JoeCo on location with Real Housewives
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The Real Housewives franchise began on the TV channel Bravo with the Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006, later spreading throughout USA, and now has accumulated a total of 16 different franchises across the globe. From lavish homes to various other "unscouted, noisy and often not ideal" locations, the productions follow where the women lead, often leaving little time for preparation.
Stuart Windle, sound supervisor and location sound recordist for The Real Housewives of Cheshire, decided to implement the BBR1MP during a break before filming the most recent series. Windle uses the BBR1MP as the "heart of a very compact, powerful, high-track count custom system" incorporating the recorder with power and RF distribution for up to 24 channels of radio mics in one 5U rack designed for fixed rig reality shooting.
"Reliability is incredibly important," says Windle. "With a high number of radio mics and only one multi-track recorder on location, we needed to know that the set-up would run solidly for six hours of shooting, and the BBR1MP does that. The most incidental line or reaction could be the next big storyline and obviously a scene can often only happen once. There is a lot hanging on it being rock-solid - including our livelihoods."
Windle adds that this style of reality TV, and the drama that comes along with it, can cause further challenges: "The women can go from a whisper to a scream in seconds and the BBR1MP's limiters deal really well with that."
(Jim Evan)
