Location Sound Packages

Here is how this works in practice. Our team assembles location sound packages as integrated, tested kits rather than loose parts: a multi-track recorder-mixer at the core, the boom and windshielding the locations demand, a set up bank of wireless transmitters and receivers, tracking, and a bag or cart setup tied to your shooting style. Bag rigs suit mobile documentary and dispersed exterior work across the Snaefellsnes peninsula or the Highlands. Cart setups suit narrative shoots with heavier mixing needs on Reykjavik stages. Core stock comes from the skilled the capital rental base.

Here is the short of it. For large casts we supplement wireless channels, recorders and spares from suppliers in the UK and mainland Europe under ATA carnet, since Iceland sits outside the EU customs union. All wireless is frequency-coordinated against video and comms and, where needed, registered with Fjarskiptastofa, the Electronic Communications Office of the country. We weatherproof against wind, cold, blowing volcanic grit and glacial meltwater, condition batteries for low temperatures, and can pair the package with a skilled Icelandic production sound mixer and boom operator who know the terrain.

Here is the breakdown. Iceland tests a sound package through distance and environment. It is a large, sparsely populated subarctic island of around 103,000 square kilometres with roughly 390,000 people, and a shoot can move in a day from a controlled Reykjavik interior to the rift valley of Thingvellir, the geothermal basin of Myvatn or the glacier lagoon at Jokulsarlon. The Highlands open only in summer via rough F-roads needing 4x4 super-jeeps, so a package must be self-enough and robust once it leaves the capital.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Weather changes fast, mains power is 230V at 50Hz where it exists at all, and remote sites often run on power packs. Productions from 'Game of Thrones' to 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' have recorded across these landscapes. With the official commission, Film in the country, administering a reimbursement of 25 percent of eligible Icelandic costs, rising to 35 percent for qualifying larger shoots, a dependable, well-named sound package protects both the schedule and the budget.