Knoxville, TN-based production sound specialist John Puckett employs a range of Lectrosonics equipment — SRb and SRc portable receivers, a UCR411 receiver, two SMWB transmitters, and two SMV and a SMQV beltpack transmitters with a legacy UM400 transmitter as a backup along with a new HMa plug-on transmitter on order — for his work on projects that include television shows, commercials, industrial video, corporate training, feature films, and many other media.
After earning a history degree in college, Puckett made a turn into TV production at the Home Shopping Network, where he “sampled a little bit of everything,” not just sound, for about five years. In 2012, he moved into location audio as a freelancer. Audio attracted him largely because of his lifelong interest in music and sound gear. “Music led to turning knobs on amplifiers and all that,” he explains. “Recording, Pro Tools, and that led to TV, and that led to location audio.”
Puckett came to Lectrosonics after about a year and a half of doing location audio. “The speed and flexibility of being able to tune frequencies, and the durability,” he states. “I work in the freezing cold, I work in the blazing heat. I work with sweaty people.” He told of recently working with a cast that went four-wheeler ATV riding, dealing with the mud and the elements, with the Lectrosonics gear offering him the durability, quality transmission, and flexibility such applications require. All of his jobs are five mics or less and a boom as well as a lot of “run and gun” work, so the ability to adapt quickly is a plus.
One product Puckett points to in particular is the SMQV beltpack transmitter because it has a 250 mW mode with very good range. With that unit, his UCR411 receiver, and a good antenna, he jokes that he can pick up from “states away.” He explains: “You put a person in the middle of a field for a drone shot, and the crew can only be 500 yards away … and I can still get them. It’s ungodly the range it can pick up.” Even when the RF levels start to “dance on the meters,” as he put it, you don’t get dropouts. He adds, “The great thing about Lectrosonics is that you don’t have to get a full RF blast to have a good signal. The transmission is still flawless.”
