Working on TV drama in Sg Pt1
I have been working as a location sound recordist for TV drama series in Singapore since 2006. When I started, I was using a 3 ch Sound Devices 302 with 2 Sennheiser G2 wireless systems and a Sennheiser 416 boom mic. The mixer was tethered to the camera. 13 years later and we are doing the same, except with a Zaxcom Nomad/ Sound Devices 6 series with 4 or more Wisycom or Lectrosonics wireless system tethered to the camera. In a age of technological advancement in location sound recording, we are still not taking advantage of them when they are already taking advantage of tech innovations in camera and post production and even audio post-production. However as a location sound recordist, many of our hands are still tied by request to record 2-tracks into camera. Multitrack recording is only requested for TV commercials, short or feature films. Why don't we just record and deliver those tracks along with the tracks we recorded directly to camera? We don't do it because of the short turnaround time. With little time spent on sound design, many of our tracks simple get a simple touch-up, compressed, normalised with added music and effects and delivered. The multitrack recording would be treated as a back-up. Moreover, multitrack recording is adds additional cost to a soundman's rate and most production doesn't want to incur extra cost. If the old way of doing things worked, they do not want to change it.
Despite this disadvantage, I still see good in doing 2-track direct-to-camera recording. It enforces the need of the soundman to be a "mixer" and mix the dialogue of the the scene, especially in a scene where there are more than two people talking. Knowing that what I recorded is used on the final mix most of the time gives me a sense of pride in my work when I deliver a well mixed scene. However we do not work in a perfect environment all the time. Singapore is a very noisy place, sometimes the location of a shoot is chosen for the looks but they may be near a construction site or a main road. I do not see that as the fault of the decision-makers due to our limited shooting location resources, it is what it is and we must make much of the man-power and ability to rectify the problem. By that I do not necessarily mean requesting for a change of location, we must not forget the usefulness and art of ADR or Automatic Dialogue Replacement (Dubbing as it is more commonly known). It should not be seen as "more money spent", but as a means to "make dialogue sound better" when the noise of a location makes recording clean audio impossible. The change of mindset won't come easy, but I think our industry is advancing and it is only a matter of time before the main players realises the importance to work and to pay for the technological advancement in our possession.
Despite this disadvantage, I still see good in doing 2-track direct-to-camera recording. It enforces the need of the soundman to be a "mixer" and mix the dialogue of the the scene, especially in a scene where there are more than two people talking. Knowing that what I recorded is used on the final mix most of the time gives me a sense of pride in my work when I deliver a well mixed scene. However we do not work in a perfect environment all the time. Singapore is a very noisy place, sometimes the location of a shoot is chosen for the looks but they may be near a construction site or a main road. I do not see that as the fault of the decision-makers due to our limited shooting location resources, it is what it is and we must make much of the man-power and ability to rectify the problem. By that I do not necessarily mean requesting for a change of location, we must not forget the usefulness and art of ADR or Automatic Dialogue Replacement (Dubbing as it is more commonly known). It should not be seen as "more money spent", but as a means to "make dialogue sound better" when the noise of a location makes recording clean audio impossible. The change of mindset won't come easy, but I think our industry is advancing and it is only a matter of time before the main players realises the importance to work and to pay for the technological advancement in our possession.
