Hunan TV chooses Shure for on-location reality show
Published: ASIA
CHINA: Shure portable digital wireless systems have been used for season two of Where Are We Going, Dad? – a parent-child reality show broadcast throughout China by Hunan TV. The new season saw demands for improved audio quality and equipment stability, leading to the production team replacing the entire sound recording equipment used for the original.
‘Reality shows are different from other shows because there are no retakes,’ commented deputy director of the Hunan TV Production Centre, Wei-Hua Xiao. ‘The shooting is very dynamic and the range of action is much bigger. Since the sound recording engineer is not always close to the shoot and cannot jump in to make corrections, we have to ensure that the sound recording is fool-proof. Sound integrity is our main priority, and having learned from the experiences from the first season of Where are we going, Dad?, we chose Shure UHF-R systems to improve audio performance in season two.’
The series follows five fathers and their children as they travel to various rural locations across the country, subjecting the equipment to harsh working conditions and tricky RF environments. After detailed performance comparisons of a variety of wireless products, the production team settled on Shure’s UHF-R wireless systems coupled with UR1 bodypack transmitters, UR5 portable receivers and MX150 and WL93 lavalier microphones.
Each of the 11 participants was fitted with UR1 transmitters that were paired with three UR5 receivers mounted on top of the cameras. With each episode taking two or three days to film, the equipment was in constant use for long durations of time and had to endure ‘rough natural environments’.
‘The equipment is rugged and still worked even after falling into water, which guaranteed us uninterrupted recording,’ added Mr Xiao. ‘It is robust and extremely stable – we did not encountered any issues.’
‘After shooting the first few episodes with the new Shure equipment we realised a significant improvement of sound quality,’ stated Chuan Zhao, senior sound recording engineer for the Hunan TV Production Centre. ‘Only with good and stable equipment can we record clear, vivid sound, and Shure is exactly what we were looking for.’