Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

SOUND INSIGHT WITH JOS FRAS

10/09/2019

With a career that spans back to his days in recording more than a decade ago, Production Sound Mixer Jos Fr as has long-held a love for the audio industry.

Although he got his start in music, he's held many different audio production roles, which has led to his working on projects for high-profile clients, such as Motorola, IBM, ESPN, Time Magazine and more.

He shares his story in this latest installment of the DPA Sound Insight Q&A:

1. How did you get your start as a sound mixer?

I got my start as a production sound mixer about eight years ago. After working in the music industry for a few years, I decided to go back to school to explore other aspects of sound. While finishing my degree, an opportunity to work as a boom operator on a student film fell into my lap. The rest was history.

2. Please tell us about your background and your career, including any notable/favorite projects or any awards you have won for your work.

I first started in sound as a recording engineer for indie artists and musicians in the mid-2000s. After trying live sound, game sound, computer programming and post-production sound, I discovered production sound and have felt at-home ever since.

During my time as a production sound mixer, I've had the good fortune to work in a wide variety of projects, ranging from indie features to docu-series to commercials and more. Some past work I'm very proud of includes the reality TV show Fire Island; Motorola's MOTO Reissued branding campaign featuring graffiti artist Futura; Time Magazine's 2016 Person of the Year interview; The Lion King on Broadway's The Circle of Life in 360 and Aladdin on Broadway's A Friend Like Me in 360 virtual reality experiences; IBM's The Sounds of IBM immersive ASMR series; Ashe 68 virtual reality experience; and an upcoming ESPN documentary on retired NBA player and NBA Cares Ambassador, Felipe Lopez, to mention a few.

These days, along with all of my adventures as a production sound mixer, I also serve as a partner and head of production at Chapter Four, a full-service production company focused on immersive media.

3. What's the biggest project you have worked on in your career?

I don't know if it counts as the biggest project in my career, but most certainly one that holds a very special place for me from a creative, technical and historical perspective: Ashe '68. This is a virtual reality experience about the first black tennis player to win the U.S. Open and premiered at last year's U.S. Open in New York. It had its festival premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival as part of the New Frontier line-up.

This particular project was such a pleasure to work on due to the creative and technical challenges. We had to discreetly record, in sync, anywhere between one and seven actors, while simultaneously recoding as many sound effects, foley sounds, room tone, impulse responses and ambisonic sound recordings we could get our hands on. We wanted to supplement post with as much useful sonic information as we could. At the center of it all, were DPA's 4060 and 4063 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones, which served as the main tools to synchronously capturing the actors' performances.

4. How long have you been using DPA? When did you first start using DPA and why?

I started using DPA mics around 2013, shortly after having read a very thorough article about Simon Hayes use of them for Tom Hooper's Les Miserables. I remembered having watched the movie and specifically noting how excellent the sound was. In this article, Simon praised the DPA lavalier mics for how close of a match they were to the company's boom mics, and how the lavs played a key role in capturing every performance. I was sold! I had to try them out, so I bought a few 4060 s and 4063 s and I put them to use immediately on a TLC reality television show I was working on at the time. I was blown away by how much better they sounded than my other lavalier mics. I ended up replacing most of my lavalier mics with DPA and, soon after, added some DPA boom and gooseneck microphones to my kit.

5. What productions or shows have you used DPA mics for? What DPA mics do you use?

DPA microphones can be heard on pretty much every project I produce. Every time I employ the use of a lavalier microphone, a 4060 is my choice. Every time I plant or stash microphones, especially in a car, I'm likely using a d:dicate 4018 Supercardioid Microphone with an MMP-G preamp and gooseneck shock mount, a 4098 Supercardioid Microphone or a 4080 Miniature Cardioid Microphone. My short shotgun of choice is the 4017 Shotgun Microphone.

On the Fire Island project, one challenge we had to overcome was that cast members would often end up shirtless, which was inevitable when you're filming a show in a beach paradise. Initially, we considered using the off-the-shelf solution from DPA, the 4561 Necklace Microphones (now discontinued), but we opted to make custom necklace mic rigs so that we had more control over the way they looked. We collaborated with Rave from PerePaix Jewelry to build several necklace mics using the 4060 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones. These made it possible to record sound in very difficult situations on this show.

6. What are some of the challenges of miking for the projects you work on? How does using DPA help solve these challenges?

