Asbjoern Andersen


‘Deadliest Catch’ is one of the biggest reality shows on television today, watched by millions of viewers in 150 countries around the world. And today, season 10 premieres on the Discovery Channel.

But just how is the sound done on a show set in the middle of the freezing Bering Sea, with vessels, equipment and crew being battered by brutal winds, ice and 40-foot waves – and where the danger is very real and ever-present?

To find out, I had a talk with Bob Bronow, award-winning sound designer & re-recording mixer on the show since the very first season.
In this exclusive A Sound Effect interview, he shares his favorite sound moments, how he strikes a balance between realism and drama – and, ultimately, how he and the team tell stories with sound.

UPDATE: Bob has been nominated for a 2014 Emmy award for Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming, for his work on Deadliest Catch

How did you get started doing sound for television – and how did you land the job doing sound on ‘Deadliest Catch’?

Like a lot of folks who work in sound, I started as a musician. My first recording session was at age sixteen. I began mixing live shows when I was 20. After college I produced radio commercials and later went into sound for picture.

I came onboard at Original Productions just after Discovery picked up their show, ‘Monster Garage’ and they needed a mixer. I had worked with the show runner in the past so he gave me a call. Landing ‘Deadliest Catch’ was wonderfully understated. I was walking down the narrow hallway at our little post building in Glendale when the show’s creator, Thom Beers, passed by and asked, “You mixing that crab show?” Knowing that more work is always better than less work I replied, “Sure”.

What’s your role on the sound team, and what’s the workflow typically like on an episode?

After an episode is locked and prepped by the video assist an AAF is made and put on our internal audio server. An audio assist will start going through the elements. As there are no sound mixers on the boats all of the sound is captured via camera mic and lavalier microphones. The first pass is to select the the most usable audio and bleep the considerable amount of profanity. Then, they move on to cutting backgrounds. While that is being done, I go through the show and work on all of the areas that require special sound design.

Unfortunately dialog recorded on a crab boat is usually filled with wind, waves, engine hum, clipping, noise, hydraulics… you get the idea! So I do everything I can to make sure that all of it is as intelligible as I can make it. To this end I always start the mix with a noise-reduction pass. Dialog is the show’s anchor and all of the other elements wrap around that.

My first mix step is a dialog pre-dub. This gives me a second chance to evaluate the dialog and make sure that it meets Discovery’s loudness requirements. Then the music and effects are mixed in to support the elements of the story. The process usually takes three to four days.

How do you source sounds for the show?

On a show like ‘Deadliest Catch’ (where there are no sound mixers) everything is recorded on camera mics and lavaliers whose primary job is to record dialog. There are also a number of deck cameras which don’t record audio at all. When a rogue wave sideswipes a boat or an 800 lb. crab pot crashes to the deck we may or may not have captured the corresponding audio.

I make every attempt to use actual sounds that were recorded on the boats

To convey the enormity of these experiences, it’s important that the audio be built to those images. I make every attempt to use actual sounds that were recorded on the boats.
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to have cameramen catch many of these big events. Those recordings are the basis for what I build. I want to use audio to portray the tension and danger of the scene and I want it to be authentic.

I’ve yet to find a library with the sound of an 800lb crab pot launched into an ice-covered Bering Sea.

How much creative freedom do you get in shaping the sound of the show?

This is one of the best parts of my job. I was hired to create the sonic signature of the show and Original Productions lets me do just that.

If there are particular things in an episode that need special attention, a story producer or editor will come to me and we’ll have a discussion about their needs. I’ll then create what they’re looking for to use in their edit.

By the time I’m mixing an episode the producers and editors of that episode are already working on another so they pretty much leave the soundtrack decisions to me. The layback is where they get their first good listen. After the layback we go through notes, I make the fixes and the show is sent out for QC.

How do you strike a balance between realism and drama in the soundscape? Are there any restrictions in how much you can beef up sounds to dramatize things?

I try to keep the soundtrack as authentic as possible. Luckily forty foot waves, hulls crashing through ice and large machinery failures sound huge!

My approach to mixing ‘Deadliest Catch’ has always been to convey the emotion and magnitude of what these people are doing. For me, sound has always been a very emotional thing and I enjoy using it to tell these stories. So I judge the soundtrack by how it makes me feel.

This show has always made me feel a little nervous because the danger is real and it’s always present.

If I’m taken out of the story because an effect is too big, I’ve gone too far. This show has always made me feel a little nervous because the danger is real and it’s always present. My goal is that the viewers feel they’ve experienced what it’s like to be on a crab boat in the middle of the Bering Sea.

The soundtrack shouldn’t draw attention to itself. If I do my job well, the viewer should never know I was there.

Do you have a favorite episode or snippet where you felt the sound worked particularly well?

One of my favorite sound scenes is from the first episode of season 9 (‘Mutiny on the Bering Sea’); Andy Hillstrand (F/V Time Bandit) had gotten his finger crushed while working in the engine room. Blood was building behind his fingernail and the pressure had to be released. With no doctors on board and in the middle of the Bering Sea, deckhand Mike Fourtner volunteered to perform the procedure. Take a sewing needle, heat it with a portable torch until it was red hot and stick it through Andy’s nail. Multiple times.

