ONTARIO, CANADA — As a multi-faceted surround sound microphone, Holophone's best-selling H2-PRO can benefit any surround sound recording project. G. John Garrett, a renowned sound mixer with nearly 30 years experience, has decided to use his H2-PRO for a variety of applications that range from live recordings to documentary, television and feature film work.
Folk-group Buskin & Batteau, which includes singer/songwriter/soloists David Buskin and Robin Batteau along with percussionist Marshal Rosenberg, called upon Garrett and Engineer Grady Moates to capture one of their live performances in surround sound. Holophone's H2-PRO, along with several other microphone sources, were used for the audio recording session at the Stone Temple Coffee House, in Quincy, MA. The audio-only recording was captured using five of the Holophone mic's seven inputs in order to avoid exceeding the limited number of inputs on the Mackie Onyx mixing console used for the project. The Holophone mic was used primarily to capture 3D room ambience and enabled the group to successfully re-create the sound of the live performance.
Sound was also a crucial element for Bleacher Boys, a documentary about six men whose common childhood dream of playing major league baseball was dashed at an early age due to blindness. Holophone's H2-PRO was used to record the ambient sound at several major league baseball games, along with announcer commentary and player interviews. The film, which follows these six men connected through their shared love of baseball, focuses heavily on their need to hear the game as opposed to seeing it. For instance, one of the men simply hears the crack of the bat and knows if it's a single, double, or homerun.
“If you want to give people the emotional experience of being at the game, you have to take them there with sound,” says Garrett. “And not stereo sound – surround sound is the only way to re-create that experience. We recorded six or seven major league baseball games with the Holophone H2-PRO. The mic works effortlessly, is incredibly accurate and provides uncanny realism of the sense of space to the surround playback.”
Garrett also handled the second unit sound recording for Roman Polanski's film, The Ghost Writer, a story that follows a ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister and uncovers secrets along the way that put his own life in jeopardy. For scenes that were shot in Cape Cod, MA, the crew shot video of several car-related chases and sequences, and later called on Garrett to supply the sound. In two days, Garrett captured audio that would later be used as special effects for the film's car-chase scenes. He not only relied on Holophone's H2-PRO but also a Deva V 10-track recorder and a Schoeps M-S pair of mics placed inside and outside of the car to capture interior, exterior, drive-by and synchronized sound recordings of the automobile sequences for the film.
“The Holophone is a great stand-alone microphone, but one of the great features is that it can also be seamlessly integrated with the other microphones in your rig,” continues Garrett. “For the car scenes in The Ghost Writer, I used my Holophone for the ambient sound of the chases one day and my MS pair for the more specific sounds on another day – giving post a wide variety of options to choose from during the editing.”
Recently involved in a surround FX project for an ABC summer replacement series on NASCAR, Garrett once again used his Holophone H2-PRO to capture a variety of perspectives on 200MPH automobiles. The Holophone was set up at the fence of the track, less than a foot from these very loud, very fast cars, to capture the ambient sound of the vehicles themselves as well as the reaction from the crowd. “With SPLs over 130dB in places, the Holophone came through with flying colors,” adds Garrett.
Not only a professional mixer for television, motion pictures and the music industry, Garrett has also held various editorial positions as a contributor to the C.A.S. Quarterly, the Association of Motion Picture Sound Journal as well as Digital Video Magazine.
About Holophone
Holophone is committed to developing and commercializing products that use patented 3-D audio technology to bring the physical experience of “really being there” to a new level for all audio and visual productions by professionals and hobbyists. Holophone provides customers and business partners with industry-leading product and service quality. Holophone is firmly dedicated to providing outstanding value, excellence in service, and product performance.
Holophone® surround-sound microphones are patented audio recording devices designed specifically to address the challenges audio professionals face in capturing, recording and broadcasting multichannel surround sound. Developed by Rising Sun Productions in Toronto, Canada, Holophone systems effortlessly capture discrete signals that are ultra-realistic and provide the most accurate spatiality, audio imaging, and directionality of any recording device. Entirely compatible with all audio mixing, encoding, and playback systems, Holophone also enhances mono and stereo mixes. Holophone systems provide the perfect front end for all professional and consumer audio applications including HDTV broadcasting, standard broadcasting of live sporting and music events, feature film location recording, and studio recording for music, films, and worship applications. Holophone surround sound technology has been used for numerous national and international broadcasts, including the Grammy Awards and NFL Super Bowl. As a scalable system, Holophone technology is also available for license to the consumer electronics industry.
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