Patrick Haynes talks to TVBEurope about his dual roles on short film One Drop, why he chose Audio-Technica microphones and wireless systems to capture the films sound, and dealing with a live snake on set
By Jenny Priestley
Published: October 27, 2022
Patrick Haynes talks to TVBEurope about his dual roles on short film One Drop, why he chose Audio-Technica microphones and wireless systems to capture the film's sound, and dealing with a live snake on set
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Due for release this autumn, One Drop is a short film that tells the story of a tortured artist struggling to overcome his personal demons to finish a commission for the Queen of Denmark's 80th birthday ball with just 14 hours remaining.
Starring Ryan O'Donnell (The Crown), Joseph Payne (The Witcher) and Gary Wilmot MBE, the film has been made by production company Just Upstairs.
Patrick Haynes acted both as sound supervisor and executive producer on the project, relying on Audio-Technica microphones and wireless systems on set.
He talks to TVBEurope about juggling both roles, and why he chose Audio-Technica's products for the shoot.
How did you get involved with One Drop? My business partner Ross and I, who both run Just Upstairs, have always wanted to produce our own narrative piece, having worked on a number of short films throughout the years as crew members. We met Stewart Gold, who at the time was living in Harrogate, and he showed us his short film script that he was working on.
Over the period of around a year, we worked with Stewart to develop the script to work well with Ross, who directed the film, and my vision as to how it would appear on screen. We then started building the team to make this vision a reality led by our director of photography Matt Gentleman.
Having worked in audio for many years, I was able to really craft my vision for how this film would sound and took on the sound department alongside being one of the executive producers.
There are not many exec producers who also work as production sound mixer how did that come about, and how did you juggle both roles on set? I was fortunate enough to have an amazing team around me, which allowed me to fully focus on being a production sound mixer whilst on set. Everything needed to be organised and nailed down to a tee in pre-production to ensure that the whole production ran without a hitch.
We had two amazing associate producers in Lisa and Sam Swainsbury, who took the lead for any production aspects throughout the day, and we then ensured we had morning and evening briefings to ensure no issues were happening that needed mine or Ross's attention.
What technology did you use?
From the wireless audio side - I opted to use the 5000 Series wireless system from Audio-Technica. The receiver was the ATW-R5220 paired with 2x ATW-T5201 belt pack systems. I then paired the receiver with a pair of ATW-A49 antennas. We then used 2 BP899 omni-directional microphones plugged into this system. Our boom operator Sam King used a BP4073 shotgun microphone
Why did you opt to use that technology? I opted for the 5000 series firstly due to the Dual compander that is built in. This allows for the high and low frequencies to be processed separately, which really allows for a superior audio quality in the transmission and capture.
Boom operator Sam King with Audio-Technica BP4073 shotgun mic during the filming of One Drop. Lead actor Ryan O'Donnell in foreground The series is extremely reliable and stable, and I was therefore extremely confident that we would have no issues with dropouts, especially in our high-emotion scenes that would be difficult to reshoot.
The BP899 was very low noise, with a wide dynamic range and tolerance for high SPL. For a film such as ours, which went from our cast whispering to shouting in moments, this meant I was always confident that this microphone could handle any input, clearly and intelligible.
You shot the film during the pandemic, what impact did that have on the production, and did the technology you used help in anyway? When we shot the film, all productions had Covid protocols nailed down, however it was still a challenge to overcome. We had to ensure that all members of the cast and crew had done LFT tests before arriving on set, and proof of this had to be sent to our associate producers. Shooting inside, we had to ensure that masks were worn at all times. I had to be very careful with this, as part of my role involved having to get very close to the talent when fitting microphones.
Unfortunately on our first day of shooting we lost a vital member of crew who tested positive in the morning - this meant we had to pull someone in last minute who could fill this role, and understand all the previous member's creative ideas in a very short period of time.
What was the biggest challenge of the whole project? Shooting throughout Covid was always a big challenge, and there were many additional aspects of work that we had to overcome.
The One Drop shoot involved lead actor Ryan O'Donnell being suspended 12 feet in the air in one scene Being an independent production with a limited budget is always so challenging, to ensure we can get the best crew, best kit with such a limited budget does mean we have to be extremely creative. Being able to shoot this entire film in five days was challenging on everyone.
We shot with a live snake throughout the film. Working with animals is always difficult and does slow things down considerably - especially as they will never do what you would like them to do.
We also had stunt aspects that needed to be shot, which included suspending our leading actor 12ft off the ground. Doing this in general is tricky but being able to achieve this in a listed building, while the leading actor is
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
Patrick Haynes talks to TVBEurope about his dual roles on short film One Drop, why he chose Audio-Technica microphones and wireless systems to capture the films sound, and dealing with a live snake on set
