Los Angeles, CA (February 7, 2024)—Production mixer Jeffory Haddad has worked on some of the hottest US TV series of the past 20 years, during which time he has amassed a collection of Lectrosonics RF gear.
Haddad first encountered Lectrosonics working as a sound utility assistant on the series JAG: Judge Advocate General, which he joined in 2004. “When we started, we didn’t have any [Lectrosonics]. I remember when [lead mixer Sean Rush] first got a receiver. I think it was the predecessor to the UCR411. It was a big deal, and he continued to buy more Lectrosonics. When I moved up to Pretty Little Liars, we were shooting on a Warner Brothers lot that had a sound department. Everything was Lectro.”
Haddad’s collection now includes SMV transmitters, UCR411a and SRc receivers, an original Venue modular receiver and a new DSQD digital receiver, all of which he coordinates with Lectrosonics’s Wireless Designer software. His résumé as a primary mixer or tech over the past two decades has grown to include Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Mad Men, 24, True Blood, The Mentalist, Melrose Place, Gossip Girl, The O.C., Glow, American Horror Story, Orange is the New Black and many others.
What impressed Haddad about Lectrosonics then, he explains, has become even more relevant today. “Honestly, the biggest thing I have to deal with, period, is how much of the RF spectrum is now gobbled up by things like 5G service. Here’s where Wireless Designer comes in. I get to a new set or location, the first thing I do is get my antennas in the air and boot it up. It’s been such a time-saver to see all my frequencies on a laptop.”
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Even more important to Haddad than RF handling is audio quality. Given his music background, he says that comes down to dynamic range.
“A few things are relevant here,” he says. “One, the SM-series can take a lot of SPL and still sound natural because the built-in compression is very good. On the other end, the noise floor is so low. This all adds up to a natural sound because we’re not recording cellos here.”
He adds, “An actor can go from a whisper to a scream before you can ever reach for your gain control. What’s up front before it even gets on to my recorder, let alone to post? My transmitters and my receivers. Lectrosonics performs so well dynamically that whatever else is going on in my day, my wireless is the least of my worries.”
