Thomas Causey

Thanks for the interview with Haskell, what a great perspective. It means so much to hear someone express his deep concern for film and his fellow man. When I started out film was so different than it is today, its great to hear such a clear voice for what is good and positive in the art form. Tommy

what a trip, that was in the Las Vegas scene, yep that's the sela, schoeps with the trusty nagra 4.2 . Boy, what a difficult show, not John or the crew or the wonderful cast but the studio, The Burbank Studio. The Darth Vader of studios at the time, they actually attempted to sabotage the tracks of any independent mixer who had the audacity to use his own equipment. Enough of that; Jeff took some of the most sublime photos of the process, I was was fortunate to work with him again on Fisher King and Blown Away. What a great artist, altough at the time he would unexpectedly scream to loosen up. Ouch, he was always apologetic but boy did it clear the tubes and set the drums a ringing. Considerable car work, all schoeps, with collettes from above, or full schoeps from below with desk stands and sandbags. Always a debate about windows up or windows down, they won usually. I have to admit it looks pretty cool. I could talk forever, thanks for the memory. Tommy Joe Brennan literally miked the whole show with a schoeps, seriously almost no radio mics, maybe none. unbelievable

When i first met David in the early 70's, it was in New Orleans, he was working on a Brian DePalma film, and he personfied california cool, David was so sweet and so open to someone looking under the circus tent. David gave me a first glimpse of what a great career motion picture sound could be. David always seemed to be one step ahead; I remember him telling me to go buy a CD player right now, this instance, you won't believe the sound. He loved sound, the pure sound. Years later when he had started using a hard drive to playback music on the set. I invited him to do a day's playback with his new method, the computer crashed and the director came unglued, David calmly rebooted and once again David was pushing the envelope for the sheer fun of it. He truly was a unique and special guy. May he rest in peace. Tommy Causey

The scene was finnally brought to its knees; the blms, were effective for the wide shot, too noisy for the coverage. The radio's while acceptable for certain lines but overall were too problematical, as well as one actor was effectively naked. The final solution was two cardiods from below; the camerman could/would not change the lighting, so shadows from an above mic position were unacceptable. Compromise is the name of the game, the sound was finally found in the coverage, the schoeps GVC adaptors were instrumental in a low profile from below. The fountain was eventually turned off, the extras minimized, the thumper reduced, and we lived to fight another day. Tommy

Ebb and flow; after seven days of music, extras, a cathedral of strobes and water fountains, we have returned to the dark cavern known as sound stage 14 at Sony studios. Two cameras and four walls seem like a gift from above. We the sound crew now find ourselves with an assortment of duties, clockits for each camera, wireless recievers for each camera, time code slates for each camera, video village's constant need for headphones (quests, family members, execs, agents) really can't participate without the comtec. During the early days of Hollywood, bleachers were constructed to watch this new novelty, the village is a direct link to those days of the bleacher. Since film making is such a slow process; we have a satelite dish and a wide screen monitor so the producers and writers can be constanly entertained during that boring portion known as lighting the set. Its amazing how loud a group of people watching tv can be, oh well, never bite the hand that feeds you. Actually, one of the crucial decisions takes place right now; the final resting place for the sound cart, this comes once the digital tent, video village have found the prime ground. All essential grip and lightning gear is close to every entrance, let us not forget these departments out number us as well as out weigh us, location, location, location. Way back by the air conditioners, craft service, and wardrobe racks we find a suitable place for cart A. Cart B with radio recievers/antenneas, comtec transmitters, and boom tools is negotiated near the set. Let me underline negotiate, everything that a professional sound crew does is done with consideration for all other departments, a fishpole, a cart left in the way of the grip or lightning crew is the mark of a rank amateur, consideration for the prop and costume department can reap great benefits. Woe be the sound crew that attempts to walk the line by itself, our job is done on the shoulders of many. While the microphone position is the holy grail of production sound, its the effective diplomacy of the set that will permit success. I must confess, that with the two two boom caddies, rugs, and assortment of neccesitaties we now have a cart C. I agree this and and the seven camera carts is becoming comical, but hell its show business. The new Schoeps Blue microphone is the hot item, as all new products, it holds out the potential for that exlir, that hope, that this mic can do the impossible, you know, mic a wide shot and a close up at the same time. Well after $2500 spent and savored this mic is a fine shotgun, but as there is not the perfect house, so there is not the pefect mic. It is harder to blend with radio microphones and it does not work in close proximty with other schoeps as well, I find myself using two or three cardiods/hyper cardiods close together on a daily basis. So for the specific needs of a shotgun its a beauty. Alas, no one has taken the time to develop the zoom microphone. Anyway, the days on a sound stage are quiet and slow and considerably calmer. Nothing pleases the Mixer than the boom person to say with all the confidence he can muster, " I got this one, one mic " Regards, Tommy Causey

