RIDING THE AUDIO WAVE ON SET OF HAWAII FIVE-O

Bob Pank#

Author: Bob Pank#

Published 1st June 2011


McGarrett eyes his foe across the beach. After signaling to his trusty sidekick Dano, he jumps on an ATV and the chase is on. Dano jumps on a jet ski and tries to cut off the enemy's escape from the sea. Yet in middle of all this, you can actually hear what they're saying to each other. Ever try to mic somebody on a jet ski? Location sound guys have nearly an impossible job of recording this dialogue in impossible situations. They do an amazing job, but sometimes it doesn't quite get captured. Story lines may need clarification, so lines need to be added. This is where the ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement, also known as looping or dubbing)mixer comes in.

Hawaii Five-0 is an American police drama television series and a re-imagining of the original 1968–1980 television series. Like the original version, it follows an elite state police unit/task force set up to fight crime in the state of Hawaii. The team is headed by Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, played by Alex O’Loughlin and his partner Honolulu PD Detective Danny Williams, played by Scott Caan. The team also includes Detective Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim) and Officer Kono Kalakaua (Grace Park). The series is produced by K/O Paper Products and 101st Street Television in association with CBS Productions.

For over 20 years, Audio Resource Honolulu (ARH) has been considered Hawaii's leading audio facility for professional recording. The studio was the ADR facility for all six seasons of ABC's hit drama LOST and has also worked onABC's Off The Map and Pixar's Cars 2. ARH handled the principal ADR for the first season of CBS's hit drama, Hawaii Five-O at both an on-set studio treated with Auralex Acoustics products as well as at ADR’s Honolulu location. As the dedicated ADR facility for the show, ARH is responsible for all the re-recording of the original dialogue for the purpose of obtaining a cleaner, more intelligible dialogue track.

The shooting schedule for CBS’s Hawaii Five-O is grueling which makes it tough to find the time for the needed ADR. ARH was asked to create a room on-set to capture the needed ADR when the actors were on a break from shooting. A room was chosen, but the acoustics needed treatment in order to obtain the proper sound quality. ARH looked at several options and decided on Auralex Acoustics, the industry leader in innovative sound control solutions. Auralex’s 2\" Studiofoam Wedgeswere chosen for the space and installed on more than 80 percent of the wall surfaces. Now the needed ADR can be captured either on-set or back at the studio, depending on the location of the actors.
Auralex’s 2\" Studiofoam Wedges are the company’s best-selling acoustical foam products and are an effective absorber. Typically used in small- to medium-sized areas including vocal booths, control rooms and sound studios, the 2\" Studiofoam Wedges can effectively kill standing waves and flutter echoes. Quite simply, the 2\" Studiofoam is the workhorse of the industry and is one of Auralex’s most popular acoustical foam products for users who are creating a more controlled environment without the help of a professional acoustician.
When possible, Tony prefers to work back at his studio in Honolulu. Opened in 1999, Audio Resource Honolulu’s Rainforest Room, designed by studio bau-ton, consists of a large studio space, an SSL control room, an ISO booth and a lounge.
Working back at the studio has its advantages, as it’s a more controlled and sound isolated space. It also allows for ISDN connections for anyone that is off-site that wants to be remotely part of the session. This is extremely helpful for a studio located in Hawaii who often deal with directors or producers back on the main land. As a loyal customer of Auralex, the room features 10 Auralex LENRD bass traps to prevent unwanted room tones from ending up in the microphone. This is essential to the audio mixer because they cannot remove these tones later and the audio must match the on-screen picture.

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