The main challenge I face whether it's a scripted TV show, an unscripted documentary film, or a virtual reality experience is making sure I'm able to capture the actor's or subject's performance during production as true and as transparently as possible. The microphones I use must be transparent, so a flat frequency response is a must. Additionally, with how dynamic the human voice can be, a low self-noise and wide dynamic range are
LINK: https://www.dpamicrophones.com/news/sound-insight-with-jose-frias...
See more stories from dpa

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

13/06/2026

Rhythmic Filters for Devious Machines' Infiltrator

Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...

13/06/2026

MetaGrid Pro gains AI Builder

Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...

13/06/2026

Spectrum Reach Taps Anoki AI for Contextual Intelligence

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/06/2026

Google TV Launches Soccer Hub, New Voice Command Features

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

YES Network and Gotham Sports App to Air Seven Athletes Unlimited Softball League Games

YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...

12/06/2026

UFL to Feature FAST Innovation Suite at 2026 United Bowl

The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: PTZOptics and LayerJot to Demo AI-Driven Camera Control

PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: MultiDyne to Debut VF-9100 Fiber Transport Platform and Crescendo Audio Monitor

MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...

12/06/2026

Eurovision Services Deploys Ateme Software-Based Frame-Rate Conversion

Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...

12/06/2026

Bitmovin, Simplestream, and Xperi Partner to Support OTT Services on TiVo OS

Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...

12/06/2026

Net Insight Deploys Nimbra 520 and Nimbra Edge for Multinational Corporate Live Production Workflow

Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...

12/06/2026

MLB Players Inc., Athletes First Announce Content Partnership

MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...

12/06/2026

G&D and VuWall Announce CommandKeyboard-Advanced for Network-Independent Control Room Operations

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...

12/06/2026

Philadelphia Union and Comcast Deploy Smart Technology at Subaru Park and WSFS Bank Sportsplex

Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...

12/06/2026

Elevation Worship Completes First Leg of 2026 Tour Using SSL Live Consoles and New UMD192 Interface

Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...

12/06/2026

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Transkoder and On-Set Dailies

AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Audinate To Exhibit With New AVIO Install Adapters and Iris Camera Control Platform

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...

12/06/2026

Pac-12 Appoints Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer

Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Grass Valley Introduces AMPP Edge Live for Enterprise Production

Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...

12/06/2026

University of Texas's Brandon Rudy on a New Era of Live Sports Production in Austin

At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...

12/06/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBA Finals Game 3 Hits 28-Year High; Stanley Cup Final Is Best Since 2015 Through Four Games

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

12/06/2026

Chyron Releases PAINT 10.4 with Pro Football Data Integration and AI Player Cutout

Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...

12/06/2026

ESPN's MLB Productions Heat Up in June as Core Summer Schedule Gets Rolling

SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...

12/06/2026

Televisas IBC Team Delivers for Opening Mexico Match

For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...

12/06/2026

GearExpo UK: Home Studio Acoustics Talk

Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...

12/06/2026

Meris introduce the Ottobit X

Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...

12/06/2026

Sonora Cinematic release Movimento Strings Inflections

Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...

12/06/2026

Research: Mixed Picture for FIFA World Cup Broadcast Revenues

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Viant Launches Enhanced Publisher Solutions for CTV, Programmatic

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software Brie Clayton June 12, 2026 0 Comments Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...

12/06/2026

URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert

URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert Brie Clayton June 12, 2026 0 Comments Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...

12/06/2026

MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services From Set to Screen

MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...

12/06/2026

AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro

AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026 0 Comments The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...

12/06/2026

Bitmovin Partners with Simplestream and Xperi to Support...

Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...

12/06/2026

Jigsaw24 Signs Deal to Resell Leostream Remote Desktop Ac...

Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...

12/06/2026

Study: 2026 Election Cycle to Hit Record $11.6 Billion Ad Spend

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

NAB Elects Leadership at June Board of Directors Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

FCC Believes World Cup Communication Will Score Highly

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Broadcasters Back NO FAKES Act

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Scripps Unveils Coverage Plans For America's 250th Anniversary

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026 Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...

12/06/2026

NVIDIA Blackwell Leads on First Agentic AI Infrastructure Benchmark

AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...

12/06/2026

Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film

Back to All News Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film Entertainment 12 June 2026 GlobalArgentina Link copied to ...

12/06/2026

Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm in The East Palace', Premiering July 17

Back to All News Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...

12/06/2026

The Future of Studio Grading. Tokyo. 23 June 2026

With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm Restar Corporation Tokyo Register here John Daro is the ...