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Survival of the Fittest

Mark Cochi

Recently I worked on a production in Whistler, British Columbia, that put both me and my equipment in some unique situations. This was a production for ESPN, called 'Survival Of The Fittest', and I was one of two soundmenon the crew. The production was to cover various events, designed to test the endurance of the athletes, and as we came to find out, the endurance of the crew. We were in production for a total of eleven days of which it rained for ten and a half. Of course it cleared on the afternoon of the last day.

When I began preparing for the shoot, I realized that the weather in British Columbia would definitely be a factor. Another major obstacle was the fact that the main camera coverage, or "Game Camera" is shot from a helicopter. This is great for getting race coverage in difficult terrain, but as we all know, a disaster for audio. I vowed to do what I could to protect all my gear, but knew that the nature of the event and terrain meant that I would be putting it to the ultimate field test.

After meeting with the producers, we decided that we would need to spend a lot of time recording wild tracks of competition effects, as well as ambience tracks to be used in post-production. Although the program is posted in two channel mono, I chose to record all ambient tracks, as well as any effects I could with an MS setup, so that the effects could be used for this production via the mid signal, and archived in stereo for later use in a stereo program. It seemed ineffective to spend this much time recording sound effects in mono. My equipment package consisted of an SQN 4S IIIa mixer, HHB PortaDat, PDR- 1000 TC DAT recorder, TEAC DAP-20 backup DAT, Sennheiser MKH-70, MKH-416, MKfI-30/40 Stereo set-up, Sonotrim, Sanken, and Countryman lavalier mics, and six Audio Ltd. radios (four DX-2000 and two MX-2000). All my shotgun mics, as well as the stereo set-up were equipped with Rycote Suspensions, Windshields, and Windjammers. I also brought along three mini Windjammers for use with the lavaliers when used as effects mics.

The other soundman on the job was responsible for most interviews, and post race reactions, while I concentrated on gathering effects from forerunners, wild ambience tracks, and creating my own effects. During helicopter down time, there was a chance to record clean sounds of actual competition. I would record these to the HHB, as well as feeding a camera via a wireless link.

Within one day, I realized that this job was going to be even more of a challenge than I had thought. I found that creating and capturing realistic sounds to match events and activities that are to say the least, unique, requires realism as well as invention, both in what you record, as well as in how you go about recording it.

The first event we looked at was something called the Aerial Obstacle Course. This consisted of a set of ropes and logs, hanging vertically and horizontally, approximately twenty feet above a raging river. The athletes cross the river on this 'Milking Machine', then cross back on a set of Commando Lines. Next they would scurry down a small rock face to a Zip line, which lands them in a cargo net. They then climb down the cargo net to a set of ropes aptly named the Ankle Burner. The athlete hangs upside down, legs wrapped around the rope, and pulls him or herself across the river on these ropes. To add to the challenge, the weight of the body causes the ropes to hang low enough so that the athlete ends up fighting the current, as well as trying to muster the energy to cross. If they make it, they climb up a small, but slippery rock face, walk along a rock wall, cross the river again, this time on a balance log, to arrive at yet another zip line, which sends them on their final trip into the river, where they swim, or ride the current to the shore.

What does all this sound like? Well, essentially it sounds like a raging river, with some cheering from the shore. The river is so loud, and the apparatus used to complete the event either soft (ropes and nets) or wet (rock and logs), that there is very little sound from the athletes. I decided to wire a forerunner with two radio transmitters in waterproof packs, and to use one Sonotrim lavalier, taped to the athletes chest, and one Sanken attacked to his sneaker. Both mics were waterproofed with a piece of a condom over the element, and then covered with a mini windjammer.

As loud as the river was, I was still able to capture some good sounds of breathing and exertion, with the 'boot mic' picking up transitions between terrain. When the athlete went partially under water, and was battling the current, the mic element had so much pressure on it, then you heard the river, then compression, then it would come back. It was not the best quality sound, but effective in conveying the challenge, as well as the power of the river.

When the competitors took the trip down the last zip line and ended up totally submerged, I lost the radio signal. I recorded stereo sounds of the river to cover these segments. After all of this, the rain was so hard and so constant, that the river began to crest its banks upstream, and they were forced to open the dam. The river began to rise rapidly, and we had to cancel the second half of the event. The river eventually rose over five feet, washing away the entire course. Seeing mother natures power at work is always an incredibly humbling experience.

The other events consisted of a Downhill Run, which took the competitors through varying terrain, including a glacier face, a boulder field, and a shale field. For this, I used many of the same techniques, strapping mics to the feet, as well as the waist, shoulders, and chest. I did a couple of runs of this event, using two radios at one time, as I was recording to Stereo DAT.

I also decided to see what the athletes were up against with trying to run down a shale field, so with the DAT strapped to my body, and the stereo mic setup in band, down the shale I ran. It made for a very nice recording, as I could vary the position of the mic from out in front pointing straight ahead, to pointing at my feet, and sometimes pointing behind me. The suspension and Windjammer worked flawlessly in keeping the track free of thumps and wind. (Well done Rycote!)

We also did a downhill Mountain Bike race, which also traversed snow, rock, thicket, and water. For this, I rigged the bike with two hard wired lavalier mics, encased in mini windjammers. One was mounted on the handlebars, at the center point, while the other was right below the crank set, in the area where a kickstand would be mounted on a conventional bike. I ran the cables along the frame, and into a backpack which held the TEAC DAT recorder. This way, I didn't have to concern myself with radio reception, and could easily get a complete track in one pass.

For the Survival Run, which began with a 770 foot Tyrolean Traverse over a 330 foot gorge, I decided that the stereo mic would be ineffective. I was also intrigued by the thought of doing the traverse myself. After a couple of forerunners wired with radio mics went across, I decided to give it a try. I put a Sanken COS-11 lavalier on each side of a lightweight helmet, and ran the cables down to my HHB DAT, which was strapped tightly to my waist via a Portabrace harness. I put on my climbing harness, got clipped in, leaned back, said a prayer, and kicked off. All I can say is what a ride! The sound of the pulley on the ropes is similar to a turbine winding up, and sounded excellent recorded in stereo from the lavalier mics. I must also say that the last quarter of the traverse, where you have to pull yourself up on the ropes, gave me all the sounds of complete exhaustion, heavy breathing, and occasional cursing that I could ever need.

The traverse was an unforgettable experience - I'm extremely glad I was able to convince production that in order to get the best sound, I had to go myself.

All in all, it was a very successful production, and I think we got some good raw sound for the editors and sweeteners to use in post-production.

The use of mini windjammers on the lavalier mics proved to be the best tool I had for planting mics in strange places, in terrible weather, and still ending up with very usable sounds. My experiences left me with plenty of inspiration for future productions of this sort.

Mark C. Cochi is a Production Sound Mixer based in New York.