Confessions of an Audio Tech, Part 3

Left to right: Matt Jepson, Jamie Hyneman, and Adam Savage during the Motorcycle Flip episode of MythBusters, in which the team attempted to recreate a classic Indiana Jones shot.

My audio rig for MythBusters is what is known as a 602 setup: two Sound Devices 302 mixers linked together. I really love this rig because it has 6 channels, it's still lighter and slightly smaller than some 4-channel mixers, and it's cheaper than some 4-channel mixers. The limiters sound fantastic, which is great on a show like ours, and if anything went wrong with one of the 302s (nothing has; they're tough), the show could go on.

For talent, we use Lectrosonics wireless transmitters with Sanken COS-11 mics, and I use a Schoeps as my main mic and a Neumann KMR 82 for special applications.

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Confessions of an Audio Tech, Part 1 What do Bill Gates, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Madden, John Travolta, the Raiderettes, Sheryl Crow, James Lovell, Joan Baez, Anthrax, and Joe Montana all have in common? I shoved my hand up all their shirts and wasn''t carted off by the police... Confessions of an Audio Tech, Part 2 I have been working as an audio tech on MythBusters since 2005, and without hesitation, I can say it has been one of the most wacky, nail-biting, educational, demanding, and just plain hysterical jobs I have ever had...

I boom on one channel and constantly mix the talent lavaliers on the second channel and send that to the main camera via a wireless hop. When we shoot out of our special effects shop, I will send a headphone feed of the talent lav mix to the director via a Sennheiser G100 wireless transmitter and receiver. I have to say that for 500 bucks, that is a great system. It has good reach and good sound, and the components are small with screw-lock cables, hot-shoe attachments, and fully adjustable levels at both the receiver and transmitter.

Comfort is paramount. I am a big, strong guy, 6ft. 3in. and 230lbs. I go to the gym, run, bike, etc. Still, when you're running from angry dogs or standing in an inflatable boat with 30 sharks circling, you want the smallest, lightest rig possible. That's another thing I like about the 602: If I don't need the extra channels, I can stow one of the 302s. On the subject of comfort, I recommend a harness such as Petrol's PEHR-N . The moment I switched to that from a sling mount, the clouds parted.

Matt Jepson with his audio rig during Alaska Week.

For my line of work, the next thing might just be the most important bit of kit I own: a pair of high-noise headphones. There is a tendency to raise the level in headphones to get above the ambiance around yourself to hear the mic properly. If you do this five days a week, 8 hours a day, you will trash your ears, go deaf, get tinnitus, and lose your livelihood. These headphones allow you to focus on just what the mic is picking up without the need to raise the sound in the headphone to dangerous levels.

MythBusters is classified as a reality-based science show. That said, we are frequently dealing in science where there may be no direct research. I mean, how many people have tried to surf a wave generated from 200lbs. of TNT? We often don't know what the outcome will be, so setting levels and knowing when to run can be a little challenging. With the second camera, I do what I call the "70/30 rule." I rig a shotgun mic to the camera and send the mic to both channels. I then set the channel 1 record level to roughly 30 percent and channel 2 to 70 percent. This way, I can get the soft clicks of the gun loads and the bang of the gunshots. I am not all that fond of the automatic compressors in cameras and external mics; they pump too much. This 70/30 technique sounds cleaner and gives post more options.

So, to wrap up: Be 15 minutes early, anticipate the action, be comfortable, and never eat Pop Rocks and soda while listening to the brown note on your cell phone during flight. Or is that a myth? Tune in and find out on the Discovery Channel.

Matt Jepson is a freelance audio tech based in the San Francisco Bay area who has worked on MythBusters since 2005. MythBusters airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT with new episodes throughout fall 2009.