by Ric Teller
Pre-ramble: When I asked Pete Korpela, one of two percussionists playing in the orchestra at the Academy Awards this year, how he was doing, he answered, “Living someone else’s dream.” It was a great reminder not to take any of my experiences for granted. Sure, the dream of being on the crew of a major motion picture, a big live-television show, or just being able to make a living doing what we do must seem to many like a reverie, a fanciful and impractical idea. I’m sure at one time, it seemed that way to me.
For those of you who follow these rambles, first of all, I thank you and appreciate every bit of positive feedback. And by feedback, I mean nice comments, not the ringing, squealing, or screeching sound that makes mixers wish they could defy the laws of physics. On that subject, is anyone else bothered by the fact that nearly every time a person in a movie or on a scripted television program steps up to a microphone, it feeds back. The truth is that it rarely happens in real life, even on live shows. Do you suppose some long-forgotten director stepped up to the mic in a very important pat-yourself-on-the-back moment and his comments were masked by the accidental acoustic meeting of an input and an output? From then on, as payback, he was determined to make us cringe each and every time a mic appears on camera by adding that undesirable sound.
My favorite feedback, in case you wanted to know, can be heard at the beginning of “I Feel Fine” by the Beatles. John Lennon’s guitar, “Nnnnnnwahhhhh!” according to Paul, Geoff Emerick, and my Friend, Robyn.
And now, the pink tape story. If you have worked on award shows or specials in the last twenty years, chances are you might have run into something labeled in pink gaff tape. It is my labeling tape of choice. Others use gray, green, purple, and even white. I prefer pink. You may ask, how did this come about? I’ll tell you. In 2003, I was invited to be a band A2 for the 45th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York. At the time, Local One wasn’t very interested in letting visitors work freely on stage. I was told that I could not be the band patch master. Hmmm. That was my job. They assigned a Broadway mixer to work with me. Although he was an experienced sound engineer, patching a three-hour live show with multiple bands was not in his comfort zone. I knew better than to argue the decision and proceeded to label everything in bright pink gaff tape. Together, my new friend and I patched the heck out of a very difficult show with many bands and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Pink tape became my go-to and is still used today.
The story among friends is that when I run out of pink tape, I get to retire.
Walking out of a very busy, tiring 2022 Grammys at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, I complained to Craig that I was worn out and my bag felt very heavy. Unbeknownst to me, several coworkers had gifted me with new rolls of two-inch pink tape. Enough to last many more shows.
Not long ago, I was talking to some people not familiar with our business. I mentioned that I am on the crew of Jeopardy! and one of them asked when we film. 1987 was my smarty-pants answer, a product of early onset Weisenheimer’s. That year, I received a phone call from mixer Russ Gary, asking if I knew anything about the film world because we were going to be the sound crew on a new sitcom shot on 35mm called Take Five. Haven’t heard of it? I’m not surprised, we completed six episodes, but only two aired. The star, George Segal, played banjo in a band. He could really play, but the other cast members in the band were not musicians. George wanted the music to be live, so he played on camera while the other cast members finger-synched to a live band playing just off-camera. We recorded audio on two Otari reel-to-reel machines that were about the size of our Maytag washer and dryer. Although it has been a long time, Bruce Arledge, Jr., Rick Luckey, and I had the same recollection about channel assignments. The ½” 4-track captured dialog, music/sound FX, audience response, and 60hz tone. We had no timecode. The ¼” 2-track only recorded dialog and music/sound FX. The show was mono, and we had no iso tracks, no prefade, nothing else. Comm was primitive. AD’s used walkies, boom operators had basic two-channel RTS (audio PL and program), and the camera operators and dolly grips communicated with the camera coordinator using a half-duplex system of Maxon Radios that may or may not have been the prize from boxes of Cracker Jack. The other thing we didn’t have was video assist. It existed but not on our show. The director just asked the camera operators if they got the shots. Imagine, no video village. Four or five years later, on another sitcom called Family Matters, we finally had video assist for the director (and reluctantly for the producers). The three cameras (yes, three) were even switchable for the audience. A dozen years after Take Five, the last film sitcom I did, had digital multitrack audio recorders, timecode slates, full duplex RF PL’s, and wireless, switchable, color video assist. The technology helped but it wasn’t long before film sitcoms were a thing of the past.
After a couple of Oscars that are memorable for the train station location and the slap, we did the 95th at The Dolby Theatre in early March. I believe my first was number sixty-four at The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and I missed one year along the way, which equals … a bunch. Sometimes math is elusive. One thing is for sure, the A2’s got in their steps and flights of stairs on this one. The orchestra, made up of so many great musicians, sounded terrific. Cip, you were truly missed. In one of my favorite moments, I had a chat with David Byrne while he put on his hot dog fingers for the dress rehearsal performance of “This Is a Life.” Those were just the rehearsal hot dog fingers; he had better ones for the show. We do not have a particularly large A2 crew for the size and scope of the Oscars. Before we started, Steve Anderson, lead A2, put together a plan for cable runs, patching, microphone assignments, and workflow. When we got on-site, we installed cables, patched, and tested the connectivity. In 1979, when I walked into the maintenance shop at KTLA, there were signs posted around the work area. One said, “NOT DONE ’TIL TESTED.” A simple and very important reminder.
By midweek, we gravitated to more specific Oscar duties, all the while helping each other with projects as needed. Steve worked with production to mark a rundown with microphone assignments and kept us on track with tasks. Bruce built the RF Schoeps mic tubes and managed the sets and strikes as needed. Kim took care of the host mic needs using two Q5X transmitters with Shure Twinplex lavs for Jimmy Kimmel. Craig, with some guidance from Denali Audio Engineer Hugh Healy, patched and set up the many complicated production needs in the Orange Court parking lot, and then put lavs on presenters. Eddie and Damon set up the eighty-two input Oscar Orchestra, later joined by Dan Vicari. Then Damon took care of the guest bands, which came up hot on the stage elevator from the pit, while Eddie managed the performance RF mics. As you might imagine for a live show like this one, we practice as many elements as possible, including all music performances and award presentations. It is one of the few events that encourage all the presenters to come and rehearse, sometimes giving pop-up microphone operator Tom Streible an opportunity to note the height for each item which is subsequently adjusted on the fly for the winners. If you have watched or attended the Academy Awards, you probably realize that gowns are a very important part of the proceedings. Women do not wear their show attire to rehearsal, and they don’t come to the two full run-throughs, one on Saturday night and one Sunday morning, a very talented group of stand-ins perform those duties. The first time Robyn sees the dresses is when she mics them in the live show. Many of you have put lavs on talent. Think about doing it on very expensive gowns that you have never seen, often hiding the mics, just before presenters walk out in front of their peers and are broadcast to millions of people. No pressure, right? Great job, everyone! I am honored to work with all these terrific A2’s and the rest of the very talented audio crew.
I suppose, in some ways, I too have been living someone else’s dream. The truth is that I have been places and done things that a kid from a small town in Nebraska could not have imagined. Recently, I spent some time with dreamer, podcaster, and future Y-something, Rebecca Kobik. We talked about skill sets, work ethic, setting goals, asking questions, continuing education, and even dumb luck. All things that have contributed to my career. I hope some combination of those topics will assist Rebecca in living her dreams.