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 ...
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...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
02/03/2026
NBC Sports selected Imaginary Forces to create the main title sequence for the M...
02/03/2026
The NFL announces the launch of the NFL Draft Innovation Challenge, a new crowds...
02/03/2026
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has named Skyline Communications' DataMiner SatOps solution as a finalist for the 2026 Teleport Technology of the Year ...
02/03/2026
Ventum Tech announces a strategic partnership with Pixotope, a real-time graphic...
02/03/2026
Victory , a free, ad-supported sports streaming service, announces the launch of...
02/03/2026
Global powerhouse Delta Goodrem to represent Australia at this year's Eurovi...
02/03/2026
SBS brings together prominent voices to discuss rising social division and seek ...
02/03/2026
NITV Unveils Wednesday Night Sport Night
Media releases
A Midweek Hub for Blak Sport
Flagship NRL program Over The Black Dot moves to Wednesdays at 9:30pm
...
02/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz demonstrates FR1-FR3 carrier aggregation, advancing 6G readiness Rohde & Schwarz and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have reached another pivotal ...
02/03/2026
MELBOURNE, Fla., March 2, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) today announc...
02/03/2026
Harvey Norman tops New Zealand's biggest ad spenders as retail leads and telcos and beverages sure Auckland March 3, 2026 - Nielsen's New Zealand'...
02/03/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, and Arqit Quantum Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQQ, A...
02/03/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, has appointed Jody Boatwright as Chief Strategy Of...
02/03/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is reinforcing its commitment to simplifying complex AV environments with the continued evolution of its TPN...
02/03/2026
ZEISS Cinema opens its doors to an exclusive screening, filmmakers Q&A and hands-on showcase of the new ZEISS Aatma lens family on Tuesday, March 10, 6:00-9:00 ...
02/03/2026
To expand the creative potential of the compact Astera QuikBeam, DoPchoice introduces the SNAPBAG Round. The new light-shaping accessory transforms the powerfu...
02/03/2026
Douglas Dubler
On a rooftop in New York City, veteran photographer Douglas Dubler watched the sun's angle shift across the urban landscape, his internal cl...
02/03/2026
ZEISS is expanding its Otus ML lens family with the introduction of the new ZEISS Otus ML 1.4/35. This manual-focus lens is designed for photographers who live ...
02/03/2026
Matthews Studio Equipment now offers the new Dinkum Systems White FlexiMount and Phone Mount Kit, a compact, highly adaptable setup for mobile content creation...
02/03/2026
Luxembourg, February 26, 2026 - SES and Africa Mobile Network (AMN) have expande...
02/03/2026
02 03 2026 - Media release Ausfilm and Screen Australia launch joint UK market initiative
Ausfilm and Screen Australia have announced Partner with Australia (...
02/03/2026
Monday 2 March 2026
Saturday Night Live UK announces writing team
L-R: Jonno Johnson; Charlie Skelton; Celya AB; Omar Badawy; Gr inne Maguire; Laura Claxton; ...
02/03/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer for 53 Sundays, the New Film by Cesc Gay
Entertainment
02 March 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Dis...
28/02/2026
With two features seen in Formula 1 coverage, the broadcaster aims to bring view...
28/02/2026
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth addresses a crowd of approximately 1,500 L3Harris employees in Camden, Arkansas, as part of his Arsenal of Freedom tour....
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/02/2026
Berklee Presents Mambo Mania: Eguie Castrillo and the Berklee All-Stars Big Band...
28/02/2026
Berklee Announces Two New Summer Programs in Los Angeles The Berklee Music Business Program and Electronic Music Production and Sound Design Workshop bring imme...
28/02/2026
AI-RAN is moving from lab to field, showing that a software-defined approach is ...
28/02/2026
Autonomous networks - intelligent, self-managing telecommunications operations -...
28/02/2026
Back to All News
Final Trailer for BEASTARS Final Season Part 2' Roars Tow...
28/02/2026
New way to intentionally discover molecular glues could expand drug discovery Scripps Research scientists and colleagues show how drugs that eliminate certain d...
27/02/2026
The E.W. Scripps Company names Oliver Gray as Vice President, Network Sports and...
27/02/2026
The Gotham Sports App, the exclusive direct-to-consumer streaming home of MSG Networks and the YES Network, is now available for purchase through Prime Video fo...
27/02/2026
ESPN and the Horizon League announce a new multi-year, multi-platform media rights agreement, continuing a 38-year collaboration that began with the 1988 Midwes...
27/02/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, NETGEAR will highlight its new switch models and major updates to its Engage Controller software. The company's network d...
27/02/2026
Riedel Communications announces that Fondazione Teatro alla Scala has deployed a...
27/02/2026
Lyuno specializes in media localization, including translation, dubbing, subtitling, and voice-over services for a wide array of entertainment content. The comp...
27/02/2026
Chyron Weather 2.3, the latest edition of Chyron's weather visualization suite for broadcasters and meteorologists, recently launched.
The release includes...
27/02/2026
Telestream, which concentrates in media workflow technologies, announces expanded practical AI enhancements across its Vantage, Vantage Cloud, EDC, Stanza, and ...
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
