Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487667
34 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Winter 2023 Having worked with Noah previously, I knew that he would encourage his cast to talk the way people naturally talk in large familiar groups. Conversations overlapping between individuals inside of larger groups would be rehearsed and shot many times until he and the cast developed the rhythm and execution that Noah was looking for. We always boom everything and wire everyone to give Noah and the cast the freedom to say the words wherever, whenever, and at whatever level they want on the set without worrying about losing even a syllable, no matter the location, set, or lighting. I mixed a film here in Los Angeles the summer of 2020 during the height of COVID. Even though the city was working at one quarter of its capacity, we had been very challenged in finding clean frequencies at our practical locations with the hybrid wireless system I was using at the time. There were a lot of scenes with high cast counts and I found myself scanning and coordinating frequencies multiple times during the day which was time-consuming. I used Shure's ADX system previously on a music show we shot in June 2019. That introduced me to the power of Shure Wireless Workbench software and reliability of Shure Axient Digital wideband wireless system. After using it, I was smitten with the range, the sound, the rugged build quality, the well-designed body pack, and the bulletproof implementation of Dante which made the system amazingly easy to scale. Along with many others, I had been begging Shure for a 12-volt DC option on the rack receivers and hoping for a portable slot-based receiver. As soon as the 12V DC receiver option was available, my order was in for twelve channels of Shure ADX. By early 2021, I had converted my Cantar X3 recording cart to fully Dante based with Shure ADX wireless. Shure came through with three ADX5D slot receivers in early May, assuring that White Noise would be our first show with 100% Shure ADX wireless. On the first day of scouting in Ohio, Noah asked me to always have at least twenty wireless mics available for cast. The cast counts on the schedules showed frequent scenes with cast numbers in the teens but he wanted to be able to upgrade additional people he chose from our background players at any time. The plan was that he would write and give them lines on the spot, and we were likely to have very short notice as to how many additional there would be. I was glad to have the heads up early and I got to work with Matt Tenero at Gotham Sound's rental department which had already built up a rental inventory of Shure ADX. Matt and his team put together a single rack case housing a couple of Shure AD4Q receivers (four channels each), a Shure AXT600 Spectrum Manager, a network switch, antenna, and power distribution. The rack case fit perfectly on the bottom shelf of a Backstage Junior cart we keep on the truck for extras. Only two connections to make—one to my antennas and the second to the network switch on my cart. Just like that, we were ready to go with twenty channels of wireless available on Dante inputs at the recorder. The system worked flawlessly throughout the show, including some very wet, hot, and dusty locations. Adding a wireless router allowed us to change transmitter settings easily using the Shure Channels App and Showlink without ever going near a cast member. We also had a chance to utilize Q5X AquaMic waterproof transmitters which work Adam Driver (Jack). Photo: Wilson Webb/Netflix © 2022 (L-R) Sam Nivola as Heinrich, Adam Driver as Jack, May Nivola as Steffie, Greta Gerwig as Babette, Dean Moore/Henry Moore as Wilder and Raffey Cassidy as Denise. Photo: Wilson Webb/Netflix © 2022