Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/778398
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y W I N T E R 2 0 1 7 49 You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up AMC'S Halt and Catch Fire gets its name from a fictitious com- puter command sent to the CPU. Mythically, the CPU chip would be switching some circuits so fast that it would cause them to overheat and burn. Unfortunately, during filming of Episode 307, a lighting condor moved too close to the power lines, and the sound cart received 38,000 volts. No one was hurt and, luckily, everything was even- tually replaced by production, but Aron Siegel CAS and his crew of CAS Associate boom op Allen Williams and utility Matt Derber, had to be up and running ASAP. With some extra gear on the trailer, and a few extra rental items, the team was up and rolling 10 minutes after the crew was allowed back onto the set. –Aron Siegel CAS For many years, The Kennedy Center has honored at least five people who have made significant lifetime con- tributions to the arts. The Kennedy Center Honors is recorded as a tele- vision show during the first week of December for later broadcast during Christmas week. One year, they were honoring a beloved classical conduc- tor-composer. During the finale, a well-known opera singer performed a beautiful song written by the honoree. I've been fortunate to work with this singer on many occasions and her performances were always remarkable. For some reason, in the midst of her performance, she produced an unexplained, almost unearthly vocal sound. I was immedi- ately asked what was wrong with her microphone. Making this, once again, an audio problem. As a general rule in any rehearsal where there are actual performers rehearsing on stage, as a protection, I will run a full audio recording. I assured the producers the brief vocal area in question was covered by the rehearsal recording. So in audio post, there was no problem replacing that area with the singer's rehearsal. By this time, I was just curious to see what may have caused such a vocal performance disturbance. This perfor- mance was part of a big finale with all performers and cast on stage. Just so happens, for various reasons, I hang a pair of Schoeps microphones directly over the stage ISO'd on two audio tracks. During the program, there was a special presentation for Roger Stevens, the then-retiring chairman of The Kennedy Center. One of the shows he produced for Broadway was Annie. As a surprise, the program producers brought back many of the original cast members, including the original Sandy, the dog. I guess you see where this is going. By listening to only the overhead Schoeps during the opera singer's moving performance, for whatever reason Sandy, the dog, barked. Mystery solved. By the way, the honoree was Leonard Bernstein and the singer Frederica von Stade. You know, you just can't make this stuff up. –Edward J. Greene CAS