New Orleans-based production sound mixer Dustin Fleetwood, CAS, a homegrown professional serving Louisiana’s growing film industry who has worked with directors such as Richard Linklater (School of Rock, Dazed & Confused, Hit Man) and Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Master Gardener) incorporates a range Sound Devices wireless gear as a key element in his Sound Fleet team’s workflow.

Fleetwood initially gained experience in a recording studio as an assistant engineer, recording songs for Grammy Lifetime achievement winner Leo Nocentelli, and local New Orleans artists. He would also occasionally freelance as a front of house engineer in various venues, and later moved to California to train in Burbank for post-production sound with Joel Krantz as his instructor.

While in training, he was hired to mix live sound for director Garry Marshall’s Falcon Theatre. “I decided to return home when the film industry was booming and started working as a sound utility and boom operator when opportunities presented themselves,” Fleetwood says.

He worked for several years for other mixers and started building his own sound cart. He saw the opportunity to take an active hand in becoming a production sound mixer full time, and he joined the I.A.T.S.E. Local 478 union. “I would hire and train film students from local colleges and non-college individuals from training programs who I later helped join I.A.T.S.E.,” he explains. “you don’t have to have a college degree to work in the film industry and thrive. The infrastructure really started to build up and more shows and films decided to shoot in and around New Orleans, and needed crew.

“I couldn’t have imagined sustaining a career in production here when I was just out of high school, but word got out in the industry that New Orleans had a lot to offer film productions — in terms of the character of the city, the locations, as well as the tax incentives. I realized as this was happening that there was a real chance for me to work in sound on films back home, without living in California.”

Upon his return to Louisiana, Fleetwood also became a member of Cinema Audio Society. “It became very important to me, being a Louisiana native, to not only prove that I can do the work just as well here, but also to prove to others from here that they can do it too,” he said. In addition, he recently co-executive produced a short film entitled “Revival,” directed by his wife Wendy Fleetwood.

​As a production sound mixer, he says he’s very conscious of the role he has in ensuring the authenticity of the scene. His experience in various areas of sound has informed how attuned he is to the talent in the moment, and ensuring that their performances are captured correctly, regardless of how adversarial the mixing situation might be. “The way actors perform is heavily influenced by the situations they are in — how the scene feels, what the backdrop is like, how they are responding to the elements in the environment,” he notes. “Capturing that perfectly during the take is the most important part of my job. There are also many subtle sonic textures that are utterly unique to these locations that you want to ensure you have so it all feels real.

“You need your gear to be utterly rock solid in those situations, which is why I’ve always used Sound Devices.”

Fleetwood met with Chris Alix, VP of engineering at Sound Devices in New Orleans. “I was honored to have had the opportunity to work in-person with Chris and personally test the Sound Devices A20-Nexus, along with the A20-Mini and A20-TX, as well as NexLink. Chris and I performed various range tests comparing other competitors to Sound Devices. However, there was no comparison; Sound Devices outperformed and was much more feature rich than its competitors. Chris Alix is a programming genius and I was impressed by the way he listened to my suggestions for enhancements and the challenges we deal with daily on set.

“I initially started with the Sound Devices 664 and MixPre-10T. So, I am looking forward to the future of sound technology. Sound Devices works well with the humid climate of Louisiana and has never failed me.” Fleetwood upgraded to the Scorpio just ahead of his work on The Burial starring Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Fox. “I needed that Sound Devices reliability with a higher track count on The Burial; we had as many as 14 people in the same scene,” he said. “The Scorpio had just come out and it immediately felt familiar to me. There was no learning curve from my time on the 664 and MixPre-10T, so I was able to put it to work right away.”

“I’ve used other brands, but Sound Devices are always intuitive and easy to work with. You need that when you’re in the position that I’m in where every second counts. You don’t want to miss anything because you were messing with your gear and I never have to worry about that with the Scorpio.”

Fleetwood currently operates a cart with both his Scorpio and MixPre-10T running in tandem, enabling him to record multiple backups as well as uploading takes to Frame.io for post-production. His workflow allows him to focus entirely on capturing quality takes, no matter what may happen in a scene.

“When the filming wraps and the movie is about to be released, I get excited, especially when hearing the sound mix on the big screen. It’s an amazing experience and there is nothing like it.”

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Sound Fleet