Irish Sound Mixer, Colin McKenna, chose Deity THEOS and timecode for the second season of the hit RTÉ (Radio and Television of Ireland) show On The Beat.
On The Beat follows the Gardaí (Irish police force) on patrol and as they respond to calls in a fly on the wall documentary.
Which Deity products did you use and why did you choose them?
“I have two THEOS systems. I use 2 DBTX transmitters on each of the talent and a D2RX on my mixer. The Gardaí can respond to an urgent call, speed off and go out of wireless range at any time, leaving us to follow along, but only when it’s safe to do so! Because of this, the ability to record timecode-synced audio on the transmitter is vital to the show.
I put a second D2RX on the camera. It is tuned to the same channels as the transmitters so the camera has a direct feed from the talent. The camera operator can also monitor the feed directly from the transmitters on their camera. I also have a third D2RX with the outputs set to monitor mode for them to monitor the talent separately.”
What advantages can you tell us about when using Deity products?
“The timecode-synced recording feature was a must-have requirement for this job so that’s a big advantage for me. The output routing options on the receiver are fantastic. For example, I like to use the option to route both channels to a single output on the receiver for sending a basic mix to the camera. I also love the option to use the receiver for monitoring, although a separate monitoring receiver with a hardware volume control would be the ideal!”
What challenges did you face on-set that Deity products helped overcome?
“A big challenge was monitoring. I used to give the camera operator a feed from my sound bag for monitoring but it can be difficult for the signal to reach them from the follow car. When the talent speeds away on an emergency call, they lose my signal completely so to overcome this, I connected my second D2RX into their camera so they can monitor the talent from there. I have a third D2RX for additional comfort in monitoring. This means they won’t have to connect their headphones to the camera.”
Can you tell us a bit about a certain difficult scene and how you prepared your Deity products to start recording?
“The main difficulty in this show is speed. You have to be able to work fast as things can kick off very quickly. It’s a very hurry-up-and-wait type of production. On one occasion I was about to place mics as they received an urgent call, we didn’t have time to do more than stick the mics on and hope for the best. Luckily the option to pair the transmitters and receiver is very fast for getting everything coordinated so they were good to go in seconds.
Another difficult scene (which happens often) involved the Garda stopping to talk to people out of the side of their car. I obviously can’t just walk up to the stranger and mic them up and booming them would also be inappropriate, so I placed a lav mic in the car visor to catch the conversation discreetly. I route this mic through a PR-2 so I can also record these exchanges. Again, I want to be able to record this mic because they can speed off at any time.
Another use for the PR-2 is as a plant mic. I can plant this recorder and capture an interaction while I am away recording something else. Again, having everything in sync is vital, both for camera and for the producer who is constantly logging notes throughout the shoot. It’s also smaller than bringing a second sound bag!”
What are your overall thoughts about the Deity products you have used?
“I have used a wide range of equipment, from cheap 2.5GHz wireless sets to top-of-the-line industry standard wireless equipment. Overall, I am quite happy with my Deity products. I think they offer great value and lots of features at a very reasonable price point. They are useful tools that help solve problems on set. But you can’t be naive with your equipment, when you’re working in the field you need backups so I always try to have a plan B.”
Season 2 is expected to air in January 2026 on RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster.