103002_P06_09_Big_Cats:FEATURE/IBS PAGE 22/5/09 07:30 Page 8
B-output fed into link input 2. Two Sound
What! No Generator?
starting-up in all the Governors Camp
Devices HX-3 headphone amps driving
The PKE generator docked in Mombasa
resorts along the Mara River, followed by
cabled earpieces provided Mark and
on our final day of transmission. Now,
Bulbul birds starting their Q&A call as the
Simon’s clean feeds, received via two
that’s what I call ‘late’! Consequently
sun comes up. 58 minutes into my
audio circuits associated with the reverse
Clive and Richard had not been able to
Kenyan dawn chorus recording, a very
vision radio link. The Link kits, SQN and
test anything since their arrival on
loud prop-driven aircraft (the first of six
headphone amps were all powered by
19 September without power and had
between 6am and 11am) flew just three
two truck batteries.
rigged by rote. Colin Bowman, Roger,
metres above the trees en route to the
Two further 4x4 vehicles (‘Hyena’
Tim and I arrived on 25 September to
airstrip.... but it proved my Olympus LS10
and ‘Jackal’) each carried two remotely
discover the production village rig
digital recorder’s limiter is fantastic!
operated cameras, and only FX sound
virtually finished, and this was the day my
K.I.S.S. principle: Not applicable
coverage was required. Roger suggested a
anxiety disappeared. The audio
when you’re building a production village
‘pseudo stereo’ pair of MKH60s, clamped
infrastructure was in, the sound gear was
in large tents with in-vision positions
to each vehicle; high, to avoid hyena and
on site, and I wasn’t responsible for
close by. Clive said it was the least K.I.S.S.
jackal teeth and plugged to the on-board
providing power: my work here was
OB he’d ever done. We obviously kept kit
link via an SQN 4S.
almost done! So we newcomers set about
as lightweight as possible for air-
The links gear and satellite up-link for
rigging the in-vision positions, RF facilities
freighting with an Allen and Heath
our transmissions was looked after by the
and the 4x4s whilst Clive and Richard put
ML5000 sound desk, and plasma screens
marvellous SIS OBs team of Colin Meban,
the finishing touches to the ‘sound
to provide quad, eight or 12-way splits of
Mike Bass, Chris Cobb and Andy Peakin.
gallery’.
vision feeds (rather than multiple CRT
Each day we tested facilities on the two
I’ve always banged on to trainees
monitors). Mind you, we retained a CRT
Lion 4x4s because there was usually
about the absolute necessity of planning
in front of me and the EM and Ian,
something to fix and invariably the
even the smallest show, and I know I was
Richard and I were the only people on
Comms guys had something to tweak,
anal about my Big Cat Live plan
site who watched the show in sync. I find
often only a few minutes before
(motivated by fear of failure, of course!).
it soul-destroying that no one seemed to
transmission. They doubled as the third
Clive and Richard were also brilliant at
notice the obvious plasma delay.
sound assistant I’d wanted, driving out to
interpreting it – and I’m convinced that
It may be pointless and too difficult
vehicles during transmission to switch on
this ‘power-less’ rig could not have been
to acquire effects of the wildlife: We
SQNs, which had mysteriously become
undertaken with such speed and accuracy
proved that one wrong. We stuck to the
switched off after leaving us! The 4x4
without that in-depth planning.
philosophy of ‘if you can see it, you
cameras and associated FX mics were
Thankfully, generators obtained from
should hear it’ and didn’t play-in any wild
routed to the web when we were not on
Nairobi were installed on 28 September,
tracks. With the exception of VT inserts,
air.
and the director’s facilities check was
all of the audio really was live.
Other remote cameras and mics were
achieved on the originally planned date.
positioned at the Riverside (hippo
We did good!
Canvass Consequences
activity), at a Bird Table (sadly mute as it PSC crews have been shooting Big Cat
was too near the EM’s tent!), and on the
The ‘Oh Yeah?!’s
Diary in the Masai Mara for years, with a
Mara Plain (day time, general wildlife;
Kenya is quiet: No, it’s surprisingly noisy!
‘BBC Camp’ of about 36 tents set up 1km
night time, bell frogs), radio linked back.
Elephants screeching, hippos honking,
north of Governors Camp on the banks of
A separate pair of MKH60s near the
baboons having loud arguments just as
the Mara. For Big Cat Live there were
Riverside were routed to the sound desk
you’re going to sleep – and all sounding
around 90 people to accommodate. A few
for ‘stereo’ FX behind speech – and it
like they’re just outside your tent. Bell
stayed at the main Governors Camp, but
provided mainly cicadas heard on these
frogs at night, cicadas all day and most of
the majority at an enlarged BBC camp
with the odd hippo honk and splashing.
the night, and, at 0530hrs, generators
sharing one bathroom tent (flushing loo,
The Plains FX pair had lots of passing
traffic as well as bell frogs as it was right
next to the track between main site and
our temporary BBC camp, so those mics
were routed to both the sound desk and
the matrix. Despite the traffic, these mics
were useful when the hippos were
munching too close to the Riverside mics.
All of the FX mics were married to their
associated cameras using the 64-way
sound/vision matrix. An MKH60 placed
25m from the sound gallery was put out
to hear Lions roaring just 75m away
(yikes!) as their proximity to us was going
to be mentioned on air. Loud munching
was heard during the show and I later
discovered a perfect circle of short hippo-
mown grass around the mic; mic, stand
and cable completely untouched.
Aviewofthesoundgallery
8 LINE UP Summer 2009
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