"My initial thoughts were that this is a very important film for Denmark, and maybe the only opportunity to get these guys on camera, so I felt I had an obligation to get the sound as close to ‘real life’ as possible," says sound recordist Allan Holmberg.
A DPA 4017 shotgun microphone has been used by Danish film sound recordist Allan Holmberg for a film portraying a series of crimes in the 1970s and ‘80s. The crimes have gone down in Denmark’s history, making a huge impact on how the police work and changing the way the Danish perceive their country.
The film interviews both police and gangsters involved in the case, which came about when a group of communists united to assist the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) providing funding and weapons by means of bank robberies and elaborate frauds. The Blekingegade banden (Blekinge Street gang) as they became known are the subject of several novels by Peter Øvig Knudsen, which form the basis of the film.
The interviews were conducted on a soundstage with very good acoustic conditions, and Holmberg had no doubt that his DPA 4017, which he had just purchased, would be the perfect mic for the job.
“My initial thoughts were that this is a very important film for Denmark, and maybe the only opportunity to get these guys on camera, so I felt I had an obligation to get the sound as close to ‘real life’ as possible,” he says. “I wanted a mic that was wide enough to pick up the sounds if they were scratching their arms, or drumming their fingers on their legs while being interviewed. I wanted to hear their clothes if they moved, and the off-axis sounds should be a very good quality. Besides their ‘own’ sound I wasn’t interested in anything else, so my choice had to be a directional mic of some sort.
“The sound of their voice needed to be equally real, without any coloration of any kind. The feeling of my recording should sound 100% natural rather than film-like. It made perfect sense to use a microphone that was designed and manufactured in Denmark for this groundbreaking Danish film.”
The story is one of the best-known crime stories in Denmark. “The gang is part of our history, since their series of robberies ended in the killing of a Danish policeman,” says Holmberg. “Until then they had succeeded in being a little cleverer than the police, avoiding confrontation, and always being very careful about the ‘jobs’ they did. For several years, gang members were under surveillance on many occasions, and their telephones tapped, but the police never got anything of value.
“The DPA 4017 fulfilled my expectations and it was a pure delight to hear the interviewee’s voices clean, crisp, natural and as close to real life as possible, just as if you were sitting next to them. I hope people will get exactly that feeling when they watch the film.”