That would be bad enough in a doctor’s office. But the Time Bandit happened to be in the middle of huge seas so the boat was rolling heavily. That, and the fact that this was all taking place in one of the noisiest parts of the ship (the galley) added to the challenge.

I focused on the sound that the needle would make as it pierced the nail and the sound of the blood being released from behind the nail

The environment outside was creating a difficult environment inside as Mike was attempting to lance Andy’s nail with the needle. I focused on the sound of the waves hitting the Time Bandit’s hull in the boat-to-boat shots. That conveyed the magnitude of the weather on the outside. On the inside, things were creaking and rattling as the boat was tossed around. All the while, Mike is trying to position the needle over Andy’s fingernail. The intensity and pain that Andy was feeling was juxtaposed with the rest of the crew’s laughing at his discomfort. To highlight that, I focused on the sound that the needle would make as it pierced the nail and the sound of the blood being released from behind the nail.

It was a difficult sound to listen to followed by laughing and cheers. Anxiety, pain, release, repeat.
The tension of the scene was finally resolved when Andy says,” He had to hurt me to help me” and Mike mouths to the camera, “Love it!”


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    Keywords

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Danger lurks on land too, as seen in this close encounter between Bob and Captain Keith from the show

Danger lurks on land too, as seen in this close encounter between Bob and Captain Keith from the show

Are there any fun moments that stand out doing the sound on ‘Deadliest Catch?’

Fun moments? Pretty much any time you get the captains together there are fun moments. Unfortunately, I can’t repeat any of them! Season 9 was the first season that we had cameramen shooting the boats from the bottom of Dutch Harbor. Given that there was no usable production sound, I had the opportunity to design those sounds.

You’ve worked as a sound designer for 20 years. What trends are you noticing in television sound?

I think that many television soundtracks are moving closer to the depth of theatrical soundtracks. It’s not uncommon for a large action show to have hundreds of tracks of effects delivered to the stage.

An episode of Deadliest Catch will have anywhere from 60 to 80 tracks.

There have been amazing advances in recording and processing software.
Mixers today have access to noise reduction technology that fifteen years ago would have been indistinguishable from magic. I can only imagine the things we’ll be able to do in five years!

Can you share anything about projects you’re currently working on?

I mixed a film in 2008 called The Wrecking Crew. It tells the story of an elite group of studio session musicians in Los Angeles in the 1960’s who played on hits for the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Jan & Dean, The Monkees, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Mamas and Papas, 5th Dimension, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, Johnny Rivers and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound just to name a few! (that description came from the Wrecking Crew website)

While the film was very successful on the festival circuit it was never released due to the amount of money needed to pay the musicians and writers for the use of their music. The money was recently raised and I was able to do a full theatrical mix on this incredible story.

 

Please share this:


 

A huge thanks to Bob Bronow for doing this interview!
About Bob Bronow
Bob has been working as a re-recording mixer and sound designer for 20 years, doing sound on shows like Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, Bering Sea Gold: Under the Ice, The Colony, 1000 Ways to Die, American Masters: Carol Burnette & Bob Newhart and the feature documentary The Wrecking Crew. He’s also been nominated for 8 Primetime Emmy’s – with two wins – in addition to 4 CAS award wins for his work on Deadliest Catch. Find out more about Bob and his work here.

 

 
 
THE WORLD’S EASIEST WAY TO GET INDEPENDENT SOUND EFFECTS:
 
A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement - a few highlights:

  • Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Abandoned Oil Tank Play Track 327 sounds included $40

    On a recording trip to the smaller Danish port town Struer, I came across an abandoned empty oil tank. Inside I found two giant wires attached to the floor and the ceiling of the tank, almost like a huge 2 stringed double bass. I’m telling you the reverb in there was longer than the Eiffel Tower on a cloudless day !

    On the outside this was just an empty abandoned building, but it turned out it was not empty at all because it was full of sound and a few dead birds. I’m glad I was curious enough to go inside for a closer investigation and not just pass by.

    After several hours of concentrated recording, it was nice to get my ears back out in dry air. I’m happy there are no open sends to Valhalla in real life but experiencing the eternal resonance on the low frequencies from the wires was absolutely amazing.

    Abandoned Oil Tank was recorded with a LOM basic Ucho stereo pair, a Zoom H6 and the LOM Geofon. All files are in 96 kHz/24 bit and contain the original recordings.

    The result is a unique sound effect library including balloon pop impulse responses from a truly unique location that very recently became even more unique since word says that the oil tank is no more and has abandoned this world.

    327 individual sounds – all tagged with Universal Category System (UCS) metadata.

    www.katrineamsler.com

    20 %
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    Ends 1713131999
  • Electricity Sound Effects Polarity Play Track 975 sounds included $72

    Polarity delivers more than 950 sounds of electricity, science and technology – captured in several locations around the world, from electricity museums to science labs. About 50% of the library is all about electricity, with various types of Jacob’s Ladders, Tesla Coils, Ruhmkorff lamp and all sorts of impactful bursts of energy.

