Canada's Audio Process on Lectrosonics: "The new all-digital stuff is a level up!"

As a one-stop shop for location recording, post-production and studio recording in Toronto (the third busiest media production city in North America after Los Angeles and New York), Audio Process has over 50 feature films under its belt, plus extensive experience with reality shows, episodic television, commercials, shows like Netflix’s Trailer Park Boys, and more. In short, no job is too big or complex.

In addition to its full-time team, Audio Process employs over 80 contract-based location sound recordists, post-production engineers, music producers, service technicians and administrative staff. 

The team are longtime Lectrosonics users, and recently made the leap from their beloved Digital Hybrid Wireless to the fully digital D Squared line.

Their cart and bag rigs run the gamut of digital receivers: DSQD four-channel, DCR822 dual-channel and DCHR compact stereo units. Sending signals to these is a host of DBSM body-pack transcorders, the DPR-A plug-on transmitter for boom work and DCHT camera hop transmitters. 

Communications are all-digital as well, thanks to the M2 Duet system’s four-channel M2T transmitter paired with M2R beltpack receivers.

“Wireless Designer may be the biggest single improvement in my workflow I’ve experienced,” shares lead location recordist Rob Morrice. “To see the spectrum at the resolution it does and then control everything centrally in real time is a game-changer.

“We dove into the Lectro digital world headfirst,” he continues. “This past summer we did a show which follows a teenager who wins a singing competition, not unlike The Voice. It covered the behind-the-scenes of his life and the other contestants and was challenging because at any time we were jumping between musical performances and scripted scenes, with as many as eight talent members at a time needing wireless. 

"We used the DBSMs and DSQDs in this application, and with those plus comms for producers, there were a lot of frequencies flying around. It all worked flawlessly the first time out.”

When asked what improvements are noticeable in the D Squared system, Morrice answers:

“First and foremost is range,” he explains without hesitation. “The legacy gear – say, SMVs being picked up by SRCs – was always pretty robust. But with any transmitter, you could get dropouts or a bit of a noise floor if you got out of range. 

"The DBSM doesn’t do that. First of all, the range is just phenomenal. Second, if you do push it too far, you just hear a little roll-off of the high end and that’s how you know. But that hasn’t happened on any actual show I’ve used them on. I haven’t had to worry about signal issues, especially for my critical talent mics.”

“This has improved our workflow on all our productions,” concurs co-owner and location recording manager Ryan Altschuler.

“We recently did a car-to-car shoot for Rogers, the telecom company that also co-owns sports teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, so dialogue is going on in the film car and we’re in a chase vehicle. 

"Several plant mics were hardwired into a Sound Devices mixer, which was then sent to us using a DCHT and SNA600 antenna flown on the exterior of the car. We in the chase vehicle had two more SNA600s outside and a DCHR inside and were shocked at how far ahead of us the film car could get while we still had crystal-clear reception.”

The team also found out that their new digital gear sacrificed nothing in terms of Lectrosonics’ well-known resilience to abuse.

“We were working on a TV movie where this city slicker character is learning to paddle a canoe,” recalls Morrice. 

“The canoe was stabilized with a rope on either end. I received every assurance that it wouldn’t tip, even though the talent was supposed to look like she’s tipping when she takes a selfie. I guess she was too good an actress! She was in the water a full minute, with her DBSM and mic. 

"We removed the battery, dried it out, and fired it up the next day. It worked fine, with no perceptible impact on performance.”

Audio Process insists that the D Squared family ensures impeccable audio quality across the board:

“We do a lot of post-production as well,” notes Altschuler. “We’d heard there was a big difference on paper in terms of lower noise floor and more headroom. When you actually listen in post, it’s very discernible.”

“Clean, clear, low end is more important than you’d think for dialogue,” agrees Morrice, “and the DBSM and DSQD and other new digital devices deliver. The fidelity of Digital Hybrid Wireless was already better than any other gear we’d previously heard. But the new all-digital stuff is a level up!”