Reality TV Sound Recording Made Easy with Aviom

Gregg Kita has a long list of reality TV show sound credits to his name for which he's used an Aviom digital snake. Included on that list are ABC’s The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Here Come the Newlyweds, VH-1’s Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, Charm School, and Celebrities in Rehab, MTV’s Making the Band, Nick@Nite’s Funniest Mom in America, and TV Land’s She’s Got the Look.

Overview

Gregg Kita has a long list of reality TV show sound credits to his name for which he's used an Aviom digital snake. Included on that list are ABC’s The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Here Come the Newlyweds, VH-1’s Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, Charm School, and Celebrities in Rehab, MTV’s Making the Band, Nick@Nite’s Funniest Mom in America, and TV Land’s She’s Got the Look.

Details

Gregg Kita's RGEAR Worldwide provides sound and video services for many reality TV shows. There are two basic setups that he uses for most shows. For those shows or scenes recorded in a house, Kita wires the mics planted throughout the house to one or two AN-16/i-M Mic Input Modules. He uses another one or two AN-16/i-M (or AN-16/i) modules for wireless mics.

Each input module is connected to up to three daisy-chained AN-16/o Output Modules: one at the main mixing console, one at the director’s board, and one to an AV router that feeds the story stations. With this setup, Kita can send as many as 64 inputs to the various locations noted. Using an Aviom16/o-Y1 A-Net® Card installed in his Yamaha® console, he can also send IFB/SA to the talent/floor. Kita notes that because many of the houses used for the reality shows are already wired with Cat-6, sometimes he does not even have to run the wire on the set.

When filming requires moving from one location to another, Kita creates the same basic setup on mobile carts. In these situations, he also uses an input module to send 16 channels to an A-16D Pro A-Net Distributor that is connected to as many A-16II Personal Mixers as needed for story stations. Crew members use these story stations to listen to the audio in different locations on the set so that they can determine what needs to be filmed for a particular scene.

Kita loves his Pro16 system "for its portability and quick setup." With it, he is able to roll in the racks, connect one cable, and he’s ready to go. Much of his work requires this mobility, and a traditional analog snake does not allow for such easy setup.