Production sound mixer Chris Giles talk to TVBEurope about the challenges of working on Marvels latest TV series, and how he can walk into a space and hear the microphone he needs to use
By Jenny Priestley
Published: June 23, 2022
Production sound mixer Chris Giles talk to TVBEurope about the challenges of working on Marvel's latest TV series, and how he can walk into a space and hear' the microphone he needs to use
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Having already worked on WandaVision, Marvel's first TV series for Disney Plus, production sound mixer Chris Giles is back in the MCU with Ms Marvel.
Giles started his career working in music, but after being asked to help rescue a small film project he discovered the opportunities available working in sound. Something just clicked in my mind. Of course you need a sound person on set, but I never really thought about it, he tells TVBEurope. All I ever thought about was scoring films or doing jingles for commercials.
His journey eventually led him to WandaVision, which he admits turned out to have a bigger impact than first thought. That show's success put me on people's radar, and then I was asked if I would be interested in looking at this project, he explains. As soon as it says Marvel on it, you have to repress your excitement a little bit. It's a project that kind of speaks to what I really want to put out there, so of course I said yes.
It's really important to me that the intention behind the show is representing people that don't get to see themselves on screen. I think that's one of the beauties of what we do is getting to put something up there on the screen and have it seen by somebody who says hey, this kind of looks like me or my brother or my sister', they can relate more and start envisioning themselves. So that part of the project was really important.
The role of the production sound mixer is to be in charge of all the show's audio during the production phase of the project that includes making sure the actors' voices are recorded as cleanly as possible, liaising with the script supervisor, director and producer, and recording ambient sounds that will help the post production audio team tell the story on screen.
On Ms Marvel we travelled a fair amount and went to a lot of different locations. There are certain organic sounds that you just can't reproduce in a studio so we had to capture those while we were on location, explains Giles.
Asked to give an example, he cites ambulances. Ambulances in different parts of the world sound completely different from each other, he states. It may not be as important as say, the colour combination on the screen, but there's a subconscious layer there that helps build that environment.
Sometimes I might capture the sound of a foreign police car that drives through the scene but maybe somebody was talking at that moment or whatever. The post production team now know exactly what they have to go capture and what they have to reproduce. Our effort is to get basically make that workload extremely light.
Technology To capture sound on set, Giles uses recorders from Aaton Digital in France. I have their flagship recorders, he explains. I think they're fantastic, they sound amazing. They take a beating and sometimes they work better than I do.
I also use Shure Audio and also Zaxcom, which is a more boutique manufacturer based in the United States. I'm one of those very annoying sound people that I don't have one or two mics. I have a drawer full of microphones and I get really geeky with it. There's always a dialogue between me and my boom operators about which microphones will sound best. But it's funny because as I do it more and more, I can actually kind of hear the space and hear the microphone in my brain. I can't quite explain that very well, but it seems to work out, he laughs.
Chris Giles (image courtesy Chuck Zlotnick) That drawer of microphones includes technology from Sennheiser, Neumann, and DPA. Giles has adapted DPA's mics that were originally intended for symphonic capture, to be used on TV and film sets. Because they capture at that pristine level, I can use the Shure Audio transmitters and it's full bitrate and everything just said sounds phenomenal.
Everybody likes to focus on the boom microphones or the cardioid or hypercardioid microphones, but I would say that the largest advancement that we've had is literally the DPA miniature microphones, he adds. We hide them everywhere. Sometimes it's not possible to put a lavalier on an actor for some reason, and you can't use a boom mic for the shot. So we have literally hidden dozens of microphones all over set because I know they're going to walk over to a coffee cup and say a line. The DPA mics have really helped us with that.
In fact, there are some scenes in Ms Marvel where Giles has captured up to 24 channels of audio. In episode two, Kamala attends her mosque's Eid celebration, which meant a lot of people were on set and in front of the camera. Maybe someone only has one line, or maybe it's a person that's standing near something and they're kind of a planted microphone because they're near where the action takes place and I can't put the microphones somewhere safe. Sometimes it's better to be on the person that's standing next to the action, silly little things like that.
Challenges As well as the challenge of capturing multiple channels of audio, Giles and the whole Ms Marvel team had to also deal with Covid. Usually these jobs are so busy that I'm focused on my specific task and maybe dealing directly with the producers or something to that effect. Sometimes we might not have enough people on set, or something u
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
18/08/2026
Riedel Communications has announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, ...
18/08/2026
Company launch with stereo-imaging tool
Panoramic is the debut release from Panorama Labs, a new company formed by mastering engineer Nicholas Di Lorenzo. C...
18/08/2026
Control software now available for older interfaces
Focusrite have just announced the launch of an update that extends Control 2 software support their Scar...
18/08/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
18/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/08/2026
Lightware announces an integration with SpectralBot that helps system integrators and AV operators troubleshoot faster using augmented reality (AR), AI-assisted...
18/08/2026
Command Frame for After Effects
Scott Black August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Free download, demonstrations, hands-on tests, and creator resources
Want to t...
18/08/2026
At Stand 14.A57, the data company will demonstrate GreenDot and IBM Aspera together, giving media and entertainment businesses real-time visibility of what thei...
Production sound mixer Chris Giles talk to TVBEurope about the challenges of working on Marvels latest TV series, and how he can walk into a space and hear the microphone he needs to use
