and you’ll still have a playable movie (maybe not the most interesting movie – but you can watch it). If you remove the dialog track, it would be a tech problem – not a movie.

Poor dialog quality (or mix) can be the difference between the success and failure of a film, too. If you can’t understand what anyone is saying, how long would it be before you watch something else?

Even though dialog is clearly significant, you’d be amazed how many projects have poor (or very poor) production sound. I know the problem isn’t the sound people being hired. I can often tell just by listening to mics whether they had a sound mixer/boom op or not. The problem is the projects that didn’t hire the sound crew necessary to do the job right. The problem is the gear needed for the job that production didn’t want to pay to rent.

The basics of production microphones

To capture dialog, there are two primary types of mics you’ll see in a professional setting: boom and lavalier mics. Here’s how they are ideally used:

Lavalier mic (or lavs). This is a small mic placed on the body. In an ideal situation, everyone with a speaking line will wear their own lav mic.

Boom mic (sometimes called a shotgun mic) or hypercardioid mic. These mics are highly directional (picking up whatever it is pointed at and rejecting sounds coming to the sides of the mic). With proper placement (by a boom operator), these mics do an amazing job at capturing the body of the voice, articulation, and ambience in a way that sounds natural and balanced.

Production sound mixers aren’t limited to these microphones. Many get creative to capture the sound they’re looking for (and remain hidden from cameras). That’s one of the fun parts of the job.

Some ways projects cut corners that negatively affect dialog quality

If a project has poor production sound, there’s a number of consequences for post-production

It adds expenses to post-production sound to fix problems created by production sound.

Time/budget is taken away from other areas of post-production sound. It’s more time fixing problems and less time enhancing or doing creative work.

When there’s only one lav covering multiple people (or a boom covering on-mic and off-mic characters at once), it takes a lot more time and detail work for a re-recording mixer to balance. One person will sound close/present and loud, and the other will sound off-mic/distant and softer. The way to make the two sound alike is to take the person who sounds good and make them sound crappier to match.

When lav mics are placed poorly, there can be lots of weird body resonances that take time and work to EQ. There might not be any high end in the mic to bring out. If there’s any sort of cloth rubbing on the mic, clothes noise, or jewelry, it takes time to decrackle and denoise, and there’s no guarantee it will fully come out with processing.

When someone without sound experience is placing mics and setting levels, it can lead to extra work in post-production to correct issues such as low gain, hiss, and distortion. Booms that are placed too close are often sibilant and need extra de-essing work. A re-recording mixer could spend hours correcting something that would have been a couple seconds adjustment on set by a sound person who knew what to listen for.

When a camera mic (a boom attached to a camera or a built-in microphone) is used, the mic is usually much too far away from the source. It takes a lot of work (de-noise, de-verb, etc.) and the end result is usually still poor quality sound. Camera mics often don’t sound professional, and that’s why a lot of professionals in post-production pass on projects with only a camera mic.

Noisy locations mean noise reduction which means extra time needed for an editor and mixer. If the noise is inconsistent (like wind on a mic), it can also be a challenge for a picture editor also who might be hearing the noise come and go in their edit. Some location noise is unavoidable, but that’s where having an experienced sound mixer and boom op can attempt to minimize the problem.

Needing ADR. The cost of an ADR studio and engineer, bringing in actors, etc. can get pricy very quickly. The #1 note I’ve heard in ADR sessions (from directors, producers, and actors) is the actor’s performance in the studio doesn’t match what they did on set. It feels stale or forced, or it just doesn’t match the feel or intensity. It’s a challenge even for some major stars. Then, you get to the challenges of matching ADR (sound-wise). Some actors are amazing with ADR (and there are engineers who do a brilliant job matching sounds from on set) but what if the whole ordeal could have been avoided?

The reality of production sound

As a re-recording mixer (and sound supervisor), I get approached with a variety of projects (from amateur to indie to professional). If it’s something I’m potentially interested in, I ask for a sound sample. I ask what mics were used on set. It’s sad to turn down projects because of poor production audio when it looks great, has an interesting story, and has great people behind it. These projects clearly put time and effort into lighting, cinematography, and capturing beautiful shots. If you close your eyes, you would think it was a home video captured from across the room.

I empathize with filmmakers, and I see how these choices can happen. Even some professional filmmakers pay out of pocket and borrow equipment and ask for favors to get their passion projects made. The majority of films made today don’t have the financial support of a studio. We’re in an era where Kickstarter is the financial backing for a short or indie film. Directors produce their own films then pay even more money to be considered for film festivals. It could be a year or more before a film is even considered for a distribution deal. There are a lot of risks and never a guarantee of a return.

Poor audio quality (and especially dialog quality) affects a film’s ability to get into film festivals, get distribution deals, and the ability to be broadcast. At the end of the day, that’s why production sound is worth the investment. Why mess around with the most crucial element of film and tv sound?

 

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