Location Sound Packages

Here is how this works in practice. Location sound packages on Australian features and TV builds centre on Sound Devices 833 and 888 recorder-mixers — the 32-bit float pillar of the local industry — paired with Lectrosonics SRc/SRb dual-channel receivers, Wisycom MCR42 wideband packs, and Sennheiser Digital 6000 four-channel rack for ensemble cast loads.

Cameraquip in Sydney and Melbourne, Lemac across three cities, and Filmplus in Alexandria stock matched-pair packages tested against actual broadcast range at the depot before each rental.

Here is the short of it. A standard feature bag kit pairs the 833 with eight Lectrosonics SMQv or SSM body packs and two boom chains. Cart builds for Disney Studios Australia and Village Roadshow Gold Coast scale to 16-32 wireless channels with Zaxcom Deva or Sound Devices Scorpio at the centre. Boom chains follow the MKH 416 / Schoeps CMIT 5U / Sanken CS-3e split covered in the boom-microphone leaf.

Here is the breakdown. Frequency planning runs through ACMA — the Australian Communications and Media Authority — under short-term apparatus licences cleared against the active broadcast TV range from ABC, Seven, Nine, and Ten in each capital. Sydney CBD, Melbourne CBD, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth each have distinct range maps, and we scan each location before issuing channel assignments.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. We work alongside the Australian Cinematographers Society and Australian Screen Sound Guild rosters of production sound mixers and boom operators — many of whom carried Sound Devices kit across Mad Max: Fury Road finishing at Village Roadshow Gold Coast, Elvis at the same lot under Mandy Walker ACS ASC, Aquaman + Lost Kingdom, Thor: Ragnarok, and Furiosa. Cross-border NZ sound crews ship from Auckland and Wellington in three Qantas hours when scale demands it.