Tag: location sound mixer

Just as the Covid-19 crisis was setting hold, I logged on with Michael (The Sound Guy) Helms to discuss sound mixing and how the pandemic was affecting us in the production business for the Location Sound Podcast. Michael is great to talk to and knows his stuff when it comes…

Hiring a location sound recordist might feel like buying a pig in a poke to those not familiar with the sound department. I find most producers and PMs know only a little bit about the equipment and processes happening in the audio department where they're much more technically knowledgeable about…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Which patter of microphone is best for your application In the last post, I discussed the two main types of microphones dynamic and condenser. Both of these types of microphones can have different patterns. Patterns describe how the microphone is sensitive to sound waves in relation to the space surrounding…

If you don't mix sound for a living there's not a lot of reason to learn the difference between the types of microphones. But when you spend your day trying to effectively gather audio on set you better become an expert on which microphone to use when. The first category…

Cinder Grip and Lighting: Independent grip and lighting rental. Good service for smaller productions including commercials, music video and indepent productions. EUE/ScreenGems: Large, full-services studio located near the airport. Fluid Films: Independent production company specializing in commercials, corporate, documentary and non-fiction. Full Frame Rentals: Independent camera rental company based in…