Tucked away on an unassuming dead-end street in Van Nuys, California lies one of the most energetic sets in Hollywood — The Office. It’s hard for me to believe the cast and crew started its seventh season this year. The show has already made such a Seinfeld-esque cultural impact (at least in this writer’s opinion) with a backdrop that so many Americans sit in everyday. Tons of one-liners. Cold opens that seem to top each other every week (future faxes from Dwight is still my favorite) and characters every one of us wants to be friends with. I have no idea what’s in store for us as it’s Steve Carell’s final season with the cast. But I can’t wait to see it all unfold.
As I walk from the parking lot on to set, the iconic Dunder Mifflin building and Dwight’s 1987 Pontiac Trans Am smack my eyes with a smile of excitement. It’s weird being a fan of something and seeing it for the first time, you’re not sure if you want to hug the crap out of it or annoy it with lame ass conversation – I chose the free catering truck instead. (Thanks for showing me the ways of the juice bar Leslie). But I wasn’t just there to take photos and wonder if that’s what she said, I was meeting with the greatest Benjamin Patrick sound mixer there is, Benjamin Patrick.
If you haven’t heard of Benjamin (Ben for short) or his crew (Brian Wittle boom, Nick Carbone utility) read this carefully. Then read it again and then save it to read for later when you’re bored. All kidding aside, Benjamin is a 20+ year veteran in the industry and is absolutely a great guy to be around. He came to Hollywood in ‘93 with 300 dollars, a Volvo wagon, a sleeping bag, a set of headphones and an Electro-Voice microphone. His plan was to stay in his car until he got a job or until he was forced to drive up north to San Francisco. In just 36 hours, Benjamin landed a no-budget movie with Dana Carvey in it and he’s been working ever since.
Benjamin hails from the Midwest (Iowa City) and has been working on The Office since the pilot episode. He was cool enough to let me hangout out with him and his crew for the day while they were shooting episode 8 “Viewing Party,” written by Jon Vitti and directed by Ken Whittingham. Coming off The West Wing, The Office was something all entirely different for Benjamin. Before shooting the pilot, he spoke with Mark Found (sound recordist The Office-BBC version) for a little guidance and learned they had no budget at all. Found and Gervais were actually shooting and doing the audio miking on their own. Luckily, NBC gave this version a little more money.
During the first few seasons the sound really played (and still sometimes does) an acting role in episodes. “Being a mockumentary, where the “documentary crew” is just as important as the cast, it makes things so much more interesting for the sound in the show. Like when somebody walks behind and closes the door. You could barely hear what’s going on in the next room, because you really wouldn’t. Not everyone would have on radio mics. And if there is one, Michael Scott’s personality would ensure he would be the one wearing it. There are not a lot of projects out there where sound gets to have this kind of flexibility or voice,” mentions Patrick.
While season one had the pilot and five episodes and season two started off with six episodes, Benjamin released his crew and started looking for other work. He landed a movie with Emilio Estevez (Bobby). While sitting in his car just outside the Estevez meeting, The Office producer at the time called Benjamin letting him know they got an order for three more episodes and asked him if he was still game. Benjamin couldn’t pass it up. He got out of his car, walked back in and told Emilio he couldn’t do the movie anymore because of show. It all eventually worked out and season two ended with twenty-two episodes and the rest is history.
Back in action and no longer with his original crew, Benjamin went through a few members over the years, including good friend Stephen Tibbo and Preston Connor before settling in with Brian Wittle and Nick Carbone. On the main office stage, Benjamin and his crew have a little ten foot by ten foot safe haven to work out of. Scattered along one of the outside walls are a bunch of the show’s memories — a potpourri of moments throughout the years. Pictures of Jack Black, Kevin Bacon, various magazine articles on The Office, ridiculous ads and funny headshots are all taped or stapled below a sign with a picture of Steve Carell that says, “We Love You.”
