Depending on who you ask, the job of a location sound mixer has many different definitions. You ask a young mixer and they might say their job is a technical one understanding gain structure, audio engineering principals, microphones and lav micing techniques. You ask the DP and she may likely feel the job of the […]

A standard location sound package isn’t exactly the same for every mixer but there are some pretty fairly standard things that producers expect and we mixers try to comply the best we can. Industry parlance in North America for a standard location sound package is “Two wires and a boom.” What does this mean? An […]

It’s very rare that the sound department is brought along on the tech scout for smaller productions. Therefore, it’s the small productions that usually end up with sound problems that they can’t afford to “fix in post.” Sound is more physics than art so you can reduce how good or bad your sound is going […]

Over the last several years, the FCC has made vast changes to the wireless spectrum that have had detrimental effects on the operation of wireless microphones. These changes began an evolution in wireless gear that many sound professionals were already heavily invested in. Over time much of the existing equipment became obsolete with the stroke […]

When an experienced client books a sound mixer “two wires and boom” is often where the negotiation starts when it comes to equipment. It’s also the minimum amount of kit required for many jobs that sound recordists who work out of a bag might need on many of their jobs. First, what does “two wires […]

One thing I’ve discovered is that some producers aren’t really very familiar without the sound department is organized and what the different functions are. Or even that there is really a sound department and not just a “sound guy.” For some, the sound department is just that guy with the boom that gets stuck in […]

This is one of the more hotly debated topics in the sound mixer community. Which are the best headphones for location audio work. Not everyone agrees that there’s a best headphone but they certainly agree there is a most popular headphone and that would be the Sony MDR-7506. I’ve owned 3 pair of these headphones! […]

Wireless lavalier microphones have become the industry standard on set. For some very good reasons too. They’re pretty reliable when proper RF coordination is practiced and the good ones sound excellent when properly gain staged. But are there times when it might not make sense to use them? There sure are. While you may get […]

Researching location sound mixer rates and hiring a location sound mixer can feel like an expensive task until you consider how much it costs when you don’t hire one. Having to fix problems with poor location audio can be a lot more expensive than hiring a competent professional with professional (not prosumer) gear to show […]

Utilizing timecode on set should be a very painless process provided you are using industry standard cameras with timecode capabilities and quality audio gear. Timecode enabled slates are very useful for ensuring your syncing process is smooth. One of the earliest ways used for syncing sound to picture was the simple slate. The video portion was […]