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job, allowing me to keep an income by continuing to supply the sound equipment, and gave Simon the opportunity to prove himself on the biggest show. You have worked on more than six dozen episodes of GOT. Looking back, are there some scenes that stand out a little more than others relative to, say, a creative approach you had to take, a challenge capturing something unique for a scene, etc.? Thoughts from every season come to mind. We encountered extremes in locations and weather with temperatures down to -17 C during Season 1 and a hurricane during filming in Season 2. Every season had its big episodes on Dragon Unit [the unit Ronan oversees—with the other unit being called Wolf]. For me, it started with "Blackwater," Season 2, which was our first major battle. "The Rains of Castamere" (The Red Wedding) in Season 3 had pure human drama and thrilling shock factor. Season 4 saw "The Watchers on the Wall" and "The Children," which took us to Iceland in the summer. "Hardhome" was the big episode of Season 5, with a view of what was to come with the Night King. Season 6 gave us great opportunities in sound with probably my favorite episode, "Battle of the Bastards." This had the least intrusive special effects and an abundance of amazing sound to capture. "Beyond the Wall" from Season 7 was filmed in a disused quarry on the top of a mountain near Belfast, and also took us back to Iceland—this time in mid-winter with four hours of daylight and three hours travel in and out to remote locations. We finished Season 8 on Dragon Unit with "The Bells," the sacking of Kings Landing. It was somewhat symbolic to be still standing at the end of the battle. What are you in the process of working on now? I started working on a BBC TV drama Line of Duty, Season 6, in February, which was scheduled for a 16-week shoot. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, we had to suspend production after four weeks. We can only hope that this pandemic passes with the minimum loss of life and we are able, in time, to get back to work. Anything else you'd like to add? It was a professional privilege to work on Game of Thrones. I was fortunate to start on the first day of the pilot and work on every episode until the last day of principal photography. It was also a huge honor to receive a CAS Award nomination for each of the eight seasons. I traveled from Ireland to attend the awards this January as I wanted to mark the end of the show, meet my peers, see all the friends I had met throughout the seasons, and make some new ones. I would like to pay tribute to the people who worked on my team through the seasons. Season 8 boom operator Guillaume Beauron, sound assistants Jonathan Riddell and Andrew McNeill, fellow production sound mixers Danny Crowley and Simon Kerr, and the very talented mixing and editing team in sound post. We wouldn't have got anywhere without the brilliance of David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who were aided amongst others by producers Bernie Caulfield and Greg Spence. I worked with the best directors like David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik. The entire production team and crew were dedicated and returned year after year. You rely on your equipment to work in all conditions and environments. Sound Devices 788T recorder, Audio Ltd's 2040 radio mics, Sennheiser's MKH microphones, Cooper Sound's 208 mixer, and DPA's 4071 lavs were the core kit elements and dependable from Seasons 1-8. DANNY CROWLEY: Production Sound Mixer You've worked on-and-off as a production sound mixer for GOT for a number of years. How did you become involved with the series? I was originally contacted during Season 1 to boom operate. I had previously boomed for Ronan Hill and Mervyn Moore and they had recommended me when a position opened up. But I had already been working as a sound mixer for a number of years and, having made that transition, I didn't want to reestablish my name as a boom op. Luckily, I stood strong as they called me during Season 2 to do some second unit pickups; non-dialogue initially and then bigger and bigger scenes. They liked what I delivered and the calls kept coming. Was there something in particular that sparked your interest in production sound? How did you get into this field? I grew up with a lot of music in our home, playing traditional Irish instruments and piano were a staple. We didn't have a TV when I was kid, so film was a wondrous world I only got to experience at the cinema or at a friend's house who had a VCR. But I was addicted from the get-go—I loved watching films. As a teenager, I was lucky enough to have an amazing small music venue near me. I spent most of my teens in there listening to bands from all over the world play. That grew into helping out with setting up the FOH, which evolved into FOH mixing. By the time I was 17, a film called War of the Buttons was being shot in my area. It was a Warner Bros. movie produced by the famous David Puttnam and I begged for some work experience in the sound department, which I got. After a week, they offered me the position of sound trainee for the shoot. I loved Ronan Hill CAS mixing in the cave beneath Dragonstone Castle. Photo courtesy HBO/Helen Sloan SMPSP

