Montreal-based production sound mixer Daniel Fontaine-Bégin, noted for his curent work on Canadian movies as well as on Simon Poudrette’s sound team for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and dozens of other television series and documentaries, carries a remote rig that currently incorporates a host of Lectrosonics gear, including DCR 822 digital compact receivers on his cart, SRC dual-channel slot mount receivers in his bag as well as IFBlue units, SSM micro transmitters and most recently, the DSR4 four-channel digital slot receiver.
Although he works mainly out of his home base of Montréal, Fontaine-Bégin’s projects have taken him to the United States, Mexico, France, Chile, parts of the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He states that he’s relied on Lectrosonics throughout most of his three-decade career. “Around 2000, I bought my first receivers and transmitters; they were Lectrosonics,” he says. “And that’s the only brand I’ve used for the past 23 years.”
Recently, Fontaine-Bégin has been working on two popular shows in Canada: Aller Simple (season 2), a murder-intrigue series; and Indéfendable, a legal drama. “With Indéfendable, people talk a lot,” Fontaine-Bégin explains. “The scenes are more static; it’s just straightforward to dialogue. But on this other show, it’s a little more like, “tonight we’re shooting from 3 pm until 3 am, and there’s going to be a car accident, with dialogue so that can get a little more complex.”
Regardless, he adds, the work and the technology requirements are the same: “Your gear needs to adapt to faster situations and quicker setup. You need gear that you can hide well. That’s why my preferred transmitter is the SSM from Lectrosonics, because they’re so compact, very easy to hide in wardrobe.”
In part due to his long relationship with Lectrosonics, Fontaine-Bégin was able to be one of the first to use the new DSR4 four-channel digital receiver. “Ever since I started doing this work, I’ve always tried to have the smallest setup possible,” he says. “With the new DSR4, I have so many receivers crammed in a little space, it’s just fantastic.”
His testing experience proved seamless, so once the final product was available, he ordered two units. “I needed that compact setup on Indéfendable because the court scenes have up to 9 or 10 speaking actors at the same time. I needed things to be compact. So, in a leap of faith, I was just like, “You know what? Let’s go. It’s working.’ I knew I could count on Lectrosonics. Then, after a couple days on set, it was like, “Okay, everything is smooth sailing.”
As someone who has progressed from using the Lectrosonics SR to the SRB to the SRC to the DSR4 over the years, Fontaine-Bégin has had a front-row seat to a continual technology evolution. “It might feel like things don’t change that much, but in reality, it’s way better, because the environment has become so busy and disruptive over the years,” he says. “It’s great for me that I can use this gear without worrying about what’s happening in town or things like that. I’ve been to New York to do ENG work, and I never had a problem when I was there, either.”
