Wiring up - when/where/why

[Constantin]

I'm interested in finding out how people decide to wire an actor/actress.

Do you wire everyone all the time? If so, do you do it straight at wardrobe or do you wait for the actors to come to the set and do it there?

Or do you decide on an ad-hoc basis after the first rehearsal (or when?) to wire an actor?

If wired, will you always record the wire? Even if you feel like the mic doesn't work very well?

How long do you allow yourself (are you allowed) to put a mic on someone? Or rather, how long on average do you need to wire someone up?

I know it sounds like I'm researching a book or something, but I'm not. I have my own answers to many of these questions, but I'm just curious how others do it.

Thanks

[Chris Woodcock]

If they paid me for the radio mic they get the radio mic that's the way I look at it.

[RPSharman]

It has become "expected" on larger projects that everyone is wired all the time. In the UK, depending on budget level, only a few radios are included, so it is also additional revenue to put mics on everyone. If they won't pay for them, then that's another story.

 

I still don't wire everyone all the time, however, unless the specific movie calls for it (comedy, ad-libs, overlaps, lots of cameras).

 

Once they're wired, I record the wire all the time. It's only disk space. Why not record it? I do stop monitoring them once they're no longer needed, so perhaps it is wasted space, but it's no big deal.

 

I always encourage putting the wires on at the follow cart. It's where are the bits and pieces are. Once you start the habit of wiring in a trailer or on set, things take much longer and it's usually not as good because you don't have all your tricks with you. Then your time is taken up chasing actors around, when you should be concentrating on being on set (as boom op) or at your cart looking over the dialog.

 

In terms of how long it takes... Some are easily under a minute, and some take much longer. Every costume and actor is different. In terms of how long we are "allowed"... It takes how long it takes. If they're worried about it, they should bring the actors sooner and not when DP says camera is ready. 

[pkautzsch]

All of these questions would get a good old It Depends reply from someone...

 

Do you wire everyone all the time?

Or do you decide on an ad-hoc basis after the first rehearsal (or when?) to wire an actor?

Does production or post sup require that everybody be wired all the time?

Are camera and lights departments going "creative" so a good boom sound can't be achieved, or will there be many last-minute changes before shooting?

Are we shooting wide and tight, with the wide leaving miles of headroom?

Or is it one camera, good lighting, and a frameline close to the heads?

Usually it's more relaxed to wire everybody as soon as they come out of wardrobe, than to wire them in front of the whole crew in the heat of the battle.

 

Do you do it straight at wardrobe or do you wait for the actors to come to the set and do it there?

It Depends.

On where wardrobe is, how the actors are scheduled, if I am needed on set.

Most actors prefer to not be wired right on set with everyone seeing them. Especially wiring younger women will usually be "commented" by someone when done on set. I'll only wire on set if there is no other way. See below*.

Wiring at my cart where I can directly listen to what I'm doing. This is usually not directly on set, but out of the way and a bit out of sight.

Actors and wardrobe folks often prefer doing it in wardrobe, because it's warm and cozy there, and because they have everything they might need to help me get the mic to sound good. Thinking of sewing things together, or similar.

My boom op will manage sound on set. He finds his way of booming the scene, and makes sure noises are dealt with. I'll only appear at the front line if there is a serious issue, or sometimes to watch a blocking rehearsal and determine if there are serious issues arising.

 

If wired, will you always record the wire? Even if you feel like the mic doesn't work very well?

Not if it's not requested and the boom sounds good.

But if there is a chance of the boom not being good enough, I'll rather record it and trust post to deal with it if they like and get the time. They can do a few things we can't accomplish on set. It might be used for just one word.

And I'll hell of make sure that wire is useable.

 

How long do you allow yourself (are you allowed) to put a mic on someone? Or rather, how long on average do you need to wire someone up?

As long as it takes. Might take less than a minute, might take much longer when we need to experiment with placement a lot or have complicated costume layers.

On first shooting day, I'll usually wire up everybody, and I'll budget up to 10 minutes per character. This is for testing purposes so we know how to wire people when it's really needed.

Can't take 10 minutes per character when wiring them on set, in front of a crew "waiting on sound".

[Matt Martin]

Lots of good thoughts already mentioned above.

My usual philosophy on narrative projects is to only wire when necessary. Necessary meaning too wide for boom, long "oner's", when unacceptable room acoustics or background noise might be lessened with wires, adlib, large casts, when requested, etc... I rely on my boom op heavily whenever I can. He's a ninja. And I have come to really embrace the "perspective" of booms sounding wider on the wides and tighter on the tights. It took me a while to get past the urge to get every take as close sounding as possible. I used to associate "close" with "quality" and "distance" and a little extra "room" as being sub-par. I would strive to make every take sound as clean as a voiceover. I quickly learned that it just never sounded natural in the edit. Sure, it was "clean" but sounded like ADR when over a wide shot. Now I embrace the perspective whenever possible. I try to remind myself that movies (great movies) were in fact made before wireless mics (or wired lavalieres) were ever thought of.

