For the on-board sounds, Watson sat in the front passenger seat next to a professional driver with the microphones routed to his Sound Devices 788T-SSD recorder on his lap. The
d:screet™ 4061’s were mounted inside a Rycote® Mini Windjammer and with the help of gaffers tape, they were strapped to the firewall allowing for the hood to be closed. Wu recorded up to eight sounds simultaneously, including the vehicle’s stereo system, outside next to the exhaust pipes and passenger areas.
“The tiny
d:screet™ 4061’s gave me a lot of bass response and high frequency that I needed,” adds Wu. “They kept performing despite the hot Atlanta summer weather and the hot engine compartment. My DPA mics were very consistent with the overall sounds throughout the multiple days of the recording sessions. We literally killed three cars with how hard we ran them but despite the heat and abuse, the DPA’s kept working with no problems.”
Wu was also thrilled with the sound he was able to capture with a DPA
d:dicate™ 4017B mic. “The d:dicate™ 4017B Shotgun mic is a very versatile microphone that is capable of capturing a wide range of levels, from the quietest whispers to the loudest of sounds while still maintaining a pleasantness to the ear,” says Wu. “A lot of other manufacturers’ microphones have a nasty distortion that make you pull your head back, but the d:dicate 4017B delivers nice, bold and ear-pleasing sounds.”
In addition to Baby Driver, Wu recently used his DPA mics on a commercial for Mercedes-Benz® Canada titled, Hearing is Believing. The commercial, released in movie theaters and mixed in 9.1 Dolby Atmos, provided a 4D experience with sound being in the foreground. “I was hired to put mics inside and outside of a very high-end Mercedes-Benz® AMG E63S,” adds Wu. “At over 600 horsepower, we recorded the car doing doughnuts, drifting, gripping and figure 8’s. We used the d:screet 4061 in the engine,
d:screet™ 4062 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphone by the wheels to capture skidding and burnouts, and the
d:dicate™ 4017B to capture pass by sounds. The DPA mics really shined for the aggressive sound they wanted the audience to experience.”