When Sound Recordist David Thirion set out to capture the ambience and thrill of a popular annual singing competition in Dubai's labor camps, he turned to Sound Devices' 788T Digital Audio Recorder and its CL-8 Controller. Champ of the Camp, a Veritas Films documentary, marks the first time a full-length feature film was recorded in 5.1 surround sound in the region. Directed by Mahmoud Kaabour, Champ of the Camp is scheduled for its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival on December 7, 2013.
Produced by Dubai-based Veritas Films, Champ of the Camp follows a massive Bollywood singing and trivia competition that searches across more than 70 camps throughout the country to find and crown the champ of all camps. Narrated (and sung) entirely in the voices of the laborers, the film alternates between the X Factor-style suspense of the competition and the gritty reality of the labor environment, while weaving in intimate access scenes of their daily routines and emotional reflections on their life as laborers in Dubai.
Although Thirion has become one of the UAEs most desired sound recordists, Champ of the Camp was the first time he recorded in full 5.1 surround sound. Knowing the microphone needed for a 5.1 shoot is fundamentally different than what's required for a typical stereo shoot, equipment selection was paramount to the success of the project. Executive Producer Eva Star Sayre worked with Melody House/NMK Electronics to put together a sponsorship with Sound Devices and microphone manufacturer DPA for the provision of high-quality 5.1 audio gear.
I have been using Sound Devices equipment for some time now and knowing that I could trust the quality of the 788T was one of the main factors that pushed me to stay with the company on this project, says Thirion. The second important factor was when we made the decision to use the DPA 5100 Surround Mobile Microphone for the film.
In order to capture the dynamic audio for the film, Thirion divided his crew into two sound teams, with a third unit joining toward the end of production for the event finals. Thirion recorded 5.1 for most of the musical events in the camps and another unit recorded four iso tracks from the stage and judges' panel. In addition, as the DPA 5100 needs to be as transparent as possible to allow him to record the reality of the environment and not premix anything, Thirion decided to use Sound Devices' CL-8 mixing control surface so he could be as precise with the levels for each track.
Thirion also deployed a separate interview and ambient sound kit, enabling the production crew to edit the interview content quicker to send out to potential investors. While the interview kit was in use, the kit was then set to record 5.1 to further enrich shots by using the actual background from the event itself and/or from the particular location. Sound Devices' 744T also served as a back-up recorder for the event.
One of the main challenges was that my headphones were stereo, so I could not monitor the 5.1 through them, which took some getting used to, adds Thirion. Fortunately, the flexibility of the 788T allowed me to create my own headphone routing and monitoring, which was a great help to me. I had to take a brand-new approach with this project, as I was constantly trying to keep the 5.1 coherent between scenes for post-production purposes. Since we were on a certain budget, we couldn't afford to experiment a lot and I had to get it right from the start. Also, since we were recording the musical events live, everything had to be done that night; there was no chance for a second take.
Another benefit of the 788T is its time code master clock. At the beginning of each day, we would synch the time code with the 788T as the master, adds Thirion. This feature turned out to be very reliable and useful, and the editor was very happy with it. The reliability of the 788T allowed me to concentrate on the singing competition instead of wondering if the recorder and battery would cope with the heat and less-than-ideal environment. Sound Devices has always been extremely reliable and the 788T is a great recorder. It can reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit in the Dubai summer, but the 788T always kept its cool.
Sound Devices 788T boasts eight full-featured inputs and records up to 12 tracks. It accepts either microphone or line-level signals, provides 48-V phantom power for condenser microphones, offers peak limiters for microphone inputs and features fully adjustable high-pass filters-all in a compact package. Sound Devices CL-8 is a powerful mixing control surface for its 788T recorder. Its large rotary faders and push buttons bring extensive mixer-type control to 788T inputs. The lightweight CL-8 can be used either mounted or remote from the 788T.
Sound Devices, LLC designs and manufactures portable audio mixers, digital audio recorders, and digital video recorders and related equipment for feature film, episodic television, documentary, news-gathering, and acoustical test and measurement applications. Founded in 1998, the company designs and manufactures from their Reedsburg, Wisconsin headquarters with additional offices in Madison, WI and Highland Park, IL. For more information, visit the Sound Devices website, http://www.sounddevices.com.
###
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
When Sound Recordist David Thirion set out to capture the ambience and thrill of a popular annual singing competition in Dubai's labor camps, he turned to Sound Devices' 788T Digital Audio Recorder and its CL-8 Controller. Champ of the Camp, a Veritas Films documentary, marks the first time a full-length feature film was recorded in 5.1 surround sound in the region. Directed by Mahmoud Kaabour, Champ of the Camp is scheduled for its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival on December 7, 2013.