With all of that said, on some projects I tend to wire often for safety. The last feature I did was with a first time director and first time DP. We would do blocking, maybe see a rehearsal and we thought it would be a piece of cake to boom. Then everything would be changed last minute and we'd go wider, or DP would request a new light after the first take, or blocking would change etc making the boom not work at all. I'd then have to quick wire up and it would make me look unprepared. So on jobs like those I sometimes will unnecessarily wire just for safety in case the situation changes suddenly.

[Michael Miramontes]

I usually wire all the time, just in case. 

 

In regards to "when and where" I usually educate the AD to send talent over to me. This way I'm not running around all over the place trying to find talent and I have all my gear with me in case I need to do some trick wiring. I usually take less then 2 minutes to wire talent and that's including a quick sound check and instructing talent on how to turn off the TX in case they need absolute privacy. Since I'm all Zaxcom'd out I can make any further adjustments to the TX without disturbing talent or slowing production down. 

[RJBerto]

I prefer to wire at the follow cart, but for more complex costumes I'm fine wiring at wardrobe. They can usually help me get the mic right where I want it and they appreciate that I'm looking out making sure I don't F up their work. I also try to see what the wardrobe will be as early as possible, and already have a 1st choice mount ready to go. 

 

If production has skimped on wireless rental, I still try to wire everyone up and just move the transmitter around as needed. This makes thing very quick. Although one time on a job I was doing as a favor for another mixer, one of the talent went to the director and said "ya know, I didn't have a pack on for that last scene, do we need to reshoot it?" and of course 1st time Director starts freaking out... It was two people talking while heads touching in a nice sounding room and the frame was tight. Boom was the right choice and had to explain why the $1200 mic in open air sounded better than the $250 mic mounted to the actor.... I didn't mention the fact that gear was gratis...

[Philip Perkins]

For most of what I do the wire is sort of expected, even though it doesn't get used in the mix a lot of the time.  Where I do the wiring depends on if I have help and how fast we are moving.  "Celeb" talent usually prefers (demands) the dressing room wireup, real people usually get done on the set unless the rig will be complicated by clothing (as in not much to it).   The hope is that if I have the celeb thing to deal with then I have real professional help to send off to do the wiring while I watch the set.  On docs and doc-style shoots all bets are off and we catch as catch can.

 

philp

[ProSound]

When I do a movie we usually wire everyone all the time. I view it as better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it. In the reality world we wire everyone all the time everytime. When I am doing corporate or commercial work I only wire when needed. 

[saadasound]

+1 to everything said.

 

For me, it all depends on what job it is. For instance, the 2 show I mostly work on are completely different from the sound perspective. On Veep, it's a lot of ad-libbing, 2 HH cameras whipping 360, mostly 9-14 wired cast in each scene (all with scripted dialogue), and our DP lights to be able to shoot in any direction. As a boom op on the show, I wire everyone and I boom problem wires (scratchy beard, noisy action, etc) or if the lighting and frame permits it, I can sometimes just boom entire scenes (but this brings in the sound of our wonderful "sound stage", which is home to our construction department, who love working through takes... but that's a whole other topic).  As for wiring, I usually do it all in a pretty short amount of time and try to get talent to come to the follow cart or our wireless tree, which is located right outside of set rather than another 100 feet away by my mixer. But, most of the time I'm waiting right outside of set to wire or at cast village. I carry 2 small tackle boxes with all that I need to wire anything and anyone with me and it works out great. Some actresses get wired by our costume department before they even get dressed, depending on wardrobe. I'll talk to them every morning about what they'll be wearing and we decide either to do it before or after wardrobe. Our wardrobe department is awesome. Also makes it easier that we made spanx with transmitter pockets so its even faster! A lot of things change constantly on that show, and we always have days of either no script/call sheet at all, to about an average of 25 pages of scripted a day with alt's (Most we've done was 54 pages in 14 hours... for a 30 minute comedy...just saying...) I kind of have to just wire whomever I see right on set during last looks and final adjustments... so, usually about 3-5 minutes to wire average 9-14 talent...

