Filming of the third series of HBO’s medieval fantasy television series, Game of Thrones, saw Production Sound Mixer Ronan Hill using DPA 4071 lavalier microphones in order to keep ADR recording to a minimum. ‘As someone who was brought up to ‘get it on the boom’ and only use radio mics when there was no other way,’ he says.
‘The DPA 4071 is great when used outside – really good isolation from environmental conditions, while retaining a natural vocal quality. They are also good when recording inside as they offer reinforcement to the boom. It is a rare occasion when they aren’t included in the mix.
Replacing poorly recorded dialogue during postproduction is a regular part of film and television work, but it saves production companies time and money if ADR can be kept to a minimum. It isn’t always easy, however: ‘The show is filmed in many remote and hard to get to locations – and in all kinds of weather conditions,’ Ronan Hill says. ‘In Series One we were shooting in temperatures of -17ºC, while in Series Two we had to contend with a hurricane. Every day is an adventure in sound.’
DPA’s 4071 mics became the show’s lavalier of choice at the start of Series Two having been recommended by supervising sound editor Stefan Henrix. ‘You soon appreciate how good they sound,’ Hill says. ’They are available with well thought out accessories to aid fitting, and we fitted them to all cast with dialogue. Thankfully, the cast appreciate that the costumes are difficult for sound so they are tolerant to tweaks that will save the need for ADR.’
With three series of the programme under his belt, Hill believes that his favourite shooting experience was Blackwater (Episode 9 in Series Two)…
‘With large battle scenes in addition to the great dialogue, it had real potential for sound,’ he explains. ‘There was so much texture to record and then the challenge to isolate the dialogue from it. Game of Thrones has a character count of more than 300.
Scenes can have more than ten principal characters speaking and there is always the professional pressure to capture the dialogue on location and keep ADR to a minimum. I wanted to give a presence to the big action scenes and burst the old myth that no scripted dialogue means no sound. I also tried to ensure rehearsal for any songs to be sung live.’
Hill’s familiarity with DPA microphone technology has, to date, been limited to DPA 4071s but he hopes to expand on this in the future: ‘As a result of my good experiences with the DPA 4071s and the positive feedback I have heard about DPA’s other microphones, I can’t wait to try more of them,’ he says.
More: www.dpamicrophones.com
