NEW YORK—It used to be that one page of screenplay equaled one minute of screen time. Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino, creators and showrunners of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which streams on Amazon Prime, leave that rule of thumb in the dust.

“Amy and Dan write episodes that are 70-some pages, sometimes 100 pages long. Imagine all those words crammed into a 50-minute show,” says Ron Bochar, Mrs. Maisel’s re-recording mixer. Bochar is co-owner of Manhattan audio post house c5, which handles all of the show’s ADR, Foley, editing and mixing work.

A FINE ART

Happily, he and Mathew Price, CAS, the show’s production sound mixer, have their routine down to a fine art. “Mat records great material both from a lavalier and a boom. I can’t work with one without the other; they both need to gel together,” says Bochar. “My dialogue editor, Sara [Stern], will do a lot of tweaky stuff knowing I’m going to need to hear all those consonants. It’s smartly done and it makes my life a lot better. We end up with lovely live performances, and a very wonderful live track that Mat’s recorded for me.”

Dialogue may be the “God track,” as Bochar calls it, but there’s a lot going on in the background, too. “When they hired me to do the pilot, Amy said she didn’t want it to ever sound like a standard TV show. There weren’t going to be a lot of quiet moments, but if anybody did take a pause, she wanted to make sure that it was filled. As long as we can still hear what she wants us to hear, she wants everything else to be busy and lively.”

“This is definitely the most challenging show I’ve ever mixed,” says Price, whose resume includes every episode of “The Sopranos.” It’s not just that the camera is constantly on the move, requiring carefully choreographed boom work; some episodes also involve a lot of talking characters. For some scenes, Price has had to bring in a second mixer to handle the extra tracks and radio mics, boosting his department to six people.

In the show, set in the 1950s and ’60s, Mrs. Maisel is an archetypal Upper West Side Manhattan housewife who discovers a talent for standup comedy. As she progresses from the seedy clubs of Greenwich Village to larger venues, such as Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Bochar “world-ized” the soundtrack to put listeners into those respective spaces.

“Between picking a sound for the mic that she’s speaking into, picking a reverb for the room, or sometimes multiple verbs, the whole point is to make Maisel feel as real as we can,” says Bochar. “We’re trying to be precise to the reality that we’re seeing.” There is no final dub, he adds: “The mix begins at the first edit,” a workflow followed by everyone on the sound team, which includes Foley mixer George A. Lara and ADR mixers David Boulton and Mike Fowler.

“A lot of the Apollo stuff sounded the way it did based on a lot of the [loop] group,” says Bochar. “We were able to position the group at various places within the Apollo, creatively, to give it depth and space. Your mind says, oh, this is big.” “I think spaces have a real psychological component when you’re viewing, even if it’s subtle and you don’t realize it,” says Price, who consequently likes to use both boom and lav mics wherever feasible. “I like to open it up as much as I can. It also gives Ron and Sara choices.”

A DEFINING EPISODE

Like the background sound effects, the group walla track can be dense. “There were the elderly groups taking their kids to the Apollo, which means you have two levels of group that have to work together,” says Bochar. “That episode [3.08: “A Jewish Girl Walks into the Apollo”] became the definition of what Mrs. Maisel is all about,” he says. “It had performance, smart social commentary, smart relationship issues, a lot of stuff that had to be balanced within the context of a normal Mrs. Maisel.”

Sherman-Palladino is very detail-oriented, orchestrating some scenes for maximum effect. “During a spotting session, Amy will say, ‘The laughs are all happening in the right places, but they’re wrong. This one should just be women reacting; here, maybe it’s just a couple of girls in the background; the men would get this.’”

In response to her notes, Bochar says, “A lot of times we just recall a group and do another half a day of material. Amazon has been wonderful for allowing us to do that.” Price switched out his venerable Audio Ltd 2000 radio mics for a 12-channel Zaxcom RX12 system after season 2. He mixes to a Zaxcom Deva 16 with a Mix 12 control surface.

The show’s prop department went to New York’s Gotham Sound to incorporate new Shure TL lavs into the various vintage mics that Maisel uses at the different venues. “They became my primary source for all the standup,” says Price. “I ended up buying a Shure TL48 [TwinPlex]; I use that on Rachel almost exclusively” to match the modified standup mics. “I like the way they sound—nice and open and warm-sounding.”

Further raising the degree of difficulty for Price and his team, the showrunners have insisted on live bands, especially in season 3. On the “Miami After Dark” episode, the jazz quartet was live, says Price. “And Amy didn’t want to see any mics.”

While Price handled the extensive dialogue tracks, a second mixer recorded the music. “We took a bidirectional capsule and put it behind the drums, away from the camera. Then there was a plant mic above, a Schoeps capsule. We put a mic on the piano lid for the bass, and another mic under the piano for the piano. And we put a lavalier mic on the trumpeter’s sleeve,” says Price. The show is one of his career highlights, he says.

