Award-winning production sound mixer Ben Osmo chose DPA's d:screet 4063 miniature microphones with low sensitivity and low voltage to record dialogue during the shooting of action scenes that involved fast, furious and bumpy chases across the Namibian desert. He also used DPA d:screet 4062 Miniature Microphones with extra low sensitivity for cabled recordings of various vehicles, and these were held firm inside each vehicle by DPA magnet mounts.
Osmo, who has won numerous awards for his work, says the choice of DPA microphones was an easy one to make as he had used them many times in the past and always been happy with their durability and their sound quality.
"I love DPA mics because they have a transparent sound and are the best for wind noise," he says. "For this film, Leon Hart at DPA's Australian distributor Amber Technology, suggested I use d:screet 4063 miniature microphones because they matched the voltage outputs of my Lectrosonics SMV and SMVQ transmitters. I have been using DPA lapel mics for many years because they have the most transparent sound of any lapel mic currently on the market."
On Fury Road, vehicle noises often drowned out the dialogue, particularly if actors were in the vehicles or standing near them, so Osmo close miked everyone to get usable guide tracks.
"We used low sensitivity d:screet Miniature Microphones for the eight principle cast members who were inside the War Rig cabin and these provided all dialogue and all transmitted sound FX," he explains. "At the same time we placed a lot of hidden DPA d:screet mics in the cabin for FX and for catching the action. We also positioned them around the engine bay, near the exhausts and transmission and up on the top of the War Rig, and they were used in other vehicles and on the vast supporting cast."
Costume 'genius' Andrea Hood was responsible for placing the DPA Miniature Microphones inside the actors' costumes so they remained invisible.
Filming an action movie in a place as inhospitable as the Namibian desert did present some issues for the sound equipment, but Osmo got round this by placing most of the hardware in temperature controlled road cases or inside his van. But the radio mic transmitters and DPA and Boom mics were always out in the elements, all being hidden inside costumes or blimps.
"We never lost a mic due to the environmental conditions - they performed very well," he says. "Since finishing Fury Road I have used DPA mics to record two television mini-series in Australia - Return to the Devil's Playground and The Kettering Incident. Both these projects have required minimal ADR. The feature film, The Sapphires, also had live vocals blended with playback and the mics worked very well at capturing this."
(Jim Evans)
