Beta Sight: Sound Devices 788T and 302

Sound mixer Dave Ruddick traveled to Greenland to film a documentary about glaciers. Ruddick chose to take a Sound Devices 788T recorder and 302 field mixer because he knew they would be able to withstand the harsh weather and rugged terrain.

Greenland is not exactly the easiest place to shoot a documentary. With conditions such as subzero temperatures, melting icecaps, and dangerous terrains with absolutely no civilization in sight, working on Extreme Ice presented its fair share of challenges.

The project is a coproduction of National Geographic and PBS Nova that profiles noted photographer and artist James Balog as he chronicles the world's glaciers. Balog documents melting glaciers and icecaps with time-lapse cameras and is constantly looking for a new perspective to photographnature. As the sound mixer, I was tasked with finding the right equipment that would be ultraportable, provide the highest-quality audio available, and hold up in the country's rugged environment. Because of my previous experience with the company's products, I turned to Sound Devices and its 788T multitrack digital audio recorder and 302 compact production field mixer for their compact design and reliability in extremeweather conditions.

We were flown in by helicopter to the shooting location and were equipped with essential camping gear, food, and climbing gear to live on the ice sheet for three weeks. Because of limited space on the helicopter, we had to dramatically pare down our supplies since they were literally weighing us and our gear for the flight. This meant the bare minimum. These conditions created the need for compact and reliable sound equipment, as there was no way to receive backup gear. The compact size and lightweight design of Sound Devices' 788T recorder (3.75lbs.) and 302 mixer (1.8lbs.) solved that challenge for us.

Since it was summertime in Greenland during the shooting of this project, there was an excessive amount of moisture from the melting icecaps, typically a major concern when dealing with audio equipment. Because of their rugged, machined-aluminum housings, the 788T and 302 were not affected by the moisture or the cold temperatures, nor were they affected by being rained on, sat on, or dropped in the snow.

There were four of us onsite: the producer, cameraman, myself, and Balog as the talent. We each had to wear many hats on the project because of the remote location and limited resources. I was not only capturing the audio, but I was also in charge of overseeing all the safety measures we had intact, such as climbing-rope management for shooting in dangerous melting glacier locations. My biggest challenge was keeping Balog safe and recording his audio at the same time. There is no way out of a moulin (giant waterfalls in the middle of the icecaps) if something fails. It was daunting knowing that I was responsible for people's lives and, at the same time, responsible for the sound. Since I knew the Sound Devices equipment so well and was confident with the quality and reliability of the gear, it made it a lot easier for me to focus on the safety aspects of the project while recording high-quality audio at the same time.

Although the audio on the project did not require a large number of tracks, Greenland's remote location did create several challenging recording circumstances. My primary audio focus of this shoot was Balog, the main thread of the film, as he narrated each moment of his process of photographing glaciers melting and shrinking as he rappelled into the active glaciers.

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Many of the shoots revolved around moulins. Whether Balog was rappelling off an ice cliff or going into a hole hundreds of feet down, I was charged with making sure the dialogue and ambient sound were being captured correctly. On Greenland's icecap, there really is nothing out there. There are no bugs, no birds; it's one of the quietest spots in the world. The sounds out there were very subtle: melting ice and rushing water and capturing the true sound of silence. I was mainly concerned with just trying to capture our star in the moment. The multitrack features of the 788T gave me plenty of available channels for stereo, wild track sound, and dialogue tracks for Balog. In addition, both units could be operated while wearing thin gloves.

Although all eight tracks of the 788T were not used on this particular project, the routing and flexibility to record isolated tracks quickly and easily was a great asset. (Editor's note: The 788T's latest firmware enables it to record 12 tracks.) The product has changed my approach to capturing sound for documentaries. In these types of projects, you have only one chance to get it right, and having eight channels of audio gives sound mixers the ability to capture multiple wild sounds and dialogue as they are happening. With Sound Devices' products, there are so many more options for recording without having to make compromises. You can really capture the moment and then let postproduction handle it from there. Sound Devices' 302 mixer, along with the new 788T, are now the mainstays of the kits I use on productions.

In the months before Extreme Ice, I worked on projects that took me across the globe. I went from the rainforest of Alaska recording grizzly bears to a remote part of northern Uganda on a commercial project to the hot, dusty environment of Beirut, Lebanon, all in the two months before departing to Greenland. Throughout it all, I didn't have to worry too much about changing the equipment I packed. I was really more concerned about packing the right clothing needed for freezing weather and hot, dry deserts. The bottom line is that in the last few months, I worked on projects in four different environmental zones, and the Sound Devices equipment held up under any condition; it always works.

Sound Devices' 788T is really a revolutionary product. There have been other multitrack recorders on the market in the film/documentary industry but nothing that's been built like this; it's small, lightweight, robust, and so easy to use in all conditions. And above all, it sounds fantastic.

Extreme Ice is projected to appear on PBS Nova in March 2009.

Dave Ruddick is an Emmy-winning field-sound mixer and producer whose projects have appeared on leading television networks such as National Geographic, Discovery, and PBS Nature.