ProAudio Review - August 2008 - (Page 20)

BROADCAST | Feature By Heather Johnson Tips From The Pros: Location/Production Audio Mark Skipper Mark Ulano Whether it’s recording an onsite interview for a public radio news program, capturing car crash sounds for a video game, or recording dialog for feature film, television, or DVD release, audio recordists working in the field must think fast and be ready for anything. Here, production sound mixer Mark Ulano and broadcast mixer Mark Skipper share their recording tips and techniques. PART ONE: PRODUCTION SOUND MIXER MARK ULANO Production sound mixers have one of the most challenging audio roles on a film project. Their job often entails navigating around large, complex props, obtrusive lighting rigs, and noisy special effects devices, but because their work is used on the set as well as supplied to post-production, quality sound (as well as a ready-for-anything attitude) is crucial to their success. Mark Ulano has navigated this role quite well on some of the most popular films of the decade, including Titanic, where he earned an Academy Award, as well as recent hits such as Rocky Balboa, Grindhouse, and Iron Man. Driving into work one morning for the currently in-production Terminator Salvation, Ulano shared a few tips from the top. EQUIPMENT ESSENTIALS: “Right now I use two Deva 5.8 hard-disk recorders; basically one is cloning the other. For wireless, I’m invested in a fairly large package of Lectrosonics Venue broadband receivers with a variety of Lectrosonics transmitters. On Terminator, there’s a lot of water work — tanks and heavy rain; Lectrosonics products are real- ly the only products specifically designed to deal with that type of environmental challenge. For Rocky Balboa, I went to a digital Aviom system. I use the Aviom Pro16 modular audio distribution system and set up a 16x16 Ethernet-based digital snake, which allows me 500 feet or more of distance from the set. For mixer, I’m using a Yamaha 01v96 V2. Aviom makes cards specifically for the Yamaha product line, so it integrates well with the Pro16. I strongly suggest that peers look into the Aviom gear and using it to set up a digital snake system. The modular Aviom Pro 16 gear has transformed our ability to be remote and mobile at the same time because of its digital snake capability. It’s incredibly reliable and versatile. And because it’s modular, you can set it up in different ways. The way we’re using it is there’s a 16x16 digital snake all around Cat-5 cable. The Cat-5 cable is terrific because it is ubiquitous; it’s everywhere. You can go to Home Depot and get a 1,000-foot spool for $100, so you’re never at the risk of not having it. And it’s allowed me to really maximize our flexibility with wireless microphones, because I can have all of the hardware right up on the set and be remote and run multiple sets simultaneously because of its modular nature. Its time and reliability has allowed us to work in very tough environments. Sometimes in cold, dreadful winters in Philadelphia or Washington D.C., like we did this past year, and in very hot, desert remote areas as well. Before we started using the Aviom gear and the digital snake system, we were limited with distance between the recording side of things and the wireless reception side of things by the antenna. That’s because we were working with traditional hard-wired snakes, which were very cumbersome, very expensive and very delicate. A hundred feet would cost us about $700 or $800 and as soon as some heavy cart rolled over them, they were done. In addition, they would be 15 to 20 times thicker than some Cat-5 and have a third to half less the bandwidth than the Cat-5. Although ultimately similar in their result, traditional snakes on every level are tremendously more cumbersome, less robust, and significantly more expensive. Now all we do is turn on the Aviom gear, plug in the Cat-5, turn on the radio receivers and we’re ready to go. It’s scary. MIKING TECHNIQUES: In general, I’m always moving up and down the line between old-school Hollywood and Robert Altman’s style of absolute isolation. That also makes for a hybrid decision-making process for mic placement. On a project like Terminator where it’s a $250 million movie and there are a lot of mechanical effects, you’re more likely to have very hostile sound environment. So you move toward more isolation for signal/noise ratio, environment, and protect (or blend) with alternate miking at the same time. For example, last night we were on this huge set and there were two actors with cameras moving in and out, close up and back, and large plates of very reflective glass everywhere for set design, which are very problematic visually and acoustically in terms of freedom for mic placement. And it’s a long scene, so there are long sections where I can boom traditionally with multiple boom operators for times when the actors are moving. But there are large chunks where there is just no access. On top of that, the actress’ dress squeaks from a double corset. What do you do? You do TIPS continues on page 22 ® 20 | ProAudio Review | August 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

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ProAudio Review - August 2008 Contents Publisher's Page Broadcast News and New Products Yamaha Pocketrak 2G Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder Bench Test Marantz PMD620 Flash Recorder TASCAM DR-1 Portable Digital Recorder Tips From The Pros: Location/Production Audio Prosumer Portables in a Pro World Studio News and New Products Apogee Ensemble Solid State Logic Duende Mini FireWire DSP Live News and New Products Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing World Tour Behringer Eurolive B412DSP and B415DSP Active Loudspeakers Gear for FOH Engineers — A PAR Contributors’ Wish List Contracting News and New Products Buyer's Guide Single Slice

ProAudio Review - August 2008

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