Diego van Uden’s boom operators had an immediate reaction to the new Deity Theos Digital IFB packs on his current production: they loved them.
“They are amazing,” says van Uden, a Rotterdam-based production sound mixer who’s been using the DIFB system on Get up, Stand Up, a new feature film currently in production.
He’d only been using the packs for just a couple of weeks when we spoke, but the verdict was already in. Well laid out, diversity reception, and latency that didn’t cause problems. “Range is really good, even under seriously challenging conditions where concrete construction in buildings most of the time give headaches because of multipath dropouts or whatever.”
For a sound mixer working on Dutch productions where location shooting often means older buildings with thick walls and RF nightmares, that kind of performance matters. Van Uden’s recent credits include the multiple award-winning Drie Dagen Vis (Three Days of Fish), a minimalist black-and-white drama that picked up Best Actor awards at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, plus honours at festivals in Lecce and Beijing. He also mixed sound on Mocros and other productions where reliable communication between sound department members is essential.
When your work depends on boom operators staying perfectly in sync with dialogue, you can’t afford dropouts.
Building out the Deity kit
The DIFB packs are the latest addition to van Uden’s growing collection of Deity gear. He started with the TC1 timecode boxes about two years ago, after working with Ambient Lockits and Tentacle Sync boxes. The TC1 offered something he valued: physical control and a bright, high-contrast display.
“It’s really nice to check if a camera has an external lock by quickly checking the display of the TC1,” he says. The Deity-Sidus ecosystem exists for app-based control, but van Uden prefers the manual approach. “To be completely honest, I’m not using the app that much. I prefer to set the TC on my master box and manually sync the others.”
One advantage the TC1 has over some older timecode systems is that physical display. Quick visual confirmation saves time on set. “I also do recommend them to colleagues,” van Uden adds. He used the TC1 boxes on both Drie Dagen Vis and Mocros, where they proved reliable for multi-camera synchronisation with his Aaton Cantar Mini recorder.
The Theos wireless beltpack sets came next, slotting into his hire kit as extras when he needed additional channels. His main systems are Sounddevices and Lectrosonics – proper high-end gear – but the Theos proved themselves capable of mixing seamlessly. “I had no problems when it comes to setting up, sound quality and range. They mix well with my other higher-end sets.”
He’s used them primarily for unscripted lines from extras, situations where you need to throw in an extra wire without fuss. The recording features remain untouched for now, but he notes they’re there.
“It’s great that this is provided, which gives the Theos the upper hand in the mid-tier wireless microphones.”
Using the DIFB on Get up, Stand Up
What sets the DIFB packs apart, according to van Uden, is how straightforward they are to integrate. “Setting them up is really easy and as with all the other Deity products they are part of the Deity ecosystem. It means really easy to name, set up, change freqs etc.”
His boom operators on Get up, Stand Up noticed the difference straight away. The sound quality impressed – crisp and clear – and the range held up even in difficult environments. Van Uden has worked on productions ranging from intimate dramas to larger ensemble pieces, so he’s dealt with his share of challenging locations. Concrete buildings, narrow corridors, the kind of spaces that make RF distribution a constant battle.
“The DIFB sets sound better than what I was used to. The sound is crisp, range is good,” he says, then laughs. “Don’t want to repeat myself too much.”
But that’s often the sign of gear that works properly – there’s not much drama to report when it simply does the job. The diversity reception handles the multipath issues that plague location sound, and the latency stays low enough that boom operators can work without that disconnected feeling that comes from delayed monitoring.
For Get up, Stand Up, this reliability has proven essential. The production demands the kind of consistent communication that keeps complex scenes moving smoothly, and the DIFB packs have handled everything thrown at them.
The Price Point Question
Van Uden is direct about the value proposition. “You get a lot of bang for the buck, especially compared to other mid-tier brands. They sound amazing to me for the price.”
It’s a measured assessment from someone who’s spent years working with top-tier equipment. Van Uden runs a hybrid kit, with Sounddevices and Lectrosonics alongside the Deity gear. The Theos wireless sets mix seamlessly with his higher-end systems, and the DIFB packs have proven themselves in challenging RF environments.
When van Uden needed a replacement RF distribution system for his current production, he had a Deity SRD-mini sitting in his kit. “I didn’t have the chance to change out my RF-distro” earlier, he says, but when the moment came, the SRD-mini was there. Small enough to clip to a soundbag with the provided belt clip, it stepped in without fuss.
The Deity gear has become a reliable part of van Uden’s workflow, filling gaps and solving problems as productions demand. The kind of practical reliability that keeps things moving without fanfare.Van Uden continues mixing sound on Get up, Stand Up, with the Theos DIFB packs proving themselves daily in challenging RF environments. The film’s still in production, but the gear’s already earned its place in his kit.
The Deity DIFB is available now from your local reseller (excludes North America).