I'm currently working on a big budget comedy, "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry", it has become increasingly difficult to get the sound. Let me illustrate; the scene is with four actors sitting at a table, piece of cake, wrong. First the table is surrounded with 500 extras who are dancing to playback with a thumper, one side of the ballroom has a bellagio style water fountain, did i mention the projectors on all four walls or the roaming mechanical colored lights that are constantly twisting and turning various colors all over the set. Of course just put four radio mics on them and let the good times roll, ha ha, one actress is in a skin tight vinyl cat suit, one is 90% naked except for a thong and butterfly wings, the third thespian is in a foam apple costume, and the fourth artiste is in a Dracula tuxedo, as you can imagine there is a variety of noises, squeaks, pops that rival the 1000 feet that are shuffling in the background to that mind numbing thump. Whats the big deal, just wait for the coverage and get the various elements quiet and boom it. I failed to mention this is a high tech new Hollywood movie being shot with the Panavision Genesis camera, actually 3 Gensis cameras, one is on the technocrane which is starting quite high and wide and can glide into a lovely 3 shot. Hell, why not have a camera hidden, zoomed into a fairly tight single. Just because we can, lets have a steadicam roam free and settle into a nice 4 shot. Ok get out the blm's and put them under the tablecloth and hope for the best until the two booms can settle into the shot, because of the lightning, the two overheads can only zone mic the table. Ok, each camera has a 90 minute video tape and the director does not want to cut, so as not to break the creative flow, wow, a twenty minute take is pushing the limits of any poor boom man, this is getting downright ugly. 7 microphones and nothing is really great, lots of sound, lots of noise. My stomach is beginning to churn. No, the director insists, I need all 3 cameras. No, the cameraman declares, we see the whole room, I can't turn anything off, I'm getting killed too. No, the AD demands, turn the damn thumper up, the extras can hardly hear it. The seven producers, three writers, and others need 15 headsets and hell they're having a hard time hearing beacause of the damn water fountain. No, the special effect man explains, we got to turn the water higher the steadicam can't see the water when it settles. Ok, I'm a professional, stay calm, do the best you can, believe it or not we pieced the scene together, a dash of this a dash of that, maybe it wasn't pretty but everyone was laughing at the scene. The moral of this tale is that the days of one camera, 35mm film, single take filming is becoming a fond memory. The days of miking camera perspective, and lighting for the single camera/microphone are few and far between. Its become hard to get great sound, while the multiple tracks will assist the editors in piecing together a usable track, I miss the simpler times. While the audience will still get a great soundtrack in the end, it has become increasingly difficult to get the sound. Hey, you said we could ramble, or muse, or whatever Regards, Tommy Causey

As always thanks for the informative replies; yes, Richard my car com has developed some problems and I have been unable to reach David this weekend. I'll be in touch. My compliments to Jeff for this usefull web site.

I have for many years been using a Car Com designed by David Ronne. It enables the director to speak to the actors within a towed car via a headset microphone with a push to talk switch. Does anyone know of any other systems that would be similar? Thanks for any input. Regards, Tommy

Great photograph, Coleman. Is that a portable rig that you pop in an out?

What a pleasure to hear from Crew, Richard, and Jeff. I look forward to this forum and the exchange of ideas and techniques of our craft. David Ronne's Car Com system has been an indespensible part of my rig; it enables the Director to talk to the actors via a microphone/headphone to a speaker in the car for the actors. As much as I love one micprophone, I find myself going to a mic for each actor so that I can have some control on their levels. Usually two Schoeps hyper-cardiods with low-cuts, this lets me balance the overlaps and tweak the actor that needs that extra boost. Back to my original question; I have found being on the back of the truck allows me to communicate with the director more effectively. Regards, Tommy

Since my experience in New York, I have gone to a second cart that is designated for insert work, we have separate batteries and cables ready to go so that it can be prep onto a insert car while we are working somewhere else. Since the normal nature is to have the second camera crew and additional grips and electricians go prep the tow vehicle I now have an additional utility sound person come in for the day to prep and wrap the tow truck. This helps with the anxiety of getting on and off the truck while the company is quickly going off to next scene. Being on any vehicle I think creates a strange environment so I'm always trying to minimize the problems. In regards to miking actors in a car, I sometimes resort to a two tier method. The best postion with open mics on the ceiling, dash, and or below: Schoeps with low cuts, sankens, and schoeps blm's depending on the vehicle, position of actors, and the various camera angles. With the added difficulty of being in a moving vehicle I will also radio mic the actors so if there iis a problem I have a backup to go to. Now of course this all changes due to the flow of the show and time that is availble to work. Regards, Tommy

Thanks for the reply, no I'm referring to a complete scene with dialogue, and supplying sound to the director, script, AD, video, and camera if necessary. Also, a communications link with the actors and the ability to have multiple microphones if necessary. Regards, Tommy

How do you work on insert cars? Do you work inside the cab with the driver or do you work on the truck outside with the director and script supervisor. While I was in New York I was introduced to putting my sound cart on the back of the truck. I had for years worked in the cab, cramped and cozy, this method requires considerable setup but allows the mixer some area of quiet space. Now, with shooting schedules being so tight they want to shoot almost immediately after finishing the car work. Do other mixers just put their carts on the truck and work from the outside?