Inside, Benjamin can mix the show, store gear and be out of the way from the camera and other departments. They actually did all the networking for the show and have audio and video running to all the production offices for live tape viewing. As for Benjamin’s cart, he has a Deva 16, with a Deva Mix-12 and a Sound Devices 744T. He absolutely loves compact flash and says it’s much more bullet proof now. He also sports a pair of Sennheiser HD25 headphones as he believes they’re way less bassy and in this stage of the game it’s all about ear fatigue. They use Comtek receivers, K-Tek boompoles and a combination of shotguns — a Sennheiser MKH 50 and a Schoeps CMIT-5U, which they call “Millhouse.”
Benjamin used to work on one of those “expensive carts” back in the day, but while working on a film in New York, a camera got lose on the truck during a location change and caused tons of damage. Now, he runs with a customized set up he made that doesn’t cost him a heart-attack and a trip to a specialty welder if it gets broke. “It’s better this way. The footprint is smaller and way easier to breakdown,” says Patrick. As for playback, they’ll usually hire an operator and utilize a Pro Tools setup. And for 2nd Unit, they tried it once and the audio wasn’t quite the same. So they’ll really only do rudimentary stuff now like a car driving by or anything that doesn’t involve any heavy audio mixing with the cast.
When I asked Benjamin why he works in sound he said, “It looked like fun. And then, I got sucked up into the entire problem solving with sound mixing.” He was so grateful he did all those small, low-no budget jobs when he first started out. “With sound, you don’t necessarily need a reel like a DP, but you need a resume of information of what you learned. And by doing those jobs, I am now able to work with experienced people where instead of worrying about why they haven’t moved the generator yet, I can now concentrate on and influence the sound on set,” adds Patrick.
One of the benefits Benjamin enjoys from working on a Deva or the 744T are the ISO tracks. “ISO tracks allow me to be a little more risky. If there’s something I want to try, I’ll try it… if it works great. But if not, I have plenty of backups,” explains Patrick. A lot of times Benjamin is scrambling just to get everyone’s lines. “When there are notes or dialogue changed from one character to another or something gets cut, you kinda have to mix on the fly and be ready for anything,” mentions Patrick.
Boom, Brian Wittle, has a one of the hardest jobs on set — trying not to laugh during takes. With such a funny cast during his five seasons, he said it’s been difficult for him to hold back sometimes. Besides the laughter, Brian has to deal with a style of lighting that is somewhat flat (which is done purposely). There’s no shaping to the lighting — it’s just one big source. Since they shoot both sides of a scene at the same time, there are basically two shadows all the time he has to worry about. In order to get around this Brian has to watch the shadow, the camera and the actor to make sure his position isn’t affecting the frame. He’ll even have to sometimes hide the boom in a corner or behind a plant just to be in there close enough. And unlike other shows or movies, where takes are shorter, Brian is holding up his boom for about twenty minutes at a time because of the constant improving and takes — something he didn’t take long to get used to.
As for the sound crew’s utility, Nick Carbone, he is another great guy (and a good basketball player) who helps keep the pieces of the puzzle from falling off the table. From gathering gear, troubleshooting issues, keeping track of what’s going to be happening next to jumping on the boom or replacing gear, Nick says, “Working on The Office keeps my day pretty busy.”
A thing Benjamin wanted to share while learning how to mix is that the tools you have are very important, but they’re just tools. “You’ll learn everything else eventually and it becomes second nature. If you have one channel and one microphone, you could pretty much get everything you need. You just have to be inventive enough and you can make anything work,” says Patrick.
I got to hangout with Line Producer and friend, Randy Cordray, when I was there and asked him about Carell’s last season on set. He mentions, “Nothing has changed at all. Steve’s just a remarkable man and such a great guy to work with and he’s definitely going to be missed.”
I would like to thank Benjamin, Brian, Nick, Randy and the rest of the cast and crew for letting me come by to see how such an amazing show gets to air. You can catch season 7 of The Office on NBC Thursdays or online at nbc.com.