DPA Captures Ambient Sound For Foley Mixer Geordy Sincavage

As a foley mixer, Geordy Sincavage has worked on a variety of films and television series throughout his career, including The Revenant, and HBO original series' The Leftovers and Westworld.

Sincavage is the owner of Sinc Sound, a sound effects company that records ambient sound for productions, without using an audio library. Recorded inside a room filled with props like mud pits, car doors, glasses and anything else that can be used to create the native sound of an object, productions rely on Sincavage to capture unaltered, realistic audio. In turn, Sincavage relies on DPA Microphones' d:dicate 4006A Omnidirectional Microphones to capture the audio he needs.

"I started using DPA microphones around two years ago by recording for The Revenant," Sincavage said. "I wanted to do stereo room miking on a separate track in Pro Tools and to do that I needed two separate microphones. I reached out to Chris Spahr, VP of sales and marketing in the US, at DPA because I needed the cleanest microphones that would give me the truest sound. So many microphones color sound and DPA mics have the flattest sound with no noise floor. The resulting audio was clear and concise, which is hard to find when you are trying to replicate the sound that you are hearing in real life through a microphone."

For The Revenant, Sincavage used DPA d:dicate 4006A's to capture an array of sounds, including boots walking over wooden planks, oars splashing in the water and snow crunching under feet. The sounds Sincavage and his team created helped earn the film its 12 ACADEMY AWARDS nominations, including recognition for outstanding sound editing and sound mixing.

Sinc Sound uses DPA mics for both close-miking and distance-miking scenes, with the main purpose of capturing sound organically and accurately.

"For Westworld, the d:dicate 4006A's were used nonstop," Sincavage continued. "That show is very different and has a lot of transitions. There are scenes that take place in these old western buildings, such as a bar, and we needed to record creepy wood steps and big sounding floor surfaces. There was a scene when a big safe comes out on a wooden landing and the actor drops it down on the floor. I wanted to make sure I kept a distance from the action, but also got the sound of the safe exploding off the floor. Utilizing the d:dicate 4006A's was a game-changer, as I was able to mic from a distance and still capture the native sound of the safe."

For HBO's The Leftovers series, the d:dicate 4006A's were used to record any organic sounds, like car doors opening and closing.

"Recording the sounds for The Leftovers was a bit easier, especially using the DPA mics. I was able to capture the ‘everyday sounds' that this production called for without worry. With DPA mics, I know that I am getting the most accurate sound. I plan to use the mics as much as I can in the future. They help me to capture the integrity of background noises and that is my main goal for any production."

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