 

For House of Cards, its the exact opposite... Instead of shooting 30 pages a day, we shoot maybe 3-6 a day, so its not as much of a circus act... but it is in a different way. Post paints out boompoles on the show whenever the cameras are static, so wiring gets cut out A LOT, but we definitely still wire from time to time for the same reasons as any other job, but we just get a lot more time to do it.

 

As I said, it's all about the job you're doing and the flow of the show... At least in my eyes.

[soundtrane]

I have always had 6 wireless systems to use. However, I have done six features between 2007 and 2012 with almost NO wires. Wires used only when absolute needed - otherwise one or two booms. 

 

I also did the post on 3 out of these 5 features, during which it was a rare instance if i thought a wire should have been used. 

 

On the other two out of these five, one was posted in SF, the other in India. I did not hear any complaints about lack of wires on both. 

 

In this time period I also did one feature in 2008, one in 2012 and the another in 2013-14. In all of these i wired actors consistently. There was a reason behind this - the first one in 2008 was not with me in post and post wanted wires all the time.

 

The 2012 feature was a messy one with two cams and even three cams - hence wires all the time, and i honestly don't know what happened to this project later in post... 

 

The feature in 2013-14 was a period piece from 1970-80 but being shot in contemporary Bombay with too many uncontrolled and un-policed locations. This was the first project with a major difference - i had two SuperCMITs on this one. I wanted to record all tracks from both of these microphones (processed and unprocessed) and therefore i routed all wires to a second recorder - a 664. The mix from the wires went to the Cantar AES out to one of the MIX tracks. The second MIX track on the Cantar was a mix of the processed tracks from the two SuperCMITs. This film had a sound designer and final mix engineer from Germany. I was told that 90% of the film used the processed tracks from the SuperCMIT booms and the rest was either from unprocessed SuperCMIT tracks or ADR-ed. Tracks from wires were hardly used. This was a great piece of news for me, i was happy with my decisions on this project. This feature is on at Sundance - called "UMRIKA". 

 

I am aware that a lot of the OP - Constantin's questions I have not answered, but I will write another post a bit later. 

 

 

-vin

[VASI]

Before the actor comes to set. I like to leave the actor to have his/her mind only at what director says.

[Stillweii]

Usually work with the A.D. to figure out the groove of how the sets running to make  sure everyone is comfortable during needed time.

[Christopher Mills]

Let's tackle where first:  At the WIRING cart.  near enough to the mix cart to solo receiver channels, have discussions between mixer and utility person about strategy.  Doing this encourages respect from the other departments for your tasks.

 

WHY  to have a useable track of dialog from the cast member is all possible takes. I try not to wire cast members who are not speaking in a scene.  It is important to confirm with Director and Script who will speak, esp in cases that involve improv/comedy/ block shooting scenes.

 

WHEN: Negotiated between ADs/Hair, Makeup, and On Set Costumer.  Make an effort to do this with the costumer next to you at your cart.  The timeline changes every day on every shooting day, but in general, it's poor practice to wire an actor too far in advance of their on set performance.  Some costumes may require you to do so, however.

[Mungo]

Since I do only ENG, reality and documentary, wiring is a bit less hard to manage as in fiction.

 

But there are some things I keep as a rule:

 

- WHEN: Neither the location manager nor the director decides when is the time to wire, only I do. Because I get in touch with the talent.

 

- Sometimes (especially on women and children I see for the first and last time) I do it under the eyes of someone who is around.

 

- Leave the mikes on the talents until director is heading outside: Too annoying for the talent (and me) to "re-wire" again because something's been forgotten to shoot.g

 

- During lunch brake or a talent leaving the set for a short period of time, I just take the transmitter and leave the cable on. That gives the talent the feeling of privacy and me the opportunity to change batteries.

 

 

And: never wire on talking head interviews (If possible). I hate that so much.

[sdog]

Hi Constantin,

 

My response is primarily for scripted narrative. I might have a different answer for other formats.

 

First let's state the obvious. If you are a director/producer who already knows more about sound than I do and are only hiring me as a cog in the machine rather than as a sound expert, then of course I'll wire whatever you hire me to. Otherwise...

 

I wire as seldom as possible for several reasons.

 

First, I personally prefer the sound and perspective of the boom over the always-too-close, omni-directionality of the lav mic. (Since in this particular scenario, I'm the one deciding, I get to go with my personal preference!)

