Plain-English notes on location sound: what the job involves, what’s in the kit, and how to hire for a shoot in Florida.
How to hide a lav mic under a shirt
The mic is the easy part. The mount is the job, and the mount is also why you hear rustle.
What an IFB is in television, and who's wearing one
Two different things on a set both get called IFB, and only one of them is actually interruptible. Here's what each one does.
What jam sync timecode is, and when your shoot needs it
A couple of minutes at call time that keeps your editor from hand-syncing every clip in the project.
What room tone is, and why I ask for thirty seconds of quiet
The thirty seconds of nothing at the end of every setup, what it's for, and what a Florida location does to it.
What Florida does to a shoot day
Heat, afternoon storms, beach wind, and the noise you only hear in playback, and the schedule that works around all of it.
Hiring local sound in Florida vs. flying a mixer in
The travel line items producers forget, and the cases where flying someone in is still the right call.
Five things I wish every producer knew before hiring sound
Eighteen years of Florida sets, boiled down to what actually matters when you’re booking a mixer, and what I’ve watched producers learn the expensive way.
Sound mixer, sound recordist, or sound guy?
The person who records audio on a shoot goes by a dozen names. Here’s what they all mean, from someone who answers to every one of them.
Hiring a sound mixer in Florida: what to know
Producing a shoot in Florida with no one on sound yet? Start here.
What a location sound mixer actually does on a shoot
Location sound mixer, production sound mixer, sound recordist, the sound guy: same job. Here’s what it looks like on set.
What a complete location sound package needs
The gear a working production sound mixer brings, and what each piece actually does for your shoot.