“The whole cast is amazing. One reason it sounds so good is that we don’t have a whisperer or mumbler among them. And it’s such a family. It’s a happy set. Everyone’s having fun.”

Manteo, N.C.— Through wind and rain, stage fights, environmental acoustics and more, Point Source Audio mics have weathered all the challenges in The Lost Colony, the outdoor theatre production located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The audio team, confident in their PSA investment since 2013, recently added the new patent-pending CO2 Confidence Collectiondual-element headset mic to their collection of 24 active on set mics.

“We were excited to see a product that made the application of the dual elements simpler by combining those wire runs and keeping things as tidy as possible. That mic has been a great benefit to the production,” says Sound Designer/composer Michael Rasbury. “The [lead] character is most likely to have a mic issue due to the activity required by this role; stage combat; perspiration.”

Since 1937, The Lost Colony has been telling the story of the first English colonies in North America and their mysterious disappearance. Over the past few years, the audio systems have been overhauled, upgraded and redesigned, including the ever-important microphones.

Robust equipment to withstand elements including water—in the form of rain and perspiration— as well as wind and heat is invaluable for theatre, but especially for outdoor theatre. The associate producer Lance Culpepper explains: “To provide our audience the experience that they’re expecting, we really have to put a lot of our resources into ensuring that the audio equipment can sustain itself through all of these dynamic changes. That’s one of the reasons why microphones are so important to us. Prior to the Point Source mics, we saw a much shorter lifespan with the previous microphones and we had to send them out for servicing more frequently. We don’t see those problems with the Point Source mics.”

“I am beyond pleased with the addition of Point Source microphones to our production,” states A1 Joseph Reynolds. “The waterproof elements are paramount to an outdoor period drama, where the perspiration of the talent could compromise mic functionality. I especially enjoy the dual behind the ear headsets. It helps to have consistent placement and keeps the mic off the talent’s face.”

Placement is an important consideration as noted by Rasbury. “From a design perspective, the low profile of these microphones is key for getting the mic near the voice without detracting from the 16th-century costume design. Our show is also very physical in nature. We have a large company and large-scale fight choreography. Given the way these mics attach to both ears, they stay on the actor and in the correct place throughout the show.”

The other feature of the PSA mics that the team wants to highlight is that “the frequency response of these elements is excellent (20Hz to 20kHz),” says Rasbury. “Our show also includes gunshots, explosions, and loud actor responses; these do not distort at high SPL.” Reynolds adds, “The frequency response is tailored nicely to the full range of human speech and I don’t have to slice up every channel with a parametric scalpel.”

The CO2 Confidence Collection has two waterproof and frequency-matched elements, each measuring a tiny 3mm. Both elements offer built-in redundancy and integrate PSA’s first-to-market features including IP 57 waterproof rating and the “unbreakable” headset boom. Point Source Audio mics are engineered for durability and to endure challenging mic applications.

Culpepper appreciates the support from Point Source Audio. “They’ve been great to work with,” he says. “The communication has been excellent as well as customer service-wise. Knowing that we’re not just another account number with them means a lot to our organization.”

The audio team at The Lost Colony includes sound designer Michael Rasbury, A1 Joe Reynolds, and A2 Josiah Rodgers. Microphones supplied by Wake Forest, NC-based Provision Audio Video Solutions.

For more information about Point Source Audio and its products, visit www.point-sourceaudio.com.

AboutThe Lost Colony

First staged in 1937, The Lost Colony is the nation’s premier and longest-running outdoor symphonic drama. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green and produced by the Roanoke Island Historical Association, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, The Lost Colony’s 2019 season runs May 31-Aug. 23, 2019 at Roanoke Island’s Waterside Theatre, located within the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on the Outer Banks. For information, go to www.thelostcolony.org

About Point Source Audio

Point Source Audio (@PSA_audio) manufactures and distributes worldwide their SERIES8, EMBRACE, and CONFIDENCE collection of miniature microphones—a unique line of headset, earworn and earmounted microphones known for their robust bendable boom and waterproof features. The company also holds two patents for the EMBRACE concealable microphone as well as the patent for the world’s first modular in-ear comms headset that is supporting the hearing health for audio, lighting and camera techs using headsets everywhere from sports to space. Founded in 2004, Point Source Audio is headquartered in Petaluma, California. For more information call (415) 226-1122 or visit www.point-sourceaudio.com. Follow the company on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PSA_audio.

NILES, ILL.—Shure is offering customers audio coverage from the table to the ceiling, as its latest line of networked digital microphones, the Microflex Advance Ceiling (MXA910) and Table (MXA310) are now available for shipping. In addition to being ceiling and table array mics, the MXA910 and MXA310 also provide audio interfaces, control software for A/V conferencing, and an evolution of Shure’s IntelliMix Digital Signal Processing Suite.