 

Second, I'm a control freak. I can control where a boom sits and how it sounds. There are too many elements in a lav mic situation that I can't control. I can mitigate radio interference, but I can't guarantee it won't happen. I can mitigate clothing rustle, but I can't eliminate it. No matter how many spiffy new tricks I learn for hiding lavs, there is always some new costume that thwarts everything I know.  If the full mix is important, an RF squawk or clothing rustle on a single mic can ruin the whole take. If instead, the ISOs are what's important, too many mics can frustrate my ability to monitor and therefore thwart my ability to guarantee a good take. If I have a boom and many lav mics, I can still only monitor with two ears. If I hear a glitch, I have no idea where the problem came from and whether it needs to be fixed. Did the rustle come from the speaking actor's lav? The reacting actor's lav? The third actor-who-only-has-one-line-but-is-wired-anyway's lav? I have no choice but to declare it a bad take for sound even though that rustle may not even be on a relevant mic. (Or I need to pause for playback while I check.) If I am listening to a number of sources that is less than or equal to the number of ears I have, I can tell you with dang near absolute certainty whether you have a good take for sound.

 

Third, because I'm a control freak, I hate offering choices to editors that I know they really shouldn't use unless it's an emergency. This doesn't matter as much to me if I know that the project will be going through a real honest to god audio post engineer. But too many projects may only pass through the hands of a one-man-band picture editor. God bless 'em - I love picture editors, but too many know too little about sound and will use tracks in the final product that were only intended for safety.

 

Having said that, I will definitely still wire when it seems necessary (wide shots, improv, etc.). But I will even go for a good plant mic position before I'll choose a body mic.

 

As for when I decide, it depends a bit on how the production schedule lays out. In an ideal world, when blocking is done at the very beginning of the shot (i.e. before lighting, makeup, wardrobe, etc.), it is simple to tell during blocking whether actors will need to be wired or not. On those weird sets where things get discombobulated and and everyone decides that lighting and makeup are more urgent than blocking, all rules go out the window.

 

As far as when I actually do the wiring, once blocking is done, there are usually quite a few opportunities to get the job done while all the other departments (lighting, camera, wardrobe, etc.) are doing their parts. Obviously for any given actor, one must wait at least until wardrobe is done to start the actual wiring, but much planning and strategy can happen just seeing the wardrobe. Again, if someone decides that blocking is not a high enough priority to do first, then I presume that they've also already decided that they don't mind sitting around forever waiting for sound to wire people. (That was just a snarky reminder to directors to start your production with blocking, for all departments' sakes!! )

 

As far as where, I'll pretty much just make an improvised decision on the spot whether it's easier to bring the actor to my kit or to bring my kit to the actor. I don't worry too much about where unless there is some major costume strategizing for an actress who I sense may be shy, in which case I'm likely to find a quieter corner where she won't get too embarrassed by whatever I have to do to get this thing in place. I've had the good fortune to work mostly with actors who understand that lav mics are part of the process and are not easily embarrassed.   

 

Regarding the question: "If wired, will you always record the wire? Even if you feel like the mic doesn't work very well?" Totally gut instinct on this one, but often will choose not to record, even if they're already wired, for shots where the boom is sounding good. There are cases where I'll highly suspect that a lav will be needed and will wire up talent just in the strong likelihood. But if it pans out that the boom is going to work well after all, I'll tend to shut off the lavs. On the other hand, if I sense that it may be necessary to have a consistent set of sources all the way through a given scene, I'll go ahead and record the lavs through all the shots, even though I know they shouldn't be used.

 

As far as how long it takes to wire someone: It always feels too d$%n long no matter what the clock says. Sometimes it goes really smooth and fast. Other times it's a struggle. A couple of weeks ago I wired an actor in a simple costume that should have been very straightforward and yet I could not get rid of the clothing rustle no matter where I placed the mic. I swear I spent a half an hour on that mic on every side of the blouse, every side of the jacket, in the bra. I'd have tried implanting it in her nose if I'd have thought there was a chance in h#$$ that would work. Eventually it did and it probably didn't really take a half an hour, but it extremely frustrating to feel like I was just chewing up the clock.

[ramallo]

In fiction usually first I read the scene script and wire all the talents with text

 

After the rehearsal I don't have time for make some decisions, only for fix the noisy microphones (Between the rehearsal and the take usually I have a couple of minutes).

 

I always record all the mics

[Philip Perkins]

Yesterday was a fairly typical wireless day for me.  Due to the shooting style there were some scenes that could be 100% boomed, some that could only be maybe 50% boomed (like wides in which the talent walks up to the camera talking the whole way) and some scenes that could not be effectively boomed at all, either because it all played as a big wide shot or the shot included reflective BGs and the props etc precluded working from below.  In the interests of time and workflow through our day, it is just simpler to wire everyone who talks as soon as they arrive, since the creative types were constantly changing their minds about the lens size and action of the shots, nearly all of which were scene-length one-ers.  The style of these directors is not at all atypical anymore, at least in the run of jobs I get...

 

phil p