    Then we go through welders, plasma spheres, 3D printers, starting to cover a more broad technology theme – like old phones, telegraphs, dynamo wheels, rotary dials, whirling watchers, alarm, lab centrifuges, something scientists call a roller and a rocker, servo sounds, neon lights, a wimshurst machine and sparklers.

    Many sounds in this section were captured from vintage equipment, from a 1928’s tram to old telephone switchboards, high voltage levers and control surfaces.

    All content was recorded at 192KHz with a Sanken CO100K, a couple of Sennheiser 8040 and a Neumann 81i, translating into final assets that have plenty of ultrasonic content, ready for the most extreme manipulation.

    Bonus: Two extra libraries included for free:
    This library also includes two additional releases from Mattia Cellotto - for free: Crunch Mode delivers 230 crunchy sounds made with a variety of vegetables, fresh bread, pizza crust and a selection of frozen goods. The Borax Experiment gets you 158 squishy, gory, slimy and gooey sounds.
    20 %
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    This library contains recordings of eleven different types of doors specifically chosen for their interesting sound. I performed all actions with a lot of detail covering “open/close”, “knocks”, “bangs and thuds”, “handle grab and rattle” and when possible also “crackles and squeaks” (all recorded at various intensities)

    50 %
    OFF
    Ends 1711666799
Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:
 
  • Trench Rammers is a one-of-a-kind sound library, created by sound designer Barney Oram. It features recordings of two 20th century Trench Rammers, some of the last operating machines of their kind in the world. The library features 48 files in total, capturing the Trench Rammers using a variety of microphones and perspectives, supplied in 192kHz 24bit WAV file format.

    This library contains multiple recordings of two antique Trench Rammers, the Pegson ER5 and the Warsop Benjo, and also features additional recordings of four antique stationary engines, the Amanco Hired Man (1920s), the JAP 1947, the Lister D (1940s) and the Norman T3000.

    Recorded in Leeds, UK, this library features multi-mic coverage and a range of distance positions captured on all included source content. Microphones used include; Sanken, Sennheiser, Neumann and DPA, captured with Sound Devices and Tascam recorders.

    This library includes detailed SoundMiner metadata and utilizes the UCS system for ease of integration into your library.

    Behind the Scenes Video:


    Trench Rammer


  • The cozy natural rhythms of hums, scrapes, splashes and thuds soundtrack the pottery workshop where the earth meets art. Find the true sound of it with Vadi Sound Library.

     

    About Pottery Workshop

     

    84 sounds that are clean, subtle and capture pretty much every object and action of the magic of fire and earth.

    From the rhythmic hum of the spinning potter’s wheel, to the splash of water, the scrape of clay with the tools shaping and smoothing surfaces, listen up for the symphony of creation.

    You will hear the tapping and thud of ceramic pottery, wooden ribs, wire cutters, loop tools, and sponges, all kinds of rummage, and mud actions on the potter’s wheel. The clicking and whirring of mechanisms during firing cycles add a mechanical counterpoint to the workshop’s natural rhythms.

    You will get variations of sounds in different proximity, size, and style of action. This collection is handy due to the clarity and diversity of the raw sounds. They have both Foley and practical usability and room for further sound design.

    You will get intuitive, detailed naming, UCS compatibility and the usual Vadi Sound craft and attention to detail in 84 pristine sounds. Recorded in 24bit-96kHz.WAV format on our favorite Sennheiser MKH 8040 stereo pair and Zoom F6.

     

    Keywords

    Pottery, workshop, electric potter’s wheel, wheel, oven, heat gun, mud, clay, ceramic, glass, wooden, metal, cup, handle, push, pull, move, remove, shape, tap, shake, clank, level, lid, tool, organizer, toolbox, rummage, fiberboard, button, bucket, sponge, plate, Dremel.

     

    What else you may need

    You may also want to check out Drag & Slide for 477 sound files of dragging, sliding, scraping and friction sounds of different objects made of wood, plastic, metal on various surfaces. Our bestseller Crafting & Survival is another good choice to get access to 1000+ survival, gathering, movement and crafting sounds.

  • All files are recorded 32bit, 192 kHz, with Shure KSM 137, Line Audio Omni1, FEL Clippy XLR EM272, Sonorous Objects SO.3 and JrF C-Series Pro+ microphones, Sound Devices MixPre-6 II & Zoom F3 recorders. Library contains wav files of driving, interior and exterior foley, mechanical and electrical sounds. It is also available in UCS.

  • Introducing Devils Bane Trailer, a chilling symphony of horror encapsulated in 533 meticulously crafted sound files, ready to unleash terror upon your audience. Dive into a nightmare realm where every creak, whisper, and shriek is meticulously designed to send shivers down your spine.

    • 533 files
    • 3.5 GB of game audio assets
    • All in 96k 24bit .wav
    • Dark Horror Movie Trailer Sound Effects Library
    17 %
    OFF
  • Birdsong from the countryside of the Swedish rural region of Värmland.


   

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