Microflex MXA310

Using Shure proprietary Steerable Coverage technology, the MXA910 captures audio from above the meeting space with up to eight lobes configurable in three dimensions. The mic can be flush-mounted to standard ceiling tile grid or below the ceiling with standard VESA-D and wire hanging mounts.

The MXA310 also uses the Steerable Coverage technology to deploy four discrete audio channels around a table. It can also use a ring-shaped pattern to reject unwanted artifacts from overhead. In addition, the mic features a programmable mute switches and the ability to customize LED color and shape to indicate microphone status.

All Microflex Advance hardware feature built-in control software and can integrate with third party controllers. The Microflex Advance microphones also use the Dante Audio Networking protocol, with all control, audio and power signals carried through a single Ethernet cable connection.

Shure has also announced that it is shipping its four Shure Audio Network Interfaces (ANI4IN and ANI4OUT) for audio routing in an out of the Dante network. The interfaces are available in standard XLR and block connector versions, and include an Ethernet port for Dante Audio routing and a browser-based software for control of connectivity and monitoring.

NEW YORK—While wireless mic vendors await the impact of the spectrum auctions that commenced last month, manufacturers are forging ahead with new product development.

Shure Inc. believes that its new KSM8 dynamic microphone is “changing the impression of how good a dynamic microphone can be,” according to John Born, product manager and professional audio engineer for the Chicago-based company.

Shure’s new KSM8 dynamic mic

Born claims that the KSM8 has the sound quality of a condenser, but with better gain before feedback, less stage bleed than a condenser, and that it has the smooth, flat response of a condenser that engineers gravitate towards.

Shure is demo-ing the KSM8 at the 2016 NAB Show and attendees can see for themselves if the KSM8’s cardioid polar pattern has a huge sweet spot and one of the flattest frequency responses available in any dynamic microphone.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

Shure engineers learned from the KSM9 that adding a second diaphragm to a dynamic microphone allows the user to control the proximity effect. The question, however, was where and how to physically fit a second diaphragm into a dynamic microphone. “It took some time to find the perfect location,” says Born.

The second diaphragm is passive and is part of the rejection network in a dynamic mic. It blocks low frequencies from building up as the sound source gets closer to mic. The first, or active diaphragm, has a coil attached to it like a regular dynamic mic. The second is not electrically tied to a magnetic circuit, it’s a part of the microphone’s acoustics. In theory, the large sweet spot that results from the suppression of the proximity effect will yield a large sweet spot which engineers will find attractive because it makes the application of eq a much easier process.

Was construction of the KSM8 mechanically challenging? “Very much so,” Born said. “Reversing the flow broke a lot of things that we had to fix, and the R & D team had to start from scratch. Every single process was new, we didn’t borrow from anything else we make. We took every opportunity to tweak the polar pattern and response of this microphone, and that includes controlling the proximity effect and fine-tuning the flat top-end response. The KSM8 is the best cardioid pattern dynamic microphone we’ve ever developed. Because we started from nothing, we had every opportunity to make the best dynamic microphone available.”

BROAD PRICE RANGE

Sony’s new wireless mic product line includes the the URX-S03D slot-in dual channel receiver for the company’s UWP-D series.

Recognizing that content creators in all areas of the industry are asking for high-quality products, Sony’s product catalog now includes wireless microphones across a broad price range. With the introduction of the company’s new UWP-D series (the URX-S03D slot-in dual channel receiver), and with the “N series” update to the DWX series, Sony Pro Audio now offers anENG kit at less than half the price of the current DWX system. It’s now possible to purchase a kit for less than $600, while high-end users can spend up to $6,000. This represents a big shift in terms of integration to various sizes of cameras and affordability. 

The N Series of Sony’s DWX offers true digital transmission 24 bit 48 kHz.

Sony has added two new codecs and increased the bandwidth on the studio receiver dramatically. Previous systems had three television groupings which split the UHF range from TV channels 14 through 51 into approximate thirds, with access up to 72 MHz in each unit. The new N Series dual channel rack receiver expands that to 198 MHz in a single unit, with access up to 7,623 frequencies.

These upgrades mean that the bandwidth operating range of the systems has dramatically increased, according to Sebastian Scala, Product Manager Pro Audio North America.

“You don’t have to use different wireless systems for different regions, one wireless tuner covers all of the U.S” Scala said. “All this available spectrum results in a cost savings. You don’t have to have redundant systems, or use different bands in different parts of the country. If any area is overcrowded you simply move to another bandwidth."

If any area is overcrowded you simply move to another bandwidth.

Scala adds that users can activate a clear channel scan with any of Sony’s wireless mic products, thereby avoiding interference.

“We now offer 7,623 channels in the rack studio receiver,” he said. “This is a big deal in that it offers tremendous flexibility to the user.” A new codec in the DWX system reduces the latency spec to 1.5 ms., which Sony claims makes it one of the fastest in the industry.