A few weeks ago, I was in a New York City supermarket at the crack of dawn producing a spot for Coke. The job had all the normal trappings of a commercial shoot—gaffers pulling cables, PAs whispering into their headsets, producers barking orders, actors waiting nervously for their cue. There was a production van parked outside and a crafts table set up in the rear of the store. But there was one thing missing: a camera. We didn’t need one because we were producing a radio ad.
A lot has been made about the effect digital technology has had on commercial film production. Light digital cameras and other portable gear have made it possible for directors to shoot on the fly as never before. This new technology has helped hold down production costs while opening new creative possibilities and permitting an improvisatory approach to filmmaking.
The same is true of radio production. Although it’s gained less notice, digital technology has had a profound effect on the way radio ads are produced. Today, it’s possible to load ProTools software onto a laptop computer and effectively have a full-blown recording studio that you can carry under your arm. With this simple set up, you can record, edit and mix virtually anywhere at anytime.
This technology has many applications. We’ve found it useful for recording celebrity talent. With big stars, it’s often more convenient for us to go to them than to have them drop by our studio. We used it last fall to record Beyoncé Knowles for a Pepsi spot, catching up with her at a photo shoot. Similarly, we recently recorded voiceovers with Rudy Giuliani and actor Denis Leary in their offices. If we hadn’t had our portable system, it is possible that the spots wouldn’t have been made simply because the celebrities were unavailable.
In addition to such practical applications, portable recording technology can also be an important creative tool. It can liberate the production team from the confines of the recording studio. That’s what brought us to the Manhattan supermarket. The team from New York agency Berlin Cameron/Red Cell wanted the spot to sound "real," since the theme of their campaign was "Coke. Real." With all of the sound design tools we have available in our studio, we certainly could have artificially created a supermarket environment that listeners would have accepted as authentic, but our clients felt that there was a little something extra to be gained by recording in a real environment.
Still, it’s fair to ask, "Why go to all the trouble?" Since it’s possible to create the illusion of virtually any environment with the tools of sound design, why expend the time and effort required by location recording? The answer is: you may wind up with a great spot.
First, the public is becoming increasingly media savvy and, through the influence of reality TV, people have become adept at distinguishing something real from something that’s staged and artificial. Recording on location gives you an opportunity to capture environmental elements that sound real because they are—and a spot that is true to life is both engaging and persuasive.
Secondly, radio is all about performance and it’s sometimes easier to get a great performance in a real environment. If an actor is supposed to be pushing a shopping cart through a supermarket, he is much more likely to project properly, to display the right emotion and to be out of breath in just the right way if he is in a real supermarket pushing a real cart, rather than in a studio pretending to do so.
Perhaps the best reason to record on location is that it is easy. Today’s gear makes capturing great recordings in the real world a simple, straightforward task. Although the studio is still the best place to record most spots and sound design will remain an irreplaceable tool for crafting environments through sound, in certain situations it simply makes sense to take your act on the road. If you have an ad that needs a great performance and could benefit by being recorded in a real environment, the decision to take it on location may come down to one simple question: "Why not?"
