Indie film Dinner in America takes
viewers on a precarious journey with a punk rocker and his fan-turned-love
interest as they travel through middle America. Written and directed by Adam
Rehmeier, the film was shot in many different suburban locations, which often presented
unique audio challenges for the sound team. Rehmeier appointed Daniel S. McCoy,
CAS, owner of production sound company, ToneMesa, to provide his trademark
sonic fidelity for the project. To capture pristine audio despite sometimes
noisy locations, McCoy turned to his trusted 4061 Miniature Omnidirectional, 4017B
Shotgun Microphone and 4018B Supercardioid Microphone, along with the newly
launched 6061 CORE Subminiature Mics from DPA Microphones.
McCoy found the discreet stature and high-quality sound of the 6061 CORE to be a joy to work with on-set. “Not only was it easy to hide the
mic within the actors’ wardrobe, it also concealed better as a plant mic
wherever we needed it,” he says. “I have always loved my 4061 lavalier
mics and now, with the 6061 CORE Subminiatures, I can get even more dynamic range and frequency
response, with higher fidelity than ever before. Considering it has an even
smaller capsule, that sound simply blew me away. The 6061 CORE does a great job
of capturing nuanced sounds, more detail in rooms, actors’ voices and hard sound
effects.”
It was in noisy, less-than-ideal filming conditions where McCoy found the 6061 CORE mic to especially excel. “We shot one scene in a pet shop
with an incredible amount of animal noise,” he explains. “Despite having
to contend with birds chirping and a
great deal of crosstalk, the 6061 CORE still provided the clarity of the actors’
voices that I needed. I never had to worry about distortion or the lack of
intelligibility that you usually get with multiple hidden mics.
During a punk rock concert scene towards the end of Dinner in America, McCoy heavily relied on both the 4061 and 6061 mics to capture anauthentic concert sound. “I planted 4061/6061 CORE mics to capture the drum kit, bass and guitar amp,” he adds. “Using my 4017B and 4018B microphones on boom, with the 6061
CORE and 4061 miniatures on the actors and instruments, really took the audio
to the next level. I did a mono board mix and positioned spot mics on every instrument and
every head amp. It was a very pivotal, intense scene. All the music was
beautifully captured, thanks to my DPA mics.”
McCoy also found the 6061 CORE incredibly useful in capturing the hard effects that sound editor Colin Alexander needed.
According to McCoy, “Colin was very much appreciative of all the practical effects that we were able to record with the production soundtracks. He said they were so easy to work with
and a pleasure to mix during his re-recording process. I was really honored
that someone I admire so highly in post-production would be so complimentary of
the assets they received from set.”
Recognizing that the American Midwest is often quite windy, McCoy selected a series of wind protection solutions from yet another Danish manufacturer, Bubblebee Industries, to complement the DPA microphones. “Wind is worse than any frequency problems; it’s all about controlling the wind in an outside environment,” he explains. “Using the Bubblebee solutions with my DPA mics proved to be the optimal setup for the American Plains.”
Dinner in America, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is an
independent film that tells the story of Simon (Kyle Gallner), an on-the-lam
punk rocker, and Patty (Emily Skeggs), a young woman obsessed with his band.
Over the course of the film, the pair unexpectedly fall in love as they travel
together through America’s decaying Midwestern suburbs.
ABOUT DPA MICROPHONES:
DPA Microphones is the leading Danish Professional Audio manufacturer of high-quality condenser microphone solutions for professional applications. DPA’s ultimate goal is to always provide its customers with the absolute finest possible microphone solutions for all its markets, which include live sound, installation, recording, theatre and broadcast. When it comes to the design process, DPA takes no shortcuts. Nor does the company compromise on its manufacturing process, which is done at the DPA factory in Denmark. As a result, DPA’s products are globally praised for their exceptional clarity and transparency, unparalleled specifications, supreme reliability and, above all, pure, uncolored and undistorted sound. For more information, please visit www.dpamicrophones.com.
