Some thoughts on gear in the snow:
- Pelican cases are excellent for keeping your gear safe and dry.
- hold your connections in one hand while attaching and detaching so you don't drop them in the snow.
- when they inevitably fall in the snow an air cannisters comes in clutch. The camera team brought us a clock-it that stopped working and we used a hair dryer to clear the snow from the BNC connection.
- pancakes borrowed from the grips help your antenna stand on uneven ground.
- bag everything. Bagging your antennas around moisture keeps them dry and happy.
- place your wiring kit in the warming room/vehicle to keep warm. You can also use hand warmers at a push.
- we placed a tarp in our assigned sled, then the gear and then boritoed it snuggly. This kept the falling snow and kicked up snow off the gear. It also kept the tarp from being blown around.
- minimum but necessary gear. Bag rig, but active antennas. The hilly, snowy, forested area we were working in meant interference was a problem.
- dress for the job. Wear snow pants if it is cold enough. Don't bring sneakers to the woods. Boots and over boots or toe warmers are a must to keep your toes safe from frostbite.
- fishing tents are great for mixers. Small enough to heat fast and big enough to warm the department on rotation.
We had a moment on Doc where our characters are out in the woods and have to run, a lot! One of the ideas I had to help the wire was to ask the wardrobe department to sew in tabs where these safety pins were placed. Our department then fed the wire through the tabs to guide it from the front to the back and down to the transmitter in the coat.
Now when the character looked around and ran the wire would not be as easily yanked from position. We also could keep the tape to minimum so her hair was safe.
Shout out to wardrobe on Doc! Thank you for your help throughout the show!
In this moment Ursa fur circles came in clutch. It's amazing what you can get away with when you use black expendables. They just look like shadows. đ€« Keep in mind this was for a wide!
You might ask why I don't go higher. The button keeps the fabric together so the natural rubbing noise from movement goes down.
It's fun to see my stickers on other boom ops boxes! If you see me ask me for one, or if you want to throw money my way buy it off AllisonDM on redbubble.com
/people/AllisonDM/shop
How do you hide a lav on military gear?!! If you've got access to the helmet, that's a great start (helmets, toques, caps are all fantastic options for a lav if you can feed the wire up or tuck the transmitter in the hat).
But in this case the actor was hatless. So! We took advantage of the big pockets at his chest. It was a kind of pilot jumpsuit with a long zipper so the usual tuck between the buttons was not available. Then I noticed the two chest pockets, perfect size for a transmitter. Add some fur and the rough, stiff fabric crunch is lessened and it protects from wind noise. I'd use Bubblebee Industries' Piece-A-Fur in this instance now, but on this set (as a daily) I only had access to Ursa fur circles which worked well enough.
This was also the day I stood in front of a tank while it busted through a wall! My favorite moment is when the stunt person turned to the camera operator, focus puller and myself and said, "if I run. You run." Top quote.
Thanks @ursastraps for letting us try out your Pin-It Pouch! It really came in handy on this cold Canadian day when our usual tapes were failing.
We also put the pouch to good use in a blazer on a later day, which really shows the versatility of this product.
Starfleet Academy started coming out last week!
This show was one of the highlights in terms of technical challenges for me. I stepped in to handle the first month of production as sound utility and second boom (congrats again on the wedding Ro!) before coming back as a daily when needed.
Since this was the first season of this show we needed to figure out how to wire these uniforms, and fast! Anyone who has worked on a Trek show can tell you it largely lives and breathes on wireless microphones. There was some precedent from other Star Trek shows (Strange New Worlds wires under the badges for example), but we needed to make our own approach on this one. The adult crew uniforms were made of a material similar to scuba neoprene so they blocked out sound very effectively. Placing a mic under the material was not going to work. After some trial and error I learned that placing discrete 6060s and 4060s on the collar tab facing down into the air gave the wire the best chance at clean dialogue. We started with taping the wires along the seamsâto ensure no rogue creasesâand in time fed them through little loops added by the on-set wardrobe department (forever grateful to them). We then sewed or tagged Ursa Pouches onto the back seam or under arm seam of each crew member.
Meanwhile the kids had a different uniform. For example they didn't have the magnetic collars. Here we would often place a hard cover with some fur at the top of the zipper seam when the coat was closed, when it was open we would place the microphone under the shirt in the valley of the sternum and guide it under the pecks to a seam at the side. For those in pants we followed the leg seams down to the boot for the transmitter! For those in skirts we either used an Ursa pouch in the bra or under the arm depending on if the coat was open or closed. As the cast was vast and varied each character had different requirements (to the point that I wrote a sound bible to give over after my segment).
The ladies, and Method Man, worked HARD on this show. They did a great job of representing women who work hard, play hard and laugh till you bust a gut. That's what I remember most from the set, the laughter.
We had some interesting wire rigs on this show, to navigate the high fashion outfits of the cast. You can see that even in this one we were hiding from sheer fabric and a starched collar!
Man how do I even sum up 2025... Guys I am 10 pages deep into a Christmas letter that is supposed to be 1-3 đ. Luckily work was simpler. I dailied, worked on a romantic comedy feature, then onto a 10 month TV series where I've been finessing my boom operating skills. My goal in 2026 is to apply for boom status in the union.Â
But as for 2025! I have to thank Shalini, Dorian and Bridget for basically being my family this year (I love you Jae don't get jealous!). We recorded a lot of beautiful audio this year pals. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, for laughing with me, eating all the crew treats and generally keeping our department sane.Â
In the same vein thank you Erin for your wonderful energy and wise advice.Â
Thank you to Evan Droog and Tyler Bogaert for GTA Sound Brews. If you are a sound person in Toronto (and Hamilton Jordan Cutler) who hasn't been, do so! It's literally good for the soul.Â
Thank you to all the other mixers and colleagues and friends who have made 2025 such a joyful, sane, wild year. I hope to catch a piece of all of you again in 2026. May your step into the new year be smooth and lively! See you soon!
Pro-tip detail I picked up from a long time Boom-Operator: add a little shoe foam to the back of the microphone so when you eventually bump into the ceiling or a doorframe it's quieter.
Use this alongside jutting out your pinky finger to find the wall behind you before you bump your pole and you're golden. Mistakes happen. These little things help minimize them.
