Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1197255
would be a good credit for Jim to have on his résumé. Hitchcock was another director who had a very keen sense for sound (although most of the time on location he would direct from his car and let the crew make the movie). He trusted them to deliver what he needed and never wasted film on anything but what he wanted to use. When the movie was almost wrapped, Jim got a call from Clint to do another movie, which he had to turn down. He felt bad, but couldn't leave a show out of integrity. Jim finished out the '70s mixing films like The Car, Rollercoaster, Jaws 2, and Battlestar Galactica. He found himself in all kinds of new situations, putting microphones everywhere he could. Frequently, he would send his cable person ahead of time to rig XLR's everywhere possible for easy access. He would also bring his family out to visit as much as he could, as we all know sometimes life on location can be tough. On the set of Jaws 2, a few of his sons wanted to help out, and they ended up becoming part of the crew on the boats at sea for the duration of the film. They were beaming, and a good time was had by all. In 1979, he was presented with a new challenge on the movie Coal Miner's Daughter. Michael Apted wanted to record all the music live, with stems to be mixed later on. Jim employed two large Ampex 12-track tape machines, then mixed those down on two Nagra IV's. They riddled the sets with microphones; anything from Schoeps MK5's and MK41's, to SM58's, RCA 77DX's, Sennheiser 405T's, Royer 121's, Neumann U67's, Church Telefunken's, and just about any other mic you could think of. They had a large setup and breakdown, and it was sometimes unpredictable. One scene involved Sissy Spacek singing in the kitchen, where they ran copper wire around the set for an induction loop so she could have an earpiece, which was a very early version of an earwig. He would record the music playback on one machine, and her singing on the other. With the hard work of him and From top: Jim and friends go for a dip while scouting for Jaws 2; Jim and boom op Greg Agalsoff setting up on Terms of Endearment; Jim planted right in the middle of a chaotic set (film unknown).