Sankens, Trams, and Mickey Twos

Best experience with multiple wireless to date. Good thing, too. I was recording an 8 page scene, shot on film with the director following his actors around a living room with an Aaton XTR Super 16mm camera on his shoulder. The master shot was using all 360 degrees of direction, which means no place to hide microphone cable. The camera was handheld and moving, with no video assist, which means an unpredictable frameline to keep a microphone above. The take was about 8 minutes long, which is far too long for most arms to hold a boom overhead with precision and grace. Fortunately, we just happened to have excellent professional wireless on hand.

I used Sanken COS-11 microphones for the first time. The thin, square, rubber mounts proved to work very well against the evil that is known as cloth noise. We adhered them to the inside of the actors’ shirts with clear and chewy 3M Adhesive Transfer Tape (a.k.a snot). The mike head rests in the open via a cut out in the mount, just behind the fabric without contact, and moves with the shirt so there’s never any friction on the grille. The only time I heard cloth was the inevitable sound of a shirt shifting around while an actor walks briskly, luckily not over any of his lines. Put your ear down near your shoulder and move your shirt with your hand to hear what that sounds like.

Two days earlier we used Trams to wire the talent. I have to say that the voice sounded clearer with the Tram versus the Sanken on that set. However, I suspect different microphones work better with different circumstances. The Sanken on the lead actress yesterday sounded absolutely delicious. Wiring technique is not a hard science because there are too many variables—every voice, microphone placement, and wardrobe is unique. Nina enunciated her words clearly, with pleasant tonal qualities, and she was wearing a cotton T-shirt. We used a backup Sennheiser ME 2, as our fourth lav, for the boy playing her son, tucked just inside his collar to sound more open then on his chest. His voice came through a little less clear. It was sort of like listening to someone talk with their hand over their mouth, only not nearly that extreme. The difference is subtle enough that I doubt an audience would notice, but it’s quite a difference to gear heads. I read that the MKE 2 performs higher than the ME 2, which is the standard issue lav with the G2 wireless kits. I used one once about a year ago, recording customer testimonials for Quickbooks, but I couldn’t tell the difference back then.

Trams rock, Sankens are dope, and Mickey Twos are a’ight, for my fellow ‘up and comer’ sound guys. One thing is for sure, transmission reception is lightyears better with Lectrosonics transmitters and receivers. I’ll write about that later.

The shoot went very well, despite not having many opportunities to boom. I never heard any signal drop-outs, clothing didn’t overlap with any dialogue, and voices sounded more like someone speaking in front of you, rather than someone speaking while your ear is resting on their chest.