DPA Creates Behind-the-Scenes Audio Magic at Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge
Sound Supervisor for the reality competition relies on company's d:screet 4063 Miniature and variety of Shotgun Microphones for hosts, mentors and cast.
The Jim Henson Creature ShopTM, founded by leading puppeteer Jim Henson and British illustrator Brian Froud, has been a successful leader in special/visual effects for more than 30 years. Now, the company's famed effects designers are entering a new venture by bringing us Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge, an eight-week reality competition on the SyFy network. The series focuses on 10 creature designers from across the country, who compete in weekly challenges and screen tests with hopes of winning the grand prize, a job at The Jim Henson Creature Shop. To handle the ever-changing filming needs of the show, the sound crew selected a combination of DPA Microphones' d:screet 4063 Omnidirectional Miniature Microphones for ENG, as well as the d:dicate 4017 and 4018 Microphones for booming, to provide dynamic audio and a low profile.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge provides contestants with a unique and innovative creative environment. The show dares participants to design and build movable, articulate creatures that must perform and be camera ready for a Hollywood screen test in front of a panel of expert judges within a few days' time. Given the style of the programming, which requires live shots in the design room, interviews with the contestants and a live' stage setup during the judging, Daniel McCoy, sound supervisor, credits DPA Microphones and his audio crew for creating a solution that fit the complex environment on set.
We had a really solid audio crew that could go back and forth from web interviews, to a stage screen test, explains McCoy. We filmed at the Creature Shop where the contestants develop their creations, which is not on the Jim Henson lot, and on the Jim Henson stage, where there would be a new set every week to coincide with the theme of the week. There was a lot of behind-the-camera magic that happened seamlessly, a lot of versatility and multi-tasking, and all of the DPA mics handled the job beautifully. Even in the shop, where we had a lot of noise, or in some instances during screen tests when the judges wanted to hear the puppeteers perform in real-time, both the d:screet and d:dicate mics were able to give us live sound reinforcement without any feedback.
But the show isn't just a rare event for the contestants. McCoy knew that the opportunity to provide audio for such a legendary company meant that he needed a versatile microphone solution with professional sound quality to match the legacy. To do this, he needed to look no further than his own supply of DPA Microphones.
I was really excited to use the same DPA mics that I've been using on film sets in a reality setting, says McCoy, who has been an avid DPA user for many years. Most reality TV shows don't invest in high-quality mics, so it felt good being able to give cinematic tools to a reality show with a cinematic legacy. DPA mics help me be a better mixer and the d:screet 4063s were especially crucial as they are able to offer a higher resolution to the experience, which gives a more even response and a better dynamic range.
The d:screet 4063 was built to be used in a variety of settings including theater, television and close-mic instrument applications, as it is an easily concealable mic with the high-quality audio for which DPA Microphones are known. The low voltage omnidirectional capsule, which has low sensitivity, picks up sound with no need to be directly pointed at the audio source, perfect for creatures that are built with multiple layers of fabric, animatronics and foam. Additionally, the d:dicate 4017B Shotguns and 4018 Supercardioids, with B and C preamps, provide accuracy, clarity and musicality that is perfect for reality-style production.
The show goes beyond anything I've seen on reality programs and it has really sparked my imagination, adds McCoy. Having grown up with the Henson legacy, it was an honor to be able to give back as their sound supervisor for the show.
Hosted by actress Gigi Edgley, The Creature Shop Challenge airs Tuesday nights at 10/9 central. Judges include Brian Henson, chairman of the Jim Henson Company; Beth Hathaway, fabricate and costume specialist; and Kirk Thatcher, Emmy Award-winning writer and producer. Guest mentors include Peter Brooke, Julie Zobel and John Criswell.
The Jim Henson Company was founded in 1979 by puppetry master, Jim Henson, most notable for creating trademark characters for The Muppets. Now owned by Henson's children, the company continues to bring pre-eminent characters and visual effects to life for television, film, theme parks and advertising clients.
Currently the owner and operator of ToneMesa, Inc., a location and post audio company based in Los Angeles, McCoy started out as an assistant music engineer, working with legendary music producer, T Bone Burnett. His career evolved to film and TV, where he worked with film producer Peter Guber. He has received two Daytime Emmy Awards for Best Live Audio Mix to Tape for his work on the Ellen Degeneres Show and a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Album for Brian Wilson's first self-titled solo project. In early 2008, McCoy became one of the youngest members of the Cinema Audio Society.
Most recent headlines
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
DPA Creates Behind-the-Scenes Audio Magic at Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge
