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MillimeterBeta Sight: Sound Devices 788T and 302
Feb 25, 2009 12:00 PM, By Dave Ruddick
Extreme locations demand gear that works without a second thought.
Although the audio on the project did not require a large number of tracks, Greenland's remote location did create several challenging recording circumstances. My primary audio focus of this shoot was Balog, the main thread of the film, as he narrated each moment of his process of photographing glaciers melting and shrinking as he rappelled into the active glaciers.
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Many of the shoots revolved around moulins. Whether Balog was rappelling off an ice cliff or going into a hole hundreds of feet down, I was charged with making sure the dialogue and ambient sound were being captured correctly. On Greenland's icecap, there really is nothing out there. There are no bugs, no birds; it's one of the quietest spots in the world. The sounds out there were very subtle: melting ice and rushing water and capturing the true sound of silence. I was mainly concerned with just trying to capture our star in the moment. The multitrack features of the 788T gave me plenty of available channels for stereo, wild track sound, and dialogue tracks for Balog. In addition, both units could be operated while wearing thin gloves.
Although all eight tracks of the 788T were not used on this particular project, the routing and flexibility to record isolated tracks quickly and easily was a great asset. (Editor's note: The 788T's latest firmware enables it to record 12 tracks.) The product has changed my approach to capturing sound for documentaries. In these types of projects, you have only one chance to get it right, and having eight channels of audio gives sound mixers the ability to capture multiple wild sounds and dialogue as they are happening. With Sound Devices' products, there are so many more options for recording without having to make compromises. You can really capture the moment and then let postproduction handle it from there. Sound Devices' 302 mixer, along with the new 788T, are now the mainstays of the kits I use on productions.
In the months before Extreme Ice, I worked on projects that took me across the globe. I went from the rainforest of Alaska recording grizzly bears to a remote part of northern Uganda on a commercial project to the hot, dusty environment of Beirut, Lebanon, all in the two months before departing to Greenland. Throughout it all, I didn't have to worry too much about changing the equipment I packed. I was really more concerned about packing the right clothing needed for freezing weather and hot, dry deserts. The bottom line is that in the last few months, I worked on projects in four different environmental zones, and the Sound Devices equipment held up under any condition; it always works.
Sound Devices' 788T is really a revolutionary product. There have been other multitrack recorders on the market in the film/documentary industry but nothing that's been built like this; it's small, lightweight, robust, and so easy to use in all conditions. And above all, it sounds fantastic.
Extreme Ice is projected to appear on PBS Nova in March 2009.
Dave Ruddick is an Emmy-winning field-sound mixer and producer whose projects have appeared on leading television networks such as National Geographic, Discovery, and PBS Nature.
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