Knoxville, TN (April 30, 2024)—Alex Haralson, head of Knoxville-based location sound company Sono Locus, recently brought his Lectrosonics kit to bear on the competition series Master Distiller and films Secret City and A Hard Problem.
A Lectrosonics user for more than 25 years, he typically uses SRc and DCR822 receivers accompanied by SMDWB and HMa transmitters, plus SMV and SMQV transmitters feeding R1b body packs for communications.
Audio Pros on the Challenges Below Deck
“On Master Distiller, our bags contained the newer Lectro DCR822 receivers. We were shooting in a converted warehouse—basically a big metal box—so RF bounced around,” Haralson explains. “We had two identical sets side-by-side as we worked on multiple shows at the same time. The studio could get hot, with southern summers and the stills running on propane. In the summer, you can just see the distillers dripping with sweat. So, I love that the SMWB and SMDWB are well sealed against this kind of thing. They just keep on truckin’!”
On Secret City, a short about the Manhattan Project, the need for dynamic range in tight interiors called for nimble—meaning wireless—boom work. “I use HMa transmitters for wireless booms,” Haralson says. “My boom operator gets very good sound this way. There were moments in Secret City with some pretty quiet lines, but with this setup, we got them perfectly cleanly—the whispers sounded like whispers, the shouts were shouts, and post was happy with all of it.”
