Real estate turns into Reality TV with Lectrosonics
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Audio supervisor Marcos Contreras, CAS, captures sound for these fast and often unpredictable reality shows with the help of his arsenal of Lectrosonics wireless systems, including SMWB and SMDWB miniature wideband bodypack, SMQV belt-pack and Hma plug-on transmitters, as well as SRc portable and DSQD digital receivers.
“Selling Sunset is one of the most popular shows on Netflix,” Contreras explains. “The show demands a lot. The wireless must be reliable every time. Lectrosonics is up to the task - no dropouts or interference even over big, open spaces.”
Selling Sunset has a cast of 10, while the upcoming OC show’s cast numbers total 11. The West Hollywood and Newport Beach offices of the Oppenheim Group, the realty agency at the heart of the show, serve as live sets for the shows, and the lavish homes on location are featured prominently as well.
Contreras’ main go-to units are the SMDWB, which are basically a double-battery version of the SMWB. He typically mates them with a Sanken COS-11D omni lavalier mic, but sometimes with a DPA 6060 or 6061. In the LA/OC area he uses the Block 22 frequencies.
Contreras has 18 SRc portable ENG receivers, and in a typical Selling Sunset or Selling the OC shoot he uses six of them in a bag feeding a Sound Devices Scorpio portable mixer-recorder. He describes the setup as “really quick” on the transmitters and receivers.
Other Lectrosonics apparatus that he keeps at the ready are five SMQV belt-pack transmitters and two HMa plug-on transmitters. A rolling equipment rack houses three DSQD digital receivers, more SRc receivers, a mixer and recorder, and a diversity antenna system, especially useful for location work.
The Selling shows’ seasons are shot back-to-back, so they get two out of a single production season. Contreras looks forward to resuming work on Selling Sunset later this summer, which will run to the end of the year, with the new show, Selling the OC, set to premiere on Netflix this summer.
