How Fortress Soundworks Oy used Deity Products on the Latest Season of Top Gear Suomi
Introduction
Fortress Soundworks Oy is an independent audio production company based in Helsinki, Finland. Fortress worked on the field recording and post production for the new season of Top Gear Suomi; the Finnish edition of the hit BBC show Top Gear.
Photo © Nelonen Media / Laura Tamila
Challenges
Marius from Fortress Soundworks explained how tricky these challenges were:
Fortress Soundworks faced multiple challenges on location of Top Gear Suomi. The sound crew had to be fast, flexible and constantly on their toes throughout the production. The team had to record the talent inside three separate moving vehicles, as well as recording the sound of the vehicles themselves. Added to this, the camera crew were switching between normal speed and slow motion throughout the day.
“We had to have three bags in three moving cars and we had very little to no control over those bags. Cars would often drive in different directions so controlling all the wireless from one bag was not an option.”
The team also had to provide sound monitoring for the director, script writer and producer, all of whom were in separate moving vehicles.
Image Credit: Fortess Soundworks Oy – on-location of Top Gear Suomi
Solution
The team chose Deity THEOS as their preferred wireless equipment for the production. The ability to record with timecode and transmit at the same time proved to be invaluable. On top Gear Suomi, the Sidus app really came into its own with the ability to change gain, frequencies, stop and start recording without having to ask the talent to stop driving or get out of the vehicles. The use of Deity TC-1s meant the morning timecode jam was painless and fast, and the switch between normal speed and slow motion wasn’t an issue.
Their challenge of controlling the wireless when the vehicles were out of sight was aided by THEOS. Marius explained that thanks to the internal recording and 32 bit float, they didn’t have to worry about the transmitters being out of range and “Thanks to the 32 bit float we did not have to worry about gain staging too much”.
The team also combatted the challenge of sound monitoring from different moving vehicles thanks to 32 bit float and internal recording:
“We used audio over 5G using mobile phonein each car. Deity was very handy because they were able to transmit but also record in 32 bit float. This combo was the ace in our sleeve and it has saved us during this production.”
Image Credit: Fortess Soundworks Oy – Group photo on-set of Top Gear Suomi
Result and Feedback
The previous season of Top Gear Suomi was recorded using alternative wireless and timecode brands. The use of Deity THEOS and Deity timecode products gave the team much more flexibility and agility on a very challenging production, with multiple moving parts. The ability to sync the TC-1s and use the Sidus app gave the team an advantage they didn’t have during the previous season. The post production team were extremely happy with the end result.