A TV documentary chronicling Mark Ronson’s creation of Coca-Cola’s anthem for the 2012 Summer Games saw location sound recordist Diego Sanchez recording record the sounds of five athletes from five countries and five different disciplines using a Sound Devices 788T digital audio recorder.
The documentary – called Beat 2012 – was directed by Kim Gehrig and produced by Somesuch & Co, and required Sanchez, Ronson and a crew of five visiting Singapore to meet an archer, Moscow to meet a 400m runner, Mexico to meet a Taekwondo fighter, Denver to meet a 110-m hurdler and London to meet a table-tennis player. As the crew observed each athlete’s routine in the arena and at home, Ronson listened to the principal sounds of each sport to get a feel for the right mix. With technical support from sound designer Henning Köphnel and location recording advice from Sanchez, he recorded the sounds while each athlete performed his sport.
‘We decided to record the sport sounds to two linked Sound Devices 788T digital recorders, as we anticipated a multitude of different microphones in each situation,’ says Sanchez. ’We opted for Sound Devices for several reasons. First, I have used these recorders for years, and being the only member of the sound crew with location experience, it seemed logical to stick to them. Second, their small size meant a small package for a 16-track recorder, allowing the crew to relocate and reset, while filming with ease. Also, the amazing headphone monitoring and track routings of the 788T allowed crew members to each listen to a different mic or mix, while still recording all of them.’
According to Sanchez, the reliability of the 788T was another consideration in its selection: ‘From shooting outdoors in Singapore in the middle of summer to dealing with a 20° temperature change in the weather from day to night in Denver, not once did the 788T experience a crash, a file corruption or a failed recording. Also, the simplicity of the device’s L-style batteries meant we could have many of them and recharge them anywhere, even in the car. And the backup recording to compact flash cards meant an easy format for DITS in four different languages to load.’
With eight full-featured inputs and recording to up to 12 tracks, the 788T accepts either microphone or line-level signals with provides 48V phantom power for condenser microphones. It also has peak limiters for mic inputs and fully adjustable high-pass filters. Routing allows each input to be routed to left/right mixed tracks, isolated tracks or aux tracks. The 788T has several options for recording media, an internal 160Gb SATA hard drive (256Gb SSD in the 788T-SSD), CompactFlash media with UDMA support, an external FireWire hard drive or DVD-RAM (with bus powering). Any or all of these features can be used simultaneously.
For dialogue, Sanchez recorded to another 788T, using the Sound Devices CL-8 controller to mix. While he didn’t have the luxury of a boom operator while recording multitracks, he did need a mix for the edit, mixing with one hand.
The CL-8 mixing control surface has large rotary faders and pushbuttons for mixer-type control of the 788T inputs. The lightweight CL-8 can be used either mounted or remote from the 788T. It provides control over each input’s high-pass filter, limiter, polarity and mute status, while routing is aided by visual indication on the front panel.
‘Thanks to the reliability and advanced capabilities of the Sound Devices equipment, we were able to capture some amazing audio,’ Sanchez reports. ‘The final documentary is a beautiful, inspiring and a very aurally rich 60-minute piece.’
More: www.sounddevices.com
