This is a sound mixer. He has been one of my favorite-y favorites on this crew since 2002. It's because he's so nice. But also because he looks like a caveman. Who doesn't love a hunky caveman?
He's the head of the sound department. Which means he's in charge of all things audio. Here's his cart of expensive equipment.
He straps these mics onto the guys. (And, on other projects, onto the girls. I've seen sound mixers have to affix these things to bikinis or barely-there skirts. It can be crazy what a Sound Mixer has to deal with to get that mic pack situated. All in a day's work!)
The mics transmit the sound signal to these receivers.
Where our resident caveman is listening on these headphones.
And watching the recording come in on this hard drive.
In general, Caveman Sound Mixer records on four channels, and they can all be isolated. This means if three people are conversing in a scene, each one is recording to it's own track. That way, if they were talking over each other, you could later choose which voice to make quiet and which to make loud and clear. There might be another channel recording the outdoor noises, if that was important.
A Sound Mixer stays aware of any other sounds that his mics might be picking up that are not pertinent to the scene. If they're shooting outside, and an airplane flies over, he might be the one to signal that they need to pause for a moment until the sound passes. A good Director is aware of extraneous sounds, too, but the Sound Mixer can really point out things that the naked ear can't hear, such as a constant buzz.
At some point during the shoot, usually towards the end, the Sound Mixer will record just the room noise without anyone making a peep. This is used if, for example, part of the dialogue has to be censored, they can drop it out and keep the consistent room noise as the background.
For scenes where there are a lot of cast members or if someone is unable to be mic'd - say, for example, they're naked - a boom microphone is used in place of the little packs. A boom mic is the one on the end of the long stick that a Sound Mixer just holds over the scene he's recording.
At the end of the shoot day, a Sound Mixer turns in his tapes of sound to the Post Production Supervisor in the same way that the shot tapes are turned in.
Sound Mixers hear everything. So if you're ever mic'd for something, take my advice and make sure it's turned off before you go to the bathroom. Or before you trash your boss/spouse/friend.
The Gorilla likes to tell the Caveman Sound Mixer, "Do you know why thunder comes after lightening?" pause. "Because even God has to wait on sound."
(The joke being that just when you're getting ready to shoot a scene, one of the cast members is getting re-mic'd or is re-adjusting or something.)Caveman Sound Mixer likes to tell The Gorilla that when you're watching the movie on the airplane, the picture is free. It's the sound you have to pay for.
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