Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/756621
20 Roadies Was Different Roadies was different; from the start, it was essentially a very long feature about music and the people who made it hap- pen. Cameron had decided that he wanted live music perfor- mances, which not only meant the performers would per- form live, but the sound system would be real from the arena speakers to the concert desk, monitors and amps. Jeff Wexler smartly decided the PA system should be managed and set up by concert-sound experts, so he hired Gary (Raymond) and Bill (Lanham), who set up the entire PA systems a day or two before each performance. I would simply take a stereo left/rght mix directly out their console; the loudness of the speakers was always set to not interfere with the multitrack recording. One of the other interesting facets of Roadies was the live re- cordings that weren't stage performances. There were usu- ally a couple in each show, the artist would start "noodling" on a guitar throughout the scene with one of the roadies, or they would just be singing a song trying to tell a story. This was a lot of fun. We recorded Halsey with one of the road- ies, Machine Gun Kelly (aka Colson Baker) playing and sing- ing with two electric guitars beneath the stage. What was most challenging was to get a consistent mix with multiple cameras and different angles in such a poor acoustic envi- ronment. This is where Don's listening was so important. It's simple to play back a prerecorded track and have the ac- tors lip-sync, or even to live record the fi rst take of a perfor- mance, then play back that recording to keep things consis- tent in future takes. We recorded every shot and every angle live. When the cameras would turn around and change the position of the actors and amplifi ers, it changed the proper- ties of the sound. The actors usually could not sing and play the music the same way from take to take. This is why it's so important for the Boom Operator to listen. There is no for- mula for positioning a microphone and capturing the same musical tonality, there is only your memory of how the last setup sounded and how to place a microphone for the best sound and consistency. Don Coufal and the editors did an outstanding job in preserving great live performances. More Left: Halsey as herself and Colson Baker in Roadies (season 1, episode 7). Photo: Neal Preston/SHOWTIME. Above: Cameron Crowe & Donavan Dear Below: Donavan